> A.L. Lloyd > Songs > A Jug of Punch
> Martin Carthy > Songs > Jug of Punch

A Jug of Punch / The 23^rd of June

[ Roud 1808 ; Henry H490 ; Ballad Index K278 ; Bodleian Roud 1808 ; trad.]

Edward Quinn of Castlecaulfield, Co. Tyrone, sang The Jug of Punch on 19 August 1952 to Peter Kennedy and Sean O’Boyle (BBC recording 19357) This recording was later included on the anthology Jack of All Trades (The Folk Songs of Britain Volume 3; Caedmon 1961; Topic 1970).

A.L. Lloyd sang A Jug of Punch in 1956 on his Riverside album English Drinking Songs. He noted:

This is probably an Irish importation, brought to East Anglia by migrant potato-lifters. A brief song, it opens politely and proceeds on a rapid downhill slide into maudlin defiance, resembling a gent with sprigged waistcoat and churchwardens pipe striving to shore up his dignity while the world is slipping out of focus and into a happy haze.

Martin Carthy sangs Jug of Punch on the Hullabaloo ABC Television programme broadcast on 16 November 1963, and on the 1996 album Songs From ABC Television’s “Hallelujah”.

The McPeake Trio sang The Jug of Punch in a live Christmas Day 1957 broadcast on BBC Radio. This recording was published in 2000 on the Rounder CD Sing Christmas and the Turn of the Year. Frank McPeake sang it on the 1960 EMI anthology of “broadside ballads old and new”, A Jug of Punch, and the McPeake Family sang it on their 1963 Topic EP Wild Mountain Thyme. A 1961 recording of the McPeake Trio was included in 1995 on the Saydisc anthology Traditional Songs of Ireland.

The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem sang The Twenty-Third of June on the 1963 Hullabaloo ABC Television programme broadcast on 28 September 1963.

The Galliards sang The Jug of Punch in 1963 on their album England’s Great Folk Group.

The Corrie Folk Trio and Paddie Bell sang Jug of Punch on the 1964 Waverly album The Hoot’nanny Show Vol. 1.

Joe Heaney sang The Jug of Punch to Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger in 1964. This recording was included in 2000 on his Topic anthology The Road From Connemara.

Brian Mooney, Glen Tomasetti and/or Martyn Wyndham-Read sang Jug of Punch in 1965 on their album Will Ye Go Lassie Go?.

The Clancy Brothers with Louis Killen sang Jug of Punch on their 1973 Vanguard album Greatest Hits.

Gordon McIntyre and Danny Spooner sang The 23^rd of June in 1978 on their Larrikin album Revived and Relieved!.

John Roberts sang The Jug of Punch on his 1989 album Songs From the Pubs of Ireland.

Bróna McVittie sang The Jug of Punch, “after the singing of Joe Heaney on the double album The Road From Connemara”, on her 2018 CD We Are the Wildlife.

Lyrics

A.L. Lloyd sings A Jug of Punch

As I was sitting with my glass and spoon
One summer evening in the month of June;
𝄆 The small birds sat on an ivy bunch
And the song they sang was the Jug of Punch. 𝄇

What more diversion could a man require
Than to settle down by the ale-house fire,
𝄆 With a fine red pippin to crack and crunch,
And on the table a jug of punch. 𝄇

Let the doctors come with all their arts
They’ll make no impression upon my heart
𝄆 Even the cripple forgets his hunch
When he’s snug outside of a jug of punch. 𝄇

If I drink too much, well, my money’s my own,
And them as don’t like it can leave me alone;
𝄆 But I’ll tune my fiddle and I’ll rosin my bow
And I’ll be welcome wherever I go. 𝄇

Too-ra-loo-ra-lay, too-ra-loo-ra-loo,
And if I get drunk well that’s nothing to you
𝄆 Oh my jug of punch and my jug of punch
This song I’m singing is the Jug of Punch. 𝄇

Martin Carthy sings Jug of Punch

As I was sitting with my jug and spoon
On one fine morn in the month of June;
A birdie sang on an ivy bunch
And the song he sang was the Jug of Punch.
Too-ta-loo-ra-loo, too-ra-loo-ra-loo,
Too-ta-loo-ra-loo, too-ra-loo-ra-loo,
A birdie sang on an ivy bunch
And the song he sang was the Jug of Punch.

