From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Little Brown Jug" is a song written in 1869 by Joseph Winner. It was originally intended as a drinking song, but since the 1930s success of Glenn Miller's instrumental adaptation of the same name, it has become associated with the American Big Band era.

The song's lyrics are about a man and his wife and their hard life due to alcoholism; however, the tone and tune are bright and cheerful.

Me and my wife live all alone

In a little log hut we call our own;

She loves gin and I love rum,

And don't we have a lot of fun!

Chorus

Ha, ha, ha, you and me,

Little brown jug, don't I love thee!

Ha, ha, ha, you and me,

Little brown jug, don't I love thee!

When I go toiling on the farm

I take the little jug under my arm;

Place it under a shady tree,

Little brown jug, 'tis you and me.

(Chorus)

’Tis you that makes me friends and foes,

’Tis you that makes me wear old clothes;

But, seeing you're so near my nose,

Tip her up and down she goes.

(Chorus)

If all the folks in Adam's race

Were gathered together in one place,

I'd let them go without a tear

Before I'd part from you, my dear.

(Chorus)

If I'd a cow that gave such milk,

I'd dress her in the finest silk;

Feed her up on oats and hay,

And milk her twenty times a day.

(Chorus)

I bought a cow from Farmer Jones,

And she was nothing but skin and bones;

I fed her up as fine as silk,

She jumped the fence and strained her milk.

(Chorus)

And when I die don't bury me at all,

Just pickle my bones in alcohol;

Put a bottle o' booze at my head and feet

And then I know that I will keep.

(Chorus)

The rose is red, my nose is too,

The violet's blue and so are you;

And yet, I guess, before I stop,

We'd better take another drop.

(Chorus)

As a children's song, the lyrics are often changed. Sometimes a verse is modified to fit the melody and rhythm of the tune:

Me, my wife, and a bobtailed dog,

crossed a creek on a hollow log,

the log, it broke, and we fell in,

and little brown jug got filled again.

Most notably, the chorus is often sung alone as the entire song:

Ha, ha, ha, hee hee hee,

Little brown jug sings quite off key.

Ha, ha, ha, hee hee hee,

Little brown jug sings quite off key.

This song-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.