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"Beer Barrel Polka", originally in Czech , also known as "The Barrel Polka", "Roll Out the Barrel", or "Rosamunde", is a 1927 polka composed by Czech musician
Jaromír Vejvoda Jaromír Vejvoda (28 March 1902 – 13 November 1988) was a Czechs, Czech composer. He is best known as the author of the "Beer Barrel Polka". Life and work Vejvoda was born and died in Prague-Zbraslav. From 1936 to 1960, he lived in Vrané nad ...
. Lyrics were added in 1934, subsequently gaining worldwide popularity during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
as a
drinking song A drinking song is a song that is sung before or during Alcoholic beverage, alcohol consumption. Most drinking songs are Folk music, folk songs or commercium songs, and may be varied from person to person and region to region, in both the lyri ...
.


History

In 1927, the music for the polka was composed by the Czech musician
Jaromír Vejvoda Jaromír Vejvoda (28 March 1902 – 13 November 1988) was a Czechs, Czech composer. He is best known as the author of the "Beer Barrel Polka". Life and work Vejvoda was born and died in Prague-Zbraslav. From 1936 to 1960, he lived in Vrané nad ...
. Eduard Ingriš wrote the first arrangement of the piece, after Vejvoda came up with the melody and sought Ingriš's help in refining it. At that time, it was played without lyrics as (). In 1934, the first text for the polka was written by Vašek Zeman – with the title () Around that same time, Shapiro Bernstein acquired the rights to the song and English lyrics were written by
Lew Brown Lew Brown (born Louis Brownstein; December 10, 1893 – February 5, 1958) was a lyricist for popular songs in the United States. During World War I and the Roaring Twenties, he wrote lyrics for several of the top Tin Pan Alley composers, espec ...
and Wladimir Timm. Zeman's original Czech lyrics framed the
polka Polka is a dance style and genre of dance music in originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though generally associated with Czech and Central European culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the ...
as a love song, whereas Brown and Timm's English version framed it as a song celebrating the repeal of
Prohibition in the United States The Prohibition era was the period from 1920 to 1933 when the United States prohibited the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. The alcohol industry was curtailed by a succession of state legislatures, an ...
. At first the English version of the song was relatively unknown and unpopular, but it gained a great deal of popularity after
The Andrews Sisters The Andrews Sisters were an American close harmony singing group of the swing and boogie-woogie eras. The group consisted of three sisters: contralto LaVerne Sophia Andrews (1911–1967), soprano Maxene Anglyn Andrews (1916–1995), and mezzo ...
recorded it in 1939.. Subsequently, many other artists released versions, including the
Glenn Miller Orchestra Glenn Miller and His Orchestra was an American swing dance band that was formed by Glenn Miller in 1938. Arranged around a clarinet and tenor saxophone playing melody, and three other saxophones playing harmony, the band became the most pop ...
;
Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader, known as the "King of Swing". His orchestra did well commercially. From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing bi ...
;
Bobby Vinton Stanley Robert Vinton (born April 16, 1935) is an American singer and actor, who hosted his own self-titled TV show in the late 1970s. As a teen idol, he became known as "The Polish Prince", as his music paid tribute to his Polish heritage. One ...
;
Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made significant contributions to jazz music and pop ...
;
John Serry Sr John Serry Sr. (born John Serrapica; January 29, 1915 – September 14, 2003) was an American concert accordionist, arranger, composer, organist, and educator. He performed on the CBS Radio and Television networks and contributed to Voice ...
(
RCA Thesaurus thumb RCA Thesaurus, a brand owned by RCA Victor, was a supplier of electrical transcriptions. It enjoyed a long history of producing electrical transcriptions of music for radio broadcasting which dated back to NBC's Radio Recording Division. Eff ...
, 1954) and Joe Patek, who sold over a million copies of his album "Beer Barrel Polka". The polka soon became famous around the world. In 1939 Will Glahé recorded an instrumental version that was a big hit in the United States, being ranked #3 by the radio program ''
Your Hit Parade ''Your Hit Parade'' is an American radio and television music program that was broadcast from 1935 to 1953 on radio, and seen from 1950 to 1959 on television. It was sponsored by American Tobacco's Lucky Strike cigarettes. During its 24-year r ...
'' in June of that year.. The June 17, 1939 edition of ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' magazine noted that "Beer Barrel Polka" was the 12th most popular song by radio plays on New York City radio stations WJZ, WEAF and WABC. Daniel Richman wrote "There's hardly a machine from Maine to California that still isn't inviting patrons to roll out the barrel, and from all indications it will probably be another couple of weeks before the 'roll out' can be changed to 'throw out.'" During World War II, versions in many other languages were created and the song was popular among soldiers, regardless of their allegiances. Italian writer
Primo Levi Primo Michele Levi (; 31 July 1919 – 11 April 1987) was a Jewish Italian chemist, partisan, Holocaust survivor and writer. He was the author of several books, collections of short stories, essays, poems and one novel. His best-known works i ...
wrote that when he was deported to
Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...
, the camp's orchestra was playing , the German version of "Beer Barrel Polka," as he arrived. According to ''
TIME Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' magazine, when the first Australian contingent of troops arrived in England, they were singing the polka. On
VE Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945; it marked the official surrender of all German military operations ...
— May 8 or 9, 1945 — Humphrey Lyttelton played it standing on a handcart outside
Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...
, a performance that could be heard in the BBC broadcast from the victory celebrations. It was claimed many times that the song was written in the country where it had just become a hit. ''TIME'' wrote that "Germans insisted it was an old Bavarian drinking song. Americans and British thought it was one of their own. Anyhow, they all sang it." Its actual composer was not widely known until after the war.


