Ok…we are veering WAY OFF the power-pop/rock path today! I was reading a biography of Pittsburgh Steelers coach Chuck Noll, and it mentioned he would sing this song occasionally. So reading a bio of an American football coach led to this post…you just never know! To paraphrase Bugs Bunny…we are taking that proverbial left turn at Albuquerque.
I got really curious and looked the song up. It’s great…I’ve always liked these old folk songs and bluegrass music because I respect them so much. I’ve played bluegrass with a professional before, and it is some of the hardest music I’ve tried to play. The time signatures are all over the place, and if you haven’t played the music a lot… it can be tricky. It made me a better musician.
I like the music because it’s so rootsy and earthy. I don’t listen to it a lot, but sometimes I will enjoy an hour or so of it. It reminds me of when my dad would go to work in the morning, and sometimes he would have this music on.
Good Ole’Mountain Dew!
This song is an Appalachian folk song that Bascom Lamar Lunsford first wrote in 1928. Lunsford was an attorney; however, he is very fond of folk songs. He once represented a man in court because he was illegally making whiskey called Moonshine. This experience led him to write the song. He ended up selling the song to Scotty Wiseman, and Wiseman changed a few lyrics but remembered Lunsford…he kept the songwriting credit Wiseman-Lunsford.
These songs are special. They were not trying to write hits…they just wanted to tell stories through songs. Instead of newspapers in the backwoods of the Appalachians, you had these songs.
Many artists have covered the song through the years, like Willie Nelson, Glen Campbell, Mother Maybelle Carter, Grandpa Jones, and more.
Willie Nelson released a version in 1981 that peaked at #23 in the Billboard Country Charts and #39 in Canada.
The lyrics never stay completely the same through the versions, but it still works. We will return to our normal programming in the next post!
Mountain Dew
Down the road here from me there’s an old holler tree
Where you lay down a dollar or two
Go on round the bend come back again
There’s a jug full of that good ole mountain dew
Oh they call it that good ole mountain dew
And them that refuse it are few
I’ll hush up my mug if you’ll fill up my jug
With that good ole mountain dew
Now Mr. Roosevelt told ’em just how he felt
When he heard that the dry law ‘d gone through
If your liquors too red it’ll swell up your head
You better stick to that good ole mountain dew
Oh they call it that good ole mountain dew
And them that refuse it are few
I’ll hush up my mug if you’ll fill up my jug
With that good ole mountain dew
The preacher rode by with his head hasted high
Said his wife had been down with the flu
He thought that I o’rt to sell him a quart
Of my good ole mountain dew
Oh they call it that good ole mountain dew
And them that refuse it are few
I’ll hush up my mug if you’ll fill up my jug
With that good ole mountain dew
Well my uncle Snort he’s sawed off and short
He measures four feet two
But feels like a giant when you give him a pint
Of that good old mountain dew
Oh they call it that good ole mountain dew
And them that refuse it are few
I’ll hush up my mug if you’ll fill up my jug
With that good ole mountain dew
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