"Little Brown Jug" is a song written in 1869 by Joseph Eastburn Winner, originally published in

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with the author listed as Winner's middle name "Eastburn".

Background

It was originally a

drinking song A drinking song is a song sung while drinking alcohol. Most drinking songs are folk songs or commercium songs, and may be varied from person to person and region to region, in both the lyrics and in the music. In Germany, drinking songs are ...

. It remained well known as a

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

into the early 20th century. Like many songs which make reference to alcohol, it enjoyed new popularity during the

Prohibition era 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 alcoholic be ...

1939 Glenn Miller recording

In 1939,

Glenn Miller and His Orchestra Glenn Miller and His Orchestra was an American Swing music, swing big band, dance band formed by Glenn Miller in 1938. Arranged around a clarinet and tenor saxophone playing melody, and three other saxophones playing harmony, the band became th ...

released a hit version of the song on RCA Bluebird, as an A side 78 single, B-10286-A, in a new arrangement by

Bill Finegan William James Finegan (April 3, 1917 – June 4, 2008) was an American jazz bandleader, pianist, arranger, and composer. He was an arranger in the Glenn Miller Orchestra in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Life and career Born in Newark, New Jer ...

backed with "Pavanne". The recording was an early chart hit for Glenn Miller. The song was performed in Glenn Miller's Carnegie Hall concert that year and became a staple of the Glenn Miller Orchestra repertoire, and a classic of the Big Band era. The personnel on the Glenn Miller recording: Saxes: Hal McIntyre, Tex Beneke, Wilbur Schwartz, Stanley Aronson, Al Klink; Trumpets: Bob Price, R. D. McMickle, Legh Knowles; Trombones: Glenn Miller, Paul Tanner, Al Mastren; Piano: Chummy MacGregor; String Bass: Rowland Bundock; Guitar: Allen Reuss; Drums: Moe Purtill. The song was featured in and was central to the plot of the 1954

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

film biography ''

The Glenn Miller Story ''The Glenn Miller Story'' is a 1954 American biographical film about the eponymous American band-leader, directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart in their second non-western collaboration. Plot The film follows big band leader Glenn ...

'' starring James Stewart and June Allyson. The Universal International Orchestra under the direction of Joseph Gershenson released a recording of the song from ''The Glenn Miller Story'' soundtrack as a single backed with " A String of Pearls" on Decca Records in the U.S. and on Brunswick Records in the UK in 1954.

Other versions

Subsequently, in 1947 it was recorded by the accordionist

John Serry Sr. John Serry Sr. (born John Serrapica; January 29, 1915 – September 14, 2003) was an American concert accordionist, arranger, composer, organist, and educator. He performed on the CBS Radio and Television networks and contributed to Voic ...

and the guitarist

Tony Mottola Anthony C. Mottola (April 18, 1918 – August 9, 2004) was an American jazz guitarist who released dozens of solo albums. Mottola was born in Kearny, New Jersey, Kearny, New Jersey and died in Denville, New Jersey, Denville. Career Like ...

with the noted Joe Biviano Accordion & Rhythm Sextette for Sonora records. It was also sung by

Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer Carl Dean Switzer (August 7, 1927 – January 21, 1959) was an American singer, child actor, dog breeder, and guide. He was best known for his role as Alfalfa in the short subjects series '' Our Gang''. Switzer began his career as a child ...

and Harold "Slim" Switzer in an Our Gang (Little Rascals) short

Lyrics

The song's lyrics are about a man and his wife and their hard life due to

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...

. The tone and tune, however, are bright and cheerful, indicating the irony of the singer not knowing his degraded condition - due to alcohol. The first verse of the song is: The Chorus of the song goes: As a children's song, the lyrics are often changed. Sometimes a verse is modified to fit the melody and rhythm of the tune. In modern versions of the song, the language is often updated to eliminate the archaic second-person pronoun "thee" so that it reads: In the 1948 Famous Studios '' Screen Song'' animated short titled "Little Brown Jug", a "

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" cartoon, it is sung with the music credited to Winston Sharples and entirely new lyrics by Buddy Kaye.

Other recordings

The song has been recorded by the following performers in addition to those listed above: *Joe Biviano, his Accordion and Rhythm Sextette including John Serry and

released a recording of the song as a 78 on Sonora Records. *

Arthur Godfrey Arthur Morton Godfrey (August 31, 1903 – March 16, 1983) was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname The Old Redhead. At the peak of his success, in the early-to-mid 1950s, Godf ...

released a version with lyrics on Crown Records accompanied by Archie Bleyer and his Orchestra. *Art Van Damme released a version as a 78 on Capitol Records as 57-570. *Louise Massey and the Westerneers released it as a Polka instrumental on Columbia as 20245. *Lenny Dee released the song on Decca as an organ solo. *John Kirby and his Orchestra released it on Okeh Records. *Chubby Parker released "Little Brown Jug" as a 78 on Silvertone as 25013. *Ken Griffin released the song on Rondo Records. *Stuart Robertson released it on HMV. *Phil Cardew and his Corn Huskers as a square dance on Parlophone. *Frank Crumit released it on HMV. *George Wade on RCA Victor as a square dance. *Bluebird Foreign Band on RCA Bluebird. *The Billy May Orchestra released the song on Capitol. *

Uncle Josh An uncle is usually defined as a male relative who is a sibling of a parent or married to a sibling of a parent. Uncles who are related by birth are second-degree relatives. The female counterpart of an uncle is an aunt, and the reciprocal rela ...

in the cylinder record "Uncle Josh's Huskin' Bee" says after a few lines are sung from it, "I always liked that little brown jug". *The chorus lyrics are used in a modified form in the song "The Coral Room" by Kate Bush on the album ''Aerial'', referring to a song her mother sang in the kitchen: "Little brown jug, don't I love thee/Ho ho ho, hee, hee, hee."Songmeanings.net.
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Popular culture

*Teresa Ellen Talley adapted the tune into a commercial jingle for Dynamo laundry detergent in 1975 ("The Little Blue Jug Is Dynamo!"). *The same melody was used for the song " My Ding-a-Ling" written by

Dave Bartholomew David Louis Bartholomew (December 24, 1918 – June 23, 2019) was an American musician, bandleader, composer, arranger, and record producer. He was prominent in the music of New Orleans throughout the second half of the 20th century. Originally ...

, which became a Number 1 hit in 1972 for

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...

. *In episode 1828 of Sesame Street, Grover delivers several singing telegrams to the tune of Little Brown Jug. *The song is included in every

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electronic keyboard An electronic keyboard, portable keyboard, or digital keyboard is an electronic musical instrument, an electronic derivative of keyboard instruments. Electronic keyboards include synthesizers, digital pianos, stage pianos, electronic organs ...

s since the late 1990s, often in a swing arrangement.

References

External links

* * UCSB cylinder audio archive: *
Brown wax home recording of Little brown jug, sung by mixed chorus, between 1890 and 1928
*
Little brown jug, performed by The Blue Ridge Duo (Gene Austin and George Reneau), 1925
{{authority control 1869 songs Drinking songs Songs about alcohol Fictional objects Glenn Miller songs 1939 songs Okeh Records singles