What more diversion could a man desire
Than to sit him down by a neat turf fire,
A Kerry pippin to crack and crunch,
Aye, and on the table a jug of punch.
Too-ta-loo-ra-loo, too-ra-loo-ra-loo,
Too-ta-loo-ra-loo, too-ra-loo-ra-loo,
A Kerry pippin to crack and crunch,
Aye, and on the table a jug of punch.

The learned doctor with all his art
Cannot cure the impression that’s on the heart.
Even the cripple forgets his hunch
When he’s safe outside of a jug of punch.
Too-ta-loo-ra-loo, too-ra-loo-ra-loo,
Too-ta-loo-ra-loo, too-ra-loo-ra-loo,
Even the cripple forgets his hunch
When he’s safe outside of a jug of punch.

And when I’m dead and I’m in my grave
No costly tombstone will I crave.
Just lay me down in my native peat,
With a jug of punch at my head and feet.
Too-ta-loo-ra-loo, too-ra-loo-ra-loo,
Too-ta-loo-ra-loo, too-ra-loo-ra-loo,
Just lay me down in my native peat,
With a jug of punch at my head and feet.

Gordon McIntyre and Danny Spooner sing The 23^rd of June

It bein’ on the twenty-third of June
As I sat weaving all at my loom,
It bein’ on the twenty-third of June
As I sat weaving all on my loom,
A wee bird sat on an ivy bunch
And the song he sang was the Jug of Punch.

Chorus (after each verse):
Ladly-fol-da-dee, ladly-fol-da-diddley-I-da-diddle-dum
Skiddery-I-da-diddle-dum, skiddery-I-da-diddle-iddle-um-dum-dee

What more diversion can a boy endure
Than to sit him down, oh, behind the door,
What more diversion can a boy endure
Than to sit him down, oh, behind the door
And on his knee a tidy wench,
Aye, and on the table a jug of punch.

And what more hardship can a boy endure
Than to sit him down, oh, behind the door,
And what more hardship can a boy endure
Than to sit him down, oh, behind the door
And on his knee no tidy wench,
Aye, and on the table no jug of punch.

And when I’m dead and my drinking’s over
Then I’ll take a drink and I’ll drink no more.
When I am dead and my drinking’s o’er
I’ll take one drink and I’ll drink no more.
When I am dead and my drinking’s o’er,
I will take a drink, why it’s on the floor.

When I am dead, aye and in my mould,
At my head and feet place a flowing bowl.
When I am dead, aye and in my mould,
At my head and feet place a flowing bowl,
And every young boy that passes by
He can take a drink and remember I.

Bróna McVittie sings The Jug of Punch

It being on the third of June
As I sat weaving all by my loom,
It being on the third of June
As I sat weaving all by my loom,
A birdie sang on an ivy bunch
And the song he sang was a jug of punch.

Chorus (after each verse):
Ladlee fol the day…

What more diversion can a man desire
Than to sit him down beside the fire,
What more diversion can a man desire
Than to sit him down beside the fire
And on the table a jug of punch,
And on his knee one tidy wench.

What more diversion can a man endure
Than to sit him down behind the door,
What more diversion can a man endure
Than to sit him down behind the door
And on the table no jug of punch,
And on his knee no tidy wench.

When I am dying and my drinking’s o’er
I will take one drink and then take no more,
When I am dying and my drinking’s o’er
I will take one drink and then take no more.
In case I wouldn’t get another chance
I will take one now and then pass o’er.

When I am dead and in my mould
At my head and feet lay a flowing bowl,
When I am dead and in my mould
At my head and feet lay a flowing bowl.
And everyone who passes by
They can take one drink and remember I.