Names in other languages

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Covers and homages


Music

*
Bobby Vinton Stanley Robert Vinton (born April 16, 1935) is an American singer and actor, who hosted his own self-titled TV show in the late 1970s. As a teen idol, he became known as "The Polish Prince", as his music paid tribute to his Polish heritage. One ...
recorded "Beer Barrel Polka" in 1975. The song was released as the follow-up single to his multi-million selling " My Melody of Love" and reached number 33 on the ''Billboard'', number 45 on the ''Cashbox'' Top 40 hit charts and number 51 in Australia. The success of the single, which was particularly popular on jukeboxes, led to its inclusion on Vinton's '' Heart of Hearts'' album in 1975. * The song became a signature song of well-known entertainer
Liberace Władziu Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987) was an American pianist, singer and actor. He was born in Wisconsin to parents of Italian and Polish Americans, Polish origin and enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, ...
, and he played it on an episode of his eponymous television show. * Jimmy Sturr & His Orchestra made their own composition of "Beer Barrel Polka". * The song is a standard for the accordion rock band
Those Darn Accordions Those Darn Accordions, commonly abbreviated as TDA, are an American accordion band from San Francisco, California, originally formed in 1989 by Linda "Big Lou" Seekins. Boasting several accordionists whose numbers have fluctuated over the years ...
, who released a studio version in 1992 on their album '' Vongole Fisarmonica''. * John Serry Sr. arranged and recorded the polka for accordion and ensemble for ''
RCA Thesaurus thumb RCA Thesaurus, a brand owned by RCA Victor, was a supplier of electrical transcriptions. It enjoyed a long history of producing electrical transcriptions of music for radio broadcasting which dated back to NBC's Radio Recording Division. Eff ...
'' (1954). *The theme was interpreted in Spanish over the years by various artists such as Manolita Arriola from Mexico, Elsa Valladares from Cuba, Gildardo Montoya and El Grupo Venezuela, Los Hermanos Corrales from Colombia, the group "Los Mismos" from Spain, Anteojito from Argentina, among others.


