BUY US A DRINK

MP3

This was originally written to be a kind of calling-on song for Roaring Jack - a political statement of intent and a wee bit of self-mockery at the same time, I guess. We recorded it on RJ’s first album, Street Celtabillity, in 1986.

A short time later the song was picked up by a well-known Canadian-based Irish folk band called The Irish Rovers, who included it on their LP ‘Hard Stuff’. They changed the words in the chorus from ‘If you can’t stand a schooner stand us a ten, we’ll knock it straight down and we’ll sing it again’ to ‘If you can’t stand a whiskey stand us a pint, we’ll knock it straight down and we’ll sing half the night’, which is just fine by me.

For the non-Australians among you, a schooner is a big beer and a ten is a little one. Since then, Buy Us A Drink has found its way onto the albums of a few Canadian punk folk bands, who all do the Irish Rovers’ version of the lyrics. It seems the folk process has overruled me this time, at least around those parts it has.

In D shapes with capo at 3 rd fret (F)

D                                         A             Bm

Here’s to the soldiers that march to the wars

           D                         G                   A

With lovely tin hats and long woollen drawers

            A                 D                        G

The Colonel says ‘Right lads, over the top!’

                    D                                          A             D

Then he stands back to watch while the poor buggers drop

A D G

Buy us a drink and I’ll sing you a song

D Bm A

Of the chances you missed and the love that went wrong

D G

If you can’t stand a schooner stand us a ten

D A D

I’ll knock it straight down and I’ll sing it again

There’s girls in the parlour, there’s girls in the bars

They paint on the smile so you don’t see the scars

They get lots of offers and not much respect

For raisin’ three kids on a government cheque

Bm A

Drink it down, boys down

D A

As long as there’s life in the day

D G D

For you’ll get no more sup when your number is up

Bm A D

And they lay you to rot in the clay

Then in comes the landlord so fat and content

Comes round in his Volvo to pick up the rent

Then off with his wad to recline by the pool

He leaves you to rot in this shitty old hole

It’s the taste of the whisky to tell you the truth

Has shortened my days and wasted my youth

Be kind to the health sir, do it no harm

Put a pint of the black on the end of my arm

Chord Chart

Intro: 3/4Time)

D / / I D / / I G / / I D / / I

D / / I D / / I A / / I C / / I

D / / I D / / I G / / I D / / I

D / / I D / / I A / / I D / / I

1st Verse: (3/4 into 4/4 Time)

D / / I D / / I A / / I Bm / / I

D / / I D / / I G / / I A / / I

A / / I D / / I D / / I G / / I G - - I

D / / / I A / D / I

Chorus: (4/4Time)

A / / / I D / G / I D / / / I Bm / A / I

D / / / I D / G / I D / / / I A / D / I

Instrumental Tag:

G / D / I G / D / I G / D / I A / D / I x2

Verses 2 – 4

D / / / I A / Bm / I D / / / I G / A / I

A / D / I D / G / I D / / / I A / D / I

Bridge:

Bm / / / I A / / / I D / / / I A / / / I

D / / / I G / D / I Bm / A / I D / / / I

Playing Tips:

I’ve shown the chords in D but it’s played with a capo at the 3 rd fret, which means I’m actually in F. The song is really in 2/4 not 4/4, but writing it out in bars of two would take up way too much time and space. Anyway you can count it in bars of four just fine.

On the original electric version I played this in standard tuning in the key of G. These days I do it acoustically in DADGAD with a capo at the 3 rd fret, which means I’m in F and don’t need to strain to get the high notes. I fingerpick it now rather than use a flat pick and the DADGAD tuning means I can do the instrumental bits more easily than in standard.

The introduction is a traditional Scots lament called Farewell To Stirling and the other twiddly bit is just a wee tune I made up myself. If you don’t want to retune into DADGAD, then try either playing it in D shapes (capo 3rd fret), maybe with the bottom E string dropped down to D, or transpose into C shapes with the capo at the 5 th fret to get into F. Strumming with a flat pick sounds just fine if you don’t fancy trying to do it finger-picking style, by the way.