A happy banjo song about morphine

Hey everyone! ???? Another Thursday another clawhammer banjo tune. This week’s song is Soldier’s Joy, which dates back as early as the 1760s.In spite of its upbeat tempo and catchy melody, the term "soldier's joy" has a much darker meaning than is portrayed by the tune. This term eventually came to refer to the combination of whiskey, beer, and morphine used by American Civil War soldiers to alleviate pain. This is one of the oldest and most widely distributed tunes in the English-speaking world. There are numerous renditions of this piece located throughout Library of Congress collections, many of which are online. Let’s take a brief tour of this American classic.

“Soldier’s Joy” appeared in late eighteenth-century sheet music and dance instruction manuals on both sides of the Atlantic. By the nineteenth century, it was published in numerous books of fiddle tunes, usually classified as a reel or country dance. Yet the lively tune could be played on just about any instrument, as the piano score below, published in Boston in 1885, illustrates.

Printed publications can be used as evidence of the tune’s age and popularity, but most musicians who played it and dancers who danced to it did not learn the tune from a printed page. They learned it by hearing it. Some heard it at dances in their communities; some heard it at home, played by a family member. Others may have heard it played by Army bands during wartime, to lift the spirits of troops in camp or as they marched to battle.

I am singing a bluegrass version of the lyrics but the tune goes:

Twenty-five cents for whiskey, twenty-five cents for beer
Twenty-five cents for morphine get me out of here

Chorus:
I'm my momma's pride and joy (3×)
Sing you a song called the soldier's joy

Grasshopper sitting on a sweet potato vine (3×)
Along come a chicken and he's say "you're mine"
I'm gonna get you there don't you want to go? (3×)
All for the soldier's joy
Chicken in a bread pan scratching that dough
Granny does your dog bite no child no
All for the soldier's joy



Follow my instagram or Facebook @talisetunes for updates on live shows and my upcoming EP!???? I am going to be going on an East Coast your in April & May, so follow/subscribe for dates.

If you would like to further support my art and this channel, visit my Buy Me A Coffee: buymeacoffee.com/talisemusir


#appalachianmusic #clawhammer #americanamusic #clawhammerbanjo #oldtimemusic #oldtimemusic #bluegrass #fiddletunes #fiddlesong