"The Moonshiner" is 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 ...

with disputed origins. It is catalogued as

Roud Folk Song Index 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 ...

No. 4301. Some believe that the song originated in America, then was later made famous in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, while others claim that it was the other way around. The Clancy Brothers stated on their recording that the song is of Irish origin, but again, this is disputed.

Delia Murphy Delia Murphy Kiernan (16 February 1902 – 11 February 1971) was an Irish singer and collector of Irish ballads. She recorded several 78 rpm records in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. In 1962 she recorded her only LP, ''The Queen of Connemara'', for ...

was singing it in Ireland from the late 1930s. However, its first American appearance was recorded in Carl Sandberg's 1927 ''

The American Songbag ''The American Songbag'' is an anthology of American folksongs compiled by the poet Carl Sandburg and published by Harcourt, Brace and Company in 1927. It was enormously popular and was in print continuously for more than seventy years. Melodies ...

'', which credits the Combs family of Kentucky for the collection of the song going at least as far back as the turn of the century. The minor key arrangement is credited therein to Alfred George Wathall.Carl Sandburg, ''The American Songbag'', pp. 142-143 https://archive.org/details/americansongbag029895mbp/page/n169/mode/2up In 1963,

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

recorded "Moonshiner", which was released on ''

The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991 ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''. While this bears resemblance to the 1930s recordings of Henson and Kazee, both of those versions include the "I always stay sing single" segment not present in the Sandberg version or in Dylan's, and neither include Dylan's "World's just a bottle" segment which appears with Rolf Cahn's Folkways recording in 1959 and later in Van Ronk's (1964). The song has also been performed by

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, Rumbleseat,

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, Peter Rowan,

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, Roscoe Holcomb, Uncle Tupelo,

Jeffrey Foucault Jeffrey Foucault (born January 26, 1976) is an American songwriter and record producer from Whitewater, Wisconsin, United States, whose work marries the influence of American country, blues, rock 'n' roll, and folk music. He has released seven ...

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Tim Hardin James Timothy Hardin (December 23, 1941 – December 29, 1980) was an American folk and blues musician and composer. As well as releasing his own material, several of his songs, including " If I Were a Carpenter" and "Reason to Believe", becam ...

Charlie Parr Charlie Parr is an American country blues musician. Born in Austin, Minnesota, he spent part of his childhood in Hollandale before starting his music career in Duluth. His influences include Charlie Patton, Bukka White, Reverend Gary Davis, Dave ...

, Punch Brothers, Redbird, Robert Francis, Scorpios,

Dave Van Ronk David Kenneth Ritz Van Ronk (June 30, 1936 – February 10, 2002) was an American folk singer. An important figure in the American folk music revival and New York City's Greenwich Village scene in the 1960s, he was nicknamed the "Mayor of Mac ...

əkoostik hookah əkoostik hookah is a jam band from Columbus, Ohio. Formed in 1991, the band has made multiple national tours in the US, as well as performing in overseas locales like Amsterdam and Jamaica, although they may more commonly be found playing local ...

, Moriarty, Clay Parker & Jodi James,

Lost Dog Street Band Benjamin Tod Flippo (born November 11, 1990), is an American singer-songwriter. He is lead singer and guitarist for the Lost Dog Street Band with his wife Ashley Mae (vocals, fiddle) and Jeff Loops (bass). The band has released several albums th ...

, David Bromberg,and Parsonsfield. In the movie ''Deliverance'', actor/musician Ronny Cox plays and sings the "religion when I die" stanza on his acoustic guitar around the first night's campfire.

Lyrics

(transcribed from Uncle Tupelo's version, from "March 16–20 - 1992".

I am a moonshiner For 17 long years And I spent all my money On whiskey and beers And I go to some hollow And set up my still If whisky don't kill me Lord, I don't know what will And I go to some barroom To drink with my friends Where the women they can't follow To see what I spend God bless them, pretty women I wish they was mine With breath as sweet as The dew on the vine Let me eat when I'm hungry Let me drink when I'm dry Two dollars when I'm hard up Religion when I die The whole world is a bottle And life is but a dram When the bottle gets empty Lord, it sure ain't worth a damn

References

Ballads Songs about alcohol Year of song unknown Bob Dylan songs American folk songs {{folk-song-stub