Fanchon, elle aime à rire, elle aime à boire

A drinking song is a song sung while drinking

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of se ...

. Most drinking songs are

folk songs Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has be ...

commercium song Commercium songs are traditional academic songs that are sung during academic feasts: commercia and tablerounds. Some very old commercium songs are in Latin, like '' Meum est propositum'' or '' Gaudeamus igitur''. In some countries, hundreds ...

s, and may be varied from person to person and region to region, in both the lyrics and in the music. In Germany, drinking songs are called ''Trinklieder''. In Sweden, where they are called ''dryckesvisor'', there are drinking songs associated with

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

Midsummer Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer usually held at a date around the summer solstice. It has pagan pre-Christian roots in Europe. The undivided Christian Church designated June 24 as the feast day of the early Christian martyr ...

, and other celebrations. An example of such a song is " Helan går". In Spain, Asturias, patria querida (the anthem of

Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive ...

) is usually depicted as a drinking song. In France, historical types of drinking songs are

Chanson pour boire ''Chanson pour boire'' and ''chanson à boire'' are terms for French drinking songs, frequently coupled with ''chanson pour danser'' (or "song for dancing"). It was used in from about 1627–1670. It is different from the '' air à boire'' primar ...

and Air à boire.

History

The first record of a drinking song dates to the 11th century, and derives from the

Carmina Burana ''Carmina Burana'' (, Latin for "Songs from Benediktbeuern" 'Buria'' in Latin is a manuscript of 254 poems and dramatic texts mostly from the 11th or 12th century, although some are from the 13th century. The pieces are mostly bawdy, irreveren ...

, a 13th-century historical collection of poems, educational songs, love sonnets and "entertainment" or drinking songs.

In popular culture

Musical artist Homebrew Stew (Rich Stewart) wrote a magazine article in the November 2002 issue of Modern Drunkard titled "Rhythm and Booze: The Top 86 Drinking Songs".

Traditional drinking songs

English

* "

99 Bottles of Beer "99 Bottles of Beer" or "100 Bottles of Pop on the Wall" is a song dating to the mid-20th century. It is a traditional reverse counting song in both the United States and Canada. It is popular to sing on road trips, as it has a very repetitive ...

" * " Barnacle Bill the Sailor" * "

Barrett's Privateers "Barrett's Privateers" is a modern folk song in the style of a sea shanty, written and performed by Canadian musician Stan Rogers, having been inspired after a song session with the Friends of Fiddler's Green at the Northern Lights Festival Bor ...

" * "

The Barley Mow ''The Barley Mow'' (Roud 944) is a cumulative song celebrated in the traditions of folk music of England, Ireland, and Scotland. William Chappell transcribed the lyrics in his two-volume work ''The Ballad Literature and Popular Music of the Olde ...

" * " Beer, Beer, Beer" * " California Drinking Song" * " Engineers' Drinking Song" * " Fathom the Bowl" * " Friends in Low Places" * " Good Ship Venus" * " I Used to Work in Chicago" * " If You're Happy and You Know It" * " Lanigan's Ball" * " Limericks" * " Little Brown Jug" * "

Seven Drunken Nights "Seven Drunken Nights" is a humorous Irish folk song most famously performed by The Dubliners. It is a variation of the Scottish folk song " Our Goodman" (Child 274, Roud 114). It tells the story of a gullible drunkard returning night after nig ...

" * " The Goddamned Dutch" * " The S&M Man" * " Walking Down Canal Street" * "

Whiskey in the Jar "Whiskey in the Jar" ( Roud 533) is an Irish traditional song set in the southern mountains of Ireland, often with specific mention of counties Cork and Kerry. The song, about a rapparee (highwayman) who is betrayed by his wife or lover, ...

" * " The Wild Rover"

Other

* " Bevilo tutto" (Italian song) * " Drobna drabnitsa" (Belarusian song) * " Ein Heller und ein Batzen" * " Eisgekühlter Bommerlunder" *" Helan Går" (Swedish) * " Libiamo ne' lieti calici" from "

La Traviata ''La traviata'' (; ''The Fallen Woman'') is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on '' La Dame aux camélias'' (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' adapted from his own ...

" by "

Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

Lieder

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

wrote several

lied In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French s ...

er (art songs) known as "Trinklied": * 75, Cantata "Trinklied" Freunde, sammelt euch im Kreise'for bass, men's choir and piano (1813) * D 148 (Op. posth. 131, No. 2), Cantata "Trinklied" Brüder! unser Erdenwallen'for tenor, men's choir and piano (1815) * D 169, Chorus "Trinklied vor der Schlacht" Schlacht, du brichst an!'for double unison choir and piano (1815) * D 183, Cantata "Trinklied" Ihr Freunde und du gold’ner Wein'for voice, unison choir and piano (1815) * D 242, Trio "Trinklied im Winter" Das Glas gefüllt!'for two tenors and bass (1815, 1st setting; D deest is the 2nd setting, with a different title) * D 267, Quartet "Trinklied" Auf! Jeder sei nun froh und sorgenfrei!'for two tenors, two basses and piano (1815) * D 356, Quartet "Trinklied" Funkelnd im Becher so helle, so hold'for two tenors, two basses and piano (1816, fragment) * D 426, Trio "Trinklied (Herr Bacchus ist ein braver Mann)" Herr Bacchus ist ein braver Mann'for two tenors and bass (1816, lost) * D 427, Trio "Trinklied im Mai" Bekränzet die Tonnen'for two tenors and bass (1816) * D 847, Quartet "Trinklied aus dem 16. Jahrhundert" Edit Nonna, edit Clerus'for two tenors and two basses (1825) * D 888, Song "Trinklied" Bacchus, feister Fürst des Weins'for voice and piano (1826)

References

External links

Drinking Songs Sheet Music

Hash House Harrier songbook

An Anthology 120 Of Drinking Songs, complete online book by Theodore Maynard circa 1919

Notes

* Cray, Ed. ''The Erotic Muse: American Bawdy Songs'' (University of Illinois, 1992). * Legman, Gershon. ''The Horn Book''. (New York: University Press, 1964). * Reuss, Richard A. ''An Annotated Field Collection of Songs From the American College Student Oral Tradition'' (Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Masters Thesis, 1965). {{Authority control Drinking culture * Articles containing video clips Song forms Sing-along