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I've been digging around old texts relating to the Old Capital Prison and Point Lookout when I came across a song which was purported to be popular within Old Capital Prison in 1862.
Here's the link : http://books.google.com/books?id=jZM...epage#PPA48,M1
I didn't recognize the tune, Villikins and his Dinah, so a quick google search pops up several links. One, of course, includes Carl. The quality of the video is poor, but rendition is great.
I recognized the tune after hearing it and hummed it the remainder of yesterday. I looked up the sheet music and may add it to my play list. Thanks for all the music you post, Carl.
SONG.
Air—Villikins and His Dinah.
All persons confined in the Capitol jail
Must know that habeas corpus shall never avail
In taking them hence, for 'twas lately decreed
That laws are denied to all men of our creed.
Chorus
So let's be contented, whatever may come,
We'll live upon hope in the absence of rum;
And in water we'll drink, when affected with drought,
A health to old Jeff and success to the South.
Now, this one advantage 'tis ours to claim—
Though prisoners in fact, yet proud of that name;
While others their statutes pull down from their shelves
We legally make other laws for ourselves.
Chorus
Abe Lincoln, full gorged with imperial power,
Destroying the work of long years in an hour,
Makes anarchy reign, heaping sin upon sin,
Whilst we are establishing order within.
Chorus
On the streets, in the halls where the multitude throng,
To speak certain things is essentially wrong,
But here we're more free, be it spoken or sung;
There's a lock on the door, but no lock on the tongue.
Chorus
Outside, if you drill with a stick for a gun,
You are called a vile Rebel, and treated as one;
But here we've a barrack in every room,
In lieu of a gun, we disport with a broom.
Chorus
We're healthy within, but there's danger without,
For wherever you turn there's a gun at your snout,
But here we're as safe as a bug in a rug,
And the adage is false, " There's death in a jug."
Chorus
But heed not the twaddle of tyrants and knaves;
Though they the laws make, they cannot make us slaves;
Unheeding the wrong and maintaining the right,
We'll stick to our creed to the end of the fight.
Chorus
Old Capitol Prison, Washington, 1862.
Air—Villikins and His Dinah.
All persons confined in the Capitol jail
Must know that habeas corpus shall never avail
In taking them hence, for 'twas lately decreed
That laws are denied to all men of our creed.
Chorus
So let's be contented, whatever may come,
We'll live upon hope in the absence of rum;
And in water we'll drink, when affected with drought,
A health to old Jeff and success to the South.
Now, this one advantage 'tis ours to claim—
Though prisoners in fact, yet proud of that name;
While others their statutes pull down from their shelves
We legally make other laws for ourselves.
Chorus
Abe Lincoln, full gorged with imperial power,
Destroying the work of long years in an hour,
Makes anarchy reign, heaping sin upon sin,
Whilst we are establishing order within.
Chorus
On the streets, in the halls where the multitude throng,
To speak certain things is essentially wrong,
But here we're more free, be it spoken or sung;
There's a lock on the door, but no lock on the tongue.
Chorus
Outside, if you drill with a stick for a gun,
You are called a vile Rebel, and treated as one;
But here we've a barrack in every room,
In lieu of a gun, we disport with a broom.
Chorus
We're healthy within, but there's danger without,
For wherever you turn there's a gun at your snout,
But here we're as safe as a bug in a rug,
And the adage is false, " There's death in a jug."
Chorus
But heed not the twaddle of tyrants and knaves;
Though they the laws make, they cannot make us slaves;
Unheeding the wrong and maintaining the right,
We'll stick to our creed to the end of the fight.
Chorus
Old Capitol Prison, Washington, 1862.
I didn't recognize the tune, Villikins and his Dinah, so a quick google search pops up several links. One, of course, includes Carl. The quality of the video is poor, but rendition is great.
I recognized the tune after hearing it and hummed it the remainder of yesterday. I looked up the sheet music and may add it to my play list. Thanks for all the music you post, Carl.