Section III- Songs About Liquor & Drunkenness
[There is only one song, a temperance song about the evils of Alcohol (see notes below). This is not by a mountaineer poet as Cambiaire maintains. It's been passed to a mountaineer some 50 years after it was composed. I've labeled this Section III.]
SONGS ABOUT LIQUOR AND DRUNKENNESS.
Since pioneer days, East Tennessee, Western Virginia, and South-eastern Kentucky mountaineers have been in the habit of making and drinking whiskey. Before Prohibition, illicit stills. which failed to pay any liquor tax, were in operation clandestinely in inaccessible parts of the mountains. When Prohibition came, there was a heavier demand for whiskey because those who wanted it could not buy it lawfully. This gave a new impetus to whiskey making in the mountains. Drunkenness has caused many tragedies in the homes of some of those mountain people. On that account, drinking has been the theme of several songs in which the evils of drunkenness are shown and people are requested to abstain from drinking whiskey.
About fifty years ago a saloon was opened at Cumberland Gap. A mountaineer of good standing, father of several charming children, went there and got drunk. He became so aggressive that they had to put him in jail. The next day toward midnight his pretty daughter about thirteen years old, came to the saloon looking for her father. She pleaded so well that he was freed. His daughter's noble deed moved the drunkard so deeply that he never again became intoxicated.
This true story inspired a mountain poet, and he composed the following song, which is still popular in East Tennessee highlands:
72. THE DRUNKARD AND HIS DAUGHTER, OR PLEASE MR. BARKEEPER.
"PLEASE, Mr. Barkeeper, has father been here?
He has nor been home for a day.
It is now midnight, and mother is in fear
Some accident keeps him away."
" Oh, yes, little stranger, your father has been here.
We put him in prison today.
Go home to your mother, and there let her know,
What's keeping your father away."
" Please, Mr. Jailkeeper. Oh, let me go in.
They say that my father is inside.
He has not been at home for a day,
And we couldn't have felt worse if he had died."
All night the young pleader stood close by the door,
In vain for her father to speak.
It creaked its great hinges twice ten times and more,
As prison doors only can creak.
" It sleets, little girl, from cold you will die.
You cannot stay here, home you must go.
Wrap yourself in this coat. Don't cry.
Your father will be freed in a day or so."
The child would nor go. Her curly head
Fell on the steps. She closed h.er eyes,
The jailor let our her father and said:
"Your daughter is as cold as ice."
Warmed in her father's arms, the girl revived.
Behind, the sheriff closed the door
Of the cold, dark jail, and cried:
"Go home, old man, get drunk no more."
From that day on, always when night would come,
This man was near his loving wife,
Fine daughter, and good children at home.
He led a sober and noble life."
* In some ballads, and songs like, for instance, this one, the writer had to supply verses and even stanzas, as the mountaineers remember, at times, only parts of the old poems.
[This temperance song is known under a variety of names "'Twas Not My Father," "Looking for Father," and also "Has Father Been Here?" It's apparently composed by Juliet Courtright- I know nothing about her. It's written before 1884 the first trace of it I could find. Below are the lyrics.
R. Matteson Jr. 2014]
'Twas Not My Father
"Please, Mr. Barkeeper, has father been here?
He's hot been at home for the day;
'Tis now almost midnight, and mother's in fear
Some accident keeps him away."
"No, no, little stranger,-or-yes, he's been here;
Some officers took him away;
He's gone to the lock-up-I'm sorry, my dear;
He's done something wicked, they say."
Chorus.
"Oh! 'twas not my father who did the bad deed;
'Twas drinking that maddened his brain.
Oh! let him go home to dear mother, I plead;
I'm sure he'll not touch it again;
I'm sure, I'm sure, I'm sure he'll not touch it again."
"Please, Mr. Policeman, my father is lost-
A man says you took him away.
Oh! can't he go home, sir; and what will it cost
If mother will send you the pay? "
"Oh! no, little stranger, your father can't go;
We put him in prison to-day;
Go home to your mother, and quick let her know.
What's keeping your father away."-Chorus.
"Please, sir, Mr. Jailer, please let me go in-
They say that my father's inside.
I scarcely can tell how unhappy we've been;
We could not feel worse had he died.
Please, sir, it was drinking that made him do wrong;
I'm sure he will drink no more.
Oh! just a few minutes-a minute's not long;"
But no one would open the door.-Chorus.
All day the young watcher stood fast by the door;
In vain with his father to speak.
It creaked its great hinges twice ten times or more,
As prison doors only can creak.
Then speeding through darkness to home sad as death
A message most solemn he bore:
"Dear mother, I'll shun it as long as I've breath;
I'll touch it and taste it no more."-Chorus.