Thanks for those lyrics, John. It's amazing to see how many songs have used that melody.
I never heard of that tune, @john-gribble. Interesting. It's another for the list, certainly. Do you know where we might find some lyrics?
I am pretty sure, however, that George Washington was a drinker. I had read somewhere that well into the revolutionary war he used to drink a toast to George III, and I don't really know if that's true or not, but when I looked into it I found a lot about old George's drinking habits. Check out this website , which explains that he was partial to madeira wine and porter beer.
The lyrics are the second set in this collection: https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=xy1CAQAAMAAJ&pg=PT2&lpg=PT2&dq=%22temperance%22+song+to+Rosin+the+Beau&source=bl&ots=t1a2c1jBH8&sig=ACfU3U0Mx0-u_EhPoHoGqxsGvXSTdafnyg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjN1_7v26_zAhVGGaYKHT-AC3YQ6AF6BAgOEAM#v=onepage&q=%22temperance%22%20song%20to%20Rosin%20the%20Beau&f=false
I can only report what little I know about the Washingtonians. They were something of a precursor to Alchohoics Anonymous, but fell apart when they became involved with the anti-slavery and prohabition movements.
So Geoge wasn't a tee-totaler. Maybe he didn't really cut down the cherry tree. Or was occasionally a little "loose with the truth."
I never heard of that tune, @john-gribble. Interesting. It's another for the list, certainly. Do you know where we might find some lyrics?
I am pretty sure, however, that George Washington was a drinker. I had read somewhere that well into the revolutionary war he used to drink a toast to George III, and I don't really know if that's true or not, but when I looked into it I found a lot about old George's drinking habits. Check out this website , which explains that he was partial to madeira wine and porter beer.
There's a temperance song, "The Washington Badge," to "Rosin the Beau." The Washingtonians were a temperance group active in the years prior to the American Civil War. George Washington was, appaerently, a non-drinker.
I love that tune. Playing it is a sure cure for a gloomy mood. 
<Chuckle!> I've always figured it was a pun on rosining the bow from the start.
Hi @lois-sprengnether-keel. Well you've demonstrate how you can do good history lesson using folks music.
The words we know to Old Rosin the Beau certainly makes it a drinking song, but I wonder if the song was not originally an instrumental simply called Rosin the Bow, and someone put some tongue-in-cheek lyrics to it, creating a song better known than the original.
I do a program using the abolition song "Roll on the Liberty Ball" that was sung at the planting of the enormous cedar that was the marker (seen for miles) of the Underground Railroad Station operated by the family of the woman I portray (Liberetta Lerich Green). Later when Civil War years near and I talk about the family's involvement in that & Lincoln's election, I use "Lincoln & Liberty, Too" -- his campaign song. Both sets of lyrics to "Old Rosin the Beau" were by the abolitionist music group, The Hutchinson Family Singers. I have 3 blog articles about them and Civil War music at http://www.storytellingresearchlois.com/search/label/Hutchinson%20Family%20Singers . The most recent (therefore the first