All for me Grog

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grog

“All for me Grog” is a drinking song and “Grog” is a drink based on rum, but also a colloquial term used in Ireland as a synonym for “drinking”.
The song opens with the refrain, in which our wandering sailor specifies that it is precisely because of his love for alcohol, tobacco and girls, that he always finds himself penniless and full of trouble. To satisfy his own vices, johnny sells from his boots to his bed.

A forebitter song or a tavern song; and our johnny could very well be enlisted in the Royal Navy, but also been boarded a pirate ship around the West Indies. But the favorite drink of pirates was called “bumbo to distinguish it from the drink served on English ships (Bumboo recipe).

All for me grog

Roud 475 ; Master title: Good Brown Ale and Tobacco ; G/D 3:580 ; AFS 2 ; Ballad Index K274 ; GlosTrad Roud 475 ; Wiltshire 542 , 809 ; Mudcat 5512 ; trad.]

Nowadays it is a song that is popular in historical re-enactments, with pirate choruses!”

CHORUS
And it’s all for me grog me jolly, jolly grog (1)
All for my beer and tobacco Well, I spent all me tin
with the lassies (2) drinkin’ gin
Far across the Western Ocean I must wander
I
I’m sick in the head and I haven’t been to bed
Since first I came ashore with me plunder
I’ve seen centipedes and snakes and me head is full of aches
And I have to take a path for way out yonder (3)
II
Where are me boots, me noggin’ (4), noggin’ boots
They’re all sold (gone) for beer and tobacco
See the soles they were thin and the uppers were lettin’ in(5)
And the heels were lookin’ out for better weather
III
Where is me shirt, me noggin’, noggin’ shirt
It’s all sold for beer and tobacco
You see the sleeves were all worn out
and the collar been torn about
And the tail was lookin’ out for better weather
IV
Where is me wife, me noggin’, noggin’ wife
She’s all sold for beer and tobacco
You see her front it was worn out
and her tail I kicked about
And I’m sure she’s lookin’ out for better weather
V
Where is me bed, me  noggin’, noggin’ bed
It’s all sold for beer and tobacco
You see I sold it to the girls until the springs were all in twirls(6)
And the sheets they’re lookin’ out for better weather
VI
Well I’m sick in the head and I haven’t been to bed
Since I’ve been ashore for me slumber
Well I spent all me dough
On the lassies don’t ye know
Across the western ocean(7) I will wander.
FOOTNOTES
1) grog: it is a very old term and means “liqueur” or “alcoholic beverage”. The grog is a drink introduced in the Royal Navy in 1740: rum after the British conquest of Jamaica had become the favorite drink of sailors, but to avoid any problems during navigation, the daily ration of rum was diluted with water.
2) lassies: widely used in Scotland, it is the plural of lassie or lassy, diminutive of lass, the archaic form for “lady”
4) nogging: in the standard English noun, the word means “head”, “pumpkin”, in an ironic sense. Being a colloquial expression, it becomes “stubborn” (qualifying adjective)
5) let in = open
6) the use of the mattress is implied not only for sleeping
7) western ocean: it is the term by which the sailors of the time referred to the Atlantic Ocean

Al Lloyd (II, I, III)
The Dubliners from The Dubliners Live,1974
Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag Soundtrack (II, III, VI)
Royal Bliss

GROG

( Italo Ottonello)
Grog was a mixture of rum and water, later flavored with lemon juice, as an anti-scorb, and a little sugar. The adoption of grog is due to Admiral Edward Vernon, to remedy the disciplinary problems created by an excessive ration of alcohol (*) on British warships. On 21 August 1740 he issued for his team an order that established the distribution of rum diluted with water. The ration was obtained by mixing a quarter of gallon of water (liters 1.13) and a half pint of rum (0.28 liters) – in proportion 4 to 1 – and distributed half at noon and half in the evening. The term grog comes from ‘Old Grog’, the nickname of the Admiral, who used to wear trousers and a cloak of thick grogram fabric at sea. The use of grog, later, became common in english ships and the deprivation of the ration (grog stop), was one of the most feared punishment by sailors. Temperance ships were called those merchant ships whose enlistment contract contained the “no spirits allowed” clause which excluded the distribution of grog or other alcohol to the crew.
 (*) The water, not always good already at the beginning of the journey, became rotten only after a few days of stay in the barrels.
In fact, nobody drank it because beer was available. It was light beer, of poor quality, which ended within a month and, only then, the captains allowed the distribution of wine or liqueurs. A pint of wine (just over half a liter) or half a pint of rum was considered the equivalent of a gallon (4.5 liters) of beer, the daily ration. It seems that the sailors preferred the white wines to the red ones that they called despicably black-strap (molasses). Being destined in the Mediterranean, where wine was embarked, was said to be blackstrapped. In the West Indies, however, rum was abundant.

GROG RECIPE FOR A JUG

given that on each ship the doses could vary depending on who prepared it (the classic recipe proposed by Vernon in 1740 suggests diluting the rum with water in equal proportions) here are the doses for a jug cup.
1/4 or 1/3 of Jamaican rum (or white rum)
half lemon juice (or lime, orange or grapefruit)
1 or 2 teaspoons of brown sugar (or honey).
Fill with water. Even in the warm winter version (hot punch): the water must be heated almost to boiling. Add a little spice (cinnamon stick, cloves) and lemon zest.
It is a classic Christmas drink especially in Northern Europe.
For mulled wine lovers here is Helgoland grog: red wine and rum (in proportions 3: 2) add water to taste and heat the drink without boiling; add sugar and lemon (but also cinnamon, ginger, star anise, cloves, cardamom) and pour into the glass

LINK
http://www.drinkingcup.net/navy-rum-part-2-dogs-tankys-scuttlebutts-fanny-cups/
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=5512
https://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/allformegrog.html
http://www.lettereearti.it/mondodellarte/musica/la-lingua-delle-ballate-e-delle-canzoni-popolari-anglo-irlandesi/

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Pubblicato da Cattia Salto

Amministratore e folklorista di Terre Celtiche Blog. Ha iniziato a divulgare i suoi studi e ricerche sulla musica, le danze e le tradizioni d'Europa nel web, dapprima in maniera sporadica e poi sempre più sistematicamente sul finire del anni 90

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