Sports

* Since the 1970s, it has been played during the seventh inning stretch at
Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
games, as well as becoming one of the state of Wisconsin's unofficial state songs as it is also played at numerous
University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...
sporting events, as well as
Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...
home games. * The 2016 Premiership winning Australian
National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...
club
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Sutherland Shire of Southern Sydney, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. Cronulla compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugb ...
' theme song, ''Up Up Cronulla'', uses the tune of Beer Barrel Polka. * At San Jose Giants home games, a batter from the opposing team is designated the "beer batter." If the San Jose pitcher strikes out that batter, beer is half price in the beer only lines for the 15 minutes immediately following the strike out. The PA system plays "Beer Barrel Polka" whenever the beer batter comes to the plate and after every strike during the beer batter's at-bat. * Pro wrestler Crusher Lisowski used the song as his entrance music, and would often growl out a few bars of it during interviews. * The German
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
club Bayern München use the tune of for their song ''FC Bayern, lala lalala lala''.


Plays and movies

*
Chico Marx Leonard Joseph "Chico" Marx ( ; March 22, 1887October 11, 1961) was an American comedian, actor, and pianist. He was the oldest brother in the Marx Brothers comedy troupe, alongside his brothers Harpo Marx, Arthur ("Harpo"), Groucho Marx, Juliu ...
of the
Marx Brothers The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act known for their anarchic humor, rapid-fire wordplay, and visual gags. They achieved success in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in 14 motion pictures. The core group consisted of brothers Chi ...
plays a variation of this song in the 1939 movie '' At the Circus'' and later reprised it in 1946’s '' A Night in Casablanca''. * An instrumental version is featured in the 1941 film ''
Meet John Doe ''Meet John Doe'' is a 1941 American comedy drama film directed and produced by Frank Capra, written by Robert Riskin, and starring Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward Arnold. The film is about a "grassroots" political campaign created ...
''. * In the 1946 film ''The Captive Heart'', a group of British POWs in a German camp sing the Beer Barrel Polka to drown out the sound of a German propaganda song that their captors are playing over the loudspeakers. * In the 1967 film ''
Late August at the Hotel Ozone ''Late August at the Hotel Ozone'' () is a 1967 Czechoslovak science fiction film by director Jan Schmidt (director), Jan Schmidt based on a screenplay by Pavel Juráček. Production Dana Medřická was originally considered for a role of Dagma ...
'' a
78 rpm A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The g ...
record of the polka is the last surviving piece of music. * In
Carl Davis Carl Davis (October 28, 1936 – August 3, 2023) was an American-born British conductor and composer. He wrote music for more than 100 television programmes, notably the landmark ITV series '' The World at War'' (1973) and BBC's '' Pride and P ...
's 1990 score for 1916 epic silent drama ''Intolerance'', Davis incorporates the Beer Barrel Polka at the "Strike" scene at 17:33, despite the scene taking place in 1916, a decade before the song was written.


Television

* It was sung in the final scene of the ''
Rumpole of the Bailey ''Rumpole of the Bailey'' is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer. It starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, a middle-aged London barrister who defended a broad variety of clients, ...
'' television episode, "Rumpole and the Alternative Society" (1977). * In ''M*A*S*H'' season 10 episode 2 ("That's Show Biz, Part 2"), Eleanor Carlyle plays the song on piano at officers' club in after she says that "Even Dvorak and
Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, often set within studied ye ...
wrote folk dances" to Major Winchester. * In the ''
Frasier ''Frasier'' () is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey (screenwriter), Peter Casey, and David Lee (scr ...
'' episode, "Where Every Bloke Knows Your Name,"
Frasier Crane Dr. Frasier Winslow Crane (born ) is a fictional character who is both a supporting character on the American television sitcom ''Cheers'' and the titular protagonist of its spin-off '' Frasier'' and the latter's 2023 sequel. In all three s ...
and his new friends sing "Roll Out the Barrel" in a British-style pub as a frustrated, and bewildered Daphne Moon looks on.


References


Notes


External links

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Vlasta Krsek performs the song on ''The Tonight Show'' in 1985
{{authority control 1939 singles Polkas Czech songs Bobby Vinton songs Milwaukee Brewers Benny Goodman songs 1975 singles Songs about beer Songs of World War II 1927 songs Songs with lyrics by Lew Brown