Come fill me a tankard

AKABeer
First Published1871

Writer/composerGeorge LeybourneRoudRN12417

Music Hall PerformersGeorge Leybourne
Folk performancesCollected from the singing of:
Green, Henry; Tristan da Cunha; 1937-38
From Sheet Music held at OLO
Come fill me a tankard

You've often heard fellows sing about wine, 
Champagne and sparkling Moselle.
Others will sing of their Soda and B —
But I of another will tell;
It's good for the rich, it's good for the poor, 
More wholesome and not half so dear,
My song shall he, wherever I am,
Fill me a tankard of beer.

Beer, beer, beer, beer,
Fill me a tankard of foaming brown beer, 
Beer, beer, beer, beer,
Nothing can equal a tankard of beer.

Hops grow in Kent; to Scotland then sent,
Where Edinburgh's waters doth flow,
The Tinker, the Tailor, the Sailor, the King,
Alike of its virtues must know;
'Tis the stay of Old England, much better than wine,
So our foes have plenty to fear,
While our Army and Navy, eat plenty of beef,
And our Rifles drink glorious good beer.

Take away from a man his tobacco and beer, 
If that man should weigh twenty stone,
Just give him a call, in two or three weeks. 
You'll find that man all skin and bone. 
Teetotalles preach, till they're black in the face, 
To their sermons I'll never adhere,
While a man is a man, and knows when he's had 
Sufficient of sparkling brown beer.

You'll see men with red noses,and faces nigh blue, 
Through brandy, gin, rum, perhaps wine,
Slovenly dressed, out at elbow and knees,
Lie in bed, senseless drunk half their time;
While others are up with the lark in the morn,
Sober men in the world they appear,
With good clothes on their backs, a pound they can spend, 
But that's when they drink sparkling beer.

As remembered by Henry Green in Tristan da Cunha in 1937/38

Oft times you fellows were singing of wine,
champagne and sparking moureille (?) ,
Others may sing of the stout and the beef,
but I'll have another bouteille ;
What's good for the rich , what's good for the poor ,
more wholesome and not of so dear ,
Beer, beer , beer , beer,
Fill me a tinker of sparking brown beer!

The seeds of Old England , much better than wine ,
our foes have plenty to fear,
Our Army and Navy has plenty of beef,
our Rifle drink glorious brown beer ,
Beer, beer , beer , beer ,
Fill me a tinker of sparking brown beer!

You'll see men with red noses and faces high blue
through rum , gin, brandy , and wine ,
While others are up with the lark in the morning ,
Close on the backs and the pound they can spin,
as when we drink glorious brown beer ,
Beer, beer, beer , beer ,
Fill me a tinker of sparking brown beer !

Take away from a man his tobacco and beer,
if that man should weigh twenty stone ,
Just give him a call in two or three weeks ,
you'll find that he's all skin and bone.
Beer , beer , beer , beer ,
Fill me a tinker of sparking brown beer !

Teetotal may spree till he's black in the face ,
you'll see men in everywhere ,
The tinker , the taylor , the King and the sailor ,
and likewise a wister may know ,
Beer, beer , beer , beer ,
Fill me a tinker of sparking brown beer !
so the man to the wall must repair,
Close on the backs and the pound they can spin,
as when we drink glorious brown beer ,
Beer, beer, beer , beer ,
Fill me a tinker of sparking brown beer !

A song written, composed and performed by George Leybourne in around 1872. Leybourne was more famous as Champagne Charlie but in this case the sheet music was dedicated to the Scottish beer brewers William Younger & Co.

It was collected in the 1930s from a singer on the remote island of Tristan Da Cunha, under the title Beer. It is suggested that the singer learnt it from sailors on a passing British man-of-war.

Not to be confused with the earlier song: Ho! Fill me a tankard – A cavalier song (RNV414) published in 1853, with words by W. H. Bellamy and music by J. L. Hatton see The Musical world Vol. 31, Issue 51, p803, Dec 17, 1853.

Sources:

  • VWML entry
  • Kilgarrif Sing Us
  • Sheet Music: as supplied by The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, Shelfmark (W) Harding Mus R2190, under Creative Commons licence CC-BY-NC 4.0
  • Peter A Munch (1971) The song tradition of Tristan da Cunha, Hathi Trust

image_print