A note on O'Sullivan, Whiskey Waltz
We are tidying studio recordings, including a recording from last year of this performance piece, my song, The Whiskey Waltz...
The recording was made in order to help me sing, and help accompanists at a family gathering.
The tidying is part of a larger project.
And I thought that I should get this background note in place, for future use...
In case I forget it all. Again.
I had ridiculous trouble constructing this background note - I had to repair my own memory.
An odd detail is that when I shared my version of the melody with Irish and with English musician friends none of them recognised it...
Interesting to see that even Tony Archibald, threelegsoman, is not familiar with the song - introducing his version on his YouTube channel, he says: "On this side of 'The Pond', this song is not so well known... I am not even sure if I have heard it before..."
Guitar: Rye Whisky (Including lyrics and chords)
threelegsoman
In the end I had to put a query on Mudcat, and got a helpful answer. Thank you, Gargoyle.
So...
My song, Whiskey Waltz, is homage to and a version of the American classic, Rye Whisky.
Listen to the rhythms. 'Straight Whiskey'/Rye Whisky.
Same defiant and glum consumption of beverage, same waltz time...
Irish whiskey, of course. Not Bourbon or Scotch.
The song came to me from Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger...
I made the lyric even more glum, but more smooth and tidy within the English lyric tradition.
I made the lyric even more glum, but more smooth and tidy within the English lyric tradition.
Good solid rhymes that move the story forward.
Background Information...
The Traditional Tune Archive
Back to Rye Whiskey (1)
“Rye Whisky”
by Michael McFee
I’ll eat when I’m hungry,
…..I’ll drink when I’m dry;
If the hard times don’t kill me,
…..I’ll lay down and die.
Michael McFee reminds us that the song is in W. H. Auden, The Oxford Book of Light Verse (1938) - another detail that I had forgotten.
Why is this folk song in waltz time?
The explanation offered is that this American fiddle tune remembers its European ancestry - and fiddle tunes were often played in waltz time at social dances.
There is also a fiddle tradition of playing Rye Whisky with a drunken hiccup, pizzicato or a pull of the bow.
And there is a tradition of performing the song, as if drunk and hiccupping.
As Tex Ritter does here...
This is Woody Guthrie...
This is Pete Seeger...
And there are many more versions...
A final detail... When last year I stood up to record my version, the lyric remembered its origins - even if I did not. The lyric is written in waltz time.
And here is my Whiskey Waltz, on Soundcloud.
Patrick O'Sullivan
July 2026
