The Moonshiner

The Moonshiner

I'm a rambler, I'm a gambler, I'm a long way from home
And if you don't like me you can leave me alone
I'll eat when I'm hungry and I'll drink when I'm dry
And if moonshine don't kill me, I'll live till I die

I've been a moonshiner for many a year
and I've spent all me money on whiskey and beer
I'll go to some hollow and I'll set up my still
and I'll make you a gallon for a ten shilling bill

I'm a rambler, I'm a gambler, I'm a long way from home
And if you don't like me you can leave me alone
I'll eat when I'm hungry and I'll drink when I'm dry
And if moonshine don't kill me, I'll live till I die

I'll go to some hollow in this country
Ten gallons of wash and I'll go on a spree
No woman to follow and the world is all mine
I love none so well as I love the moonshine

I'm a rambler, I'm a gambler, I'm a long way from home
And if you don't like me you can leave me alone
I'll eat when I'm hungry and I'll drink when I'm dry
And if moonshine don't kill me I'll live till I die

Oh moonshine, dear moonshine, oh how I love thee
You killed my poor father but you'll never get me
Bless all moonshiners and bless all moonshine
For their breath smells as sweet as the dew on the vine

This song comes from my friend Seamus T. Monroe. While he and his wife Tersea were in Ireland, her parents sang this song.

Seamus writes - In Ireland, Moonshine is called POCHEEN, meaning it is made in small pots. They make moonshine on the mountain tops, when the wind is blowing in the right direction, so the revenuers don't smell it.

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midi courtesy of FRANK LENNON