Anti-Prohibition folk music: The global truth, or a global threat?

Joan Baez - Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts (by Bob Dylan).
Lord, and the hanging judge hadn't had a drink...

reply to post by halfoldman

But he was drunk the previous night when the backstage manager went to fetch him.

Kris Kristofferson - Sunday Morning Coming Down.
The Jonny Cash version is better, I think.
But there's something to an original.
Beer for breakfast?
Sounds strange today, but in past centuries this was the norm, even in orphanages.
In fact, the first temperance societies did not include beer or cider in their prohibition campaigns at all.

reply to post by halfoldman

Beer was not thought to be unhealthy – and I guess, for men who did a lot of physical labour, it wasn’t too bad. I still remember being surprised at reading in a D.H. Lawrence novel (can’t remember which one), that the protagonist, though a drunk, was not physically damaged by his alcoholism because he drank only beer. Lawrence probably wrote those words in the 1920s.

I wouldn’t say songs like ‘Sunday Morning Coming Down’ were anti-prohibition. It’s not exactly a glamorous ‘lifestyle’ being portrayed in them, is it?

Songs about alcoholism aren’t new. Here are a couple of old favourites:



I’m off for a stiff Scotch now.

The start of US Prohibition.
"The Alcoholic Blues" - Bill Murray (1918).
I mean, just imagine what a dreadful prospect.

Well, here's what the Dormouse had to say.
White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane:

reply to post by halfoldman

What? "Sunday morning coming down" is no longer available?
That song is an institution.
This thread actually made me order the Kristofferson album!

Oh well, in the meantime, here's the Johnny Cash version:

Matthew Southern Comfort - The Ballad of Obray Ramsey.

It's amazing how that 1960's generation had so much musical ability.
People could really sing and play their instruments, and it wasn't just bad grunting to some power chords!
I hope those traditions aren't totally lost.