Post 1082 – Whiskey in the Jar

I really should be transcribing the NB interview tonight before the Jack Bauer show starts at the top of the hour, 17 minutes or so from now.  But I have been thinking about a late 1990’s Metallica song, “Whiskey in the Jar”.  The lyrics are so strange for a metal band’s, that I knew that there had to be a lot more to it.

This song is hundreds of years old!

It goes back to the 1600’s and was and is a very famous Irish drinking song, because, let’s face it, there aren’t any Irish sitting-around-watching-tv songs.  Very well known in early Colonial America, it was, around 1973, recorded by Thin Lizzy.  25 years later, Metallica did an album of cover songs and won a Grammy for it. 

I thought I’d include a few videos for you to prove my assertions and justify my research.  Here’s a traditional version by The Dubliners.



Here’s Thin Lizzy’s rendition, which is smokin’ cool.  I had forgotten how much I liked these guys.



And, here’s an unauthorized copy Metallica’s version.  The official version of the video is one I cannot embed here, but I found this one, which shows the very strange (to modern ears) lyrics.



Hope you like them. 

And, here’s an article about the song, if you want to read its fascinating history.

Really cool post tomorrow.  Watch for it!

Bevboy