"Good Old Mountain Dew" (
ROUD
The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...
18669), sometimes called simply "Mountain Dew" or "Real Old Mountain Dew", is an
Appalachian folk song composed by
Bascom Lamar Lunsford
Bascom Lamar Lunsford (March 21, 1882 – September 4, 1973) was a Folklore studies, folklorist, performer of Appalachian music, traditional Appalachian music, and lawyer from western North Carolina. He was often known by the nickname "Minstrel ...
and
Scotty Wiseman. There are two versions of the lyrics, a 1928 version written by Lunsford and a 1935 adaptation by Wiseman. Both versions of the song are about
moonshine. The 1935 version has been widely covered and has entered into the folk tradition becoming a standard.
Creation
Along with being an amateur
folklorist and musician, Bascom Lamar Lunsford was a lawyer practicing in rural North Carolina during the 1920s. At the time, the manufacturing of beverage alcohol for non-medicinal purposes was illegal in the United States due to
prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...
, but North Carolina residents nevertheless continued their longstanding tradition of making a form of illegal whiskey called
moonshine. Lunsford frequently defended local clients that were accused of the practice, and the original lyrics and banjo accompaniment to "Good Old Mountain Dew" were written during the course of one of these cases. In 1928, Lunsford recorded the song for
Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916.
History
From 1916
Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a company based in Dubuque, Iowa which had been manufacturing prod ...
.
Scotty Wiseman, of the duo
Lulu Belle and Scotty
Myrtle Eleanor Cooper (December 24, 1913 – February 8, 1999) and Scott Greene Wiseman (November 8, 1909 – January 31, 1981), known professionally as Lulu Belle and Scotty, were one of the major country music acts of the 1930s and 1940s, dubbe ...
, was a friend of Lunsford's. When Lulu Belle and Scotty needed one more song to finish a 1935 record for
Vocalion Records
Vocalion Records is an American record company and label.
History
The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pianos and organs, as Aeolian-Vocalion; the company also sold phonographs under the Vocalion name. "Aeolian" was ...
,
Wiseman suggested using the song his friend had written. To make the piece appeal to more people, Wiseman added the modern chorus and replaced verses about a man appearing in court with verses about making moonshine. Two years later, at the National Folk Festival in Chicago, Wiseman showed his version to Lunsford. Lunsford was impressed with it; later the same night, he sold the song to Wiseman for $25 () so he could buy a train ticket back to North Carolina.
Wiseman copyrighted the song and made sure that 50% of the royalties it earned were given to Lunsford until Lunsford's death.
Lyrics and themes
The 1928 version of "Good Old Mountain Dew" is close to the style of a ballad. The lyrics tell the story of a man's first day in court to answer charges of making illegal alcohol. In the first verse, the prosecutor closes his case. In the next three verses, several respected members of the community—the
deacon
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...
, the
doctor
Doctor or The Doctor may refer to:
Personal titles
* Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree
* A medical practitioner, including:
** Physician
** Surgeon
** Dentist
** Veterinary physician
** Optometrist
*Other roles
** ...
, and the
conductor—visit the charged man, trying to buy his whiskey. In the final verse, the judge offers the young man clemency if he is willing to pay court costs for the trial.
The 1935 lyrics are not ballad-like and do not tell a story. This version tells of an "old hollow tree" that is used as a
dead drop. A person who is looking to buy moonshine places money in the tree and leaves. When that person returns, there is a jug where the money was. The song goes on to extoll the drink and tell of its great properties.
Relationship with "The Rare Old Mountain Dew"
There is some controversy over the possible connection between "Good Old Mountain Dew" and the Irish folk song "
The Rare Old Mountain Dew
"The Rare Old Mountain Dew" is an Irish folk song dating from 1882.
History
"The Mountain Dew" was a song about poitín (Irish moonshine) with lyrics by New York musical theater great Edward Harrigan and music credited to Harrigan's orchestra lea ...
", which dates to 1916 or earlier (at least a decade before "Good Old Mountain Dew" was written).
The terms "mountain dew" and "moonshine" are thought to have come to the United States from Ireland. Lunsford wrote several parodies and adaptations of other Irish folk songs; based on this, some folklorists claim that the song "Good Old Mountain Dew" was based on "The Rare Old Mountain Dew". Other folklorists disagree, pointing out that the only commonality the songs share is the use of the phrase "mountain dew".
Recordings and adaptions
Since 1935, "Good Old Mountain Dew" has been rerecorded and covered by a wide variety of folk, old time, and country musicians, including
Grandpa Jones
Louis Marshall Jones (October 20, 1913 – February 19, 1998), known professionally as Grandpa Jones, was an American banjo player and "old time" country and gospel music singer. He is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.McCall, Michael; ...
,
Glen Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, actor and television host. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting '' The Glen Campbell Good ...
, and
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album '' Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of '' Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (1 ...
. Nelson's cover reached number 23 on
Billboard's Hot Country Songs and stayed there for six weeks. Over time, artists have added new verses, but the tune has remained the same since it was first written in the 1920s. The gospel song "
Traveling the Highway Home" is based on "Good Old Mountain Dew" and uses the same tune, but has lyrics about moving closer to
eternal life after death instead of about moonshine.
After
PepsiCo bought the soft drink
Mountain Dew in 1964, they commissioned a set of advertisements featuring a "Good Old Mountain Dew"-based
jingle
A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...
and the drink's mascot: a barefooted back-country man called "Willie the
Hillbilly".
See also
*"
I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground"
References
Footnotes
Bibliography
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External links
Traditional Ballad Index Entry
{{authority control
American folk songs
Bascom Lamar Lunsford songs
1945 songs
Trini Lopez songs
Glen Campbell songs
Songs about alcohol