"Beer, Beer, Beer", also titled "An Ode to Charlie Mops - The Man Who Invented Beer" and "Charlie Mops", is a folk song originating in the British Isles. The song is often performed 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 ...

and is intended as a tribute to the mythical inventor of beer, Charlie Mops. It was also a song used in the game "

The Bard's Tale ''The Bard's Tale'' is a fantasy role-playing video game franchise created by Michael Cranford and developed by Brian Fargo's Interplay Productions (1985–1992) and inXile Entertainment (2004–present). The initial title of the series was ...

History

It is not known where the song was created. There are numerous theories as to where in the British Isles it originated from. It is often held to have been created in Irish pubs, but others put its creation in the 1800s in

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

s in the British Isles. Another theory holds that it is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

folk song passed down through the years. It was originally published commercially in volume 10 of English folk magazine ''Sing'' as well as later ''

Sing Out! ''Sing Out!'' was a quarterly journal of folk music and folk songs that was published from May 1950 through spring 2014. It was originally based in New York City, with a national circulation of approximately 10,000 by 1960. Background ''Sing O ...

'', the American equivalent. It was noted that the three pubs mentioned in the song are based in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

along the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

. In 1956, the song was taken to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, presumably by English sailors, and became popular there but in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, the lyrics were changed so that it was performed differently to the rest of the world. This was due to Peter Francis of the New South Wales Bush Music Club altering the words and adding a new verse to it to make it a distinctly Australian variation of the original British lyrics. As a result of this, there is sometimes an erroneous assumption in Europe that "Beer, Beer, Beer" is of Australian origin. When it was published in ''Sing Out!'', only two verses of the song were published. In response, a New Zealand reader of ''Sing Out!'' sent the magazine a copy of the new Australian verse to be republished. In the United States, the song was performed there, titled as "Charlie Mopps" but was noted to have similar titles to other drinking songs such as " Champagne Charlie" and "

Willie the Weeper "Willie the Weeper" (Roud 977) is a folk song about drug addiction. It is based on a standard vaudeville song, likely written in 1904. It is credited to Walter Melrose, Grant Rymal and Marty Bloom, who published it with Morris Edwin H & Co Inc in ...

" with similar themes of praising alcohol. "Beer, Beer, Beer" has been recorded a number of times by singers including

the Clancy Brothers The Clancy Brothers were an influential Irish folk music group that developed initially as a part of the American folk music revival. Most popular during the 1960s, they were famed for their Aran jumpers and are widely credited with popularisi ...

and

Marc Gunn Marc Andrew Gunn (born March 17, 1972) is an American musician and podcaster. Gunn rose to prominence as the autoharp-playing half of the Brobdingnagian Bards. He and partner Andrew McKee developed a following with weekly performances on the c ...

. In the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, "Beer, Beer, Beer" was released as a single in 1970 by the Cocktail Trio after the Australian version of the song had been brought to the attention of their manager. The song was also included in the 2004 video game,

where it is performed by drunken patrons in the first pub in the game.

Charlie Mopps

"Beer, Beer, Beer" is based around Charlie Mopps (also spelled as Charlie Mops), the fictional inventor of

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

. His name is presumed to rhyme with

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

and

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whic ...

, two of the main ingredients in beer. He therefore is praised for his creation in "Beer Beer Beer". The character has been described in print media relating to "Beer, Beer, Beer" as "one of Mankind's greatest benefactors". "Beer, Beer, Beer" has also been the inspiration for the name of a number of pubs, which have named themselves after Charlie Mopps.

References

External links

Popular recordings can be found here:
''1969, Audio, lyrics and chords''

The Clancy Brothers The Clancy Brothers were an influential Irish folk music group that developed initially as a part of the American folk music revival. Most popular during the 1960s, they were famed for their Aran jumpers and are widely credited with popularisi ...

''2001, My Dear Mother's Pub; Minstrels of Mayhem''

Brobdingnagian Bards The Brobdingnagian Bards are a Celtic music group from Austin, Texas, United States. History Marc Gunn, formerly of Austin Texas' alternative rock bands Skander and Breastfed, released a solo album (''Geography'') featuring himself on autoharp ...

{{authority control Drinking songs Irish folk songs English folk songs Year of song unknown Songs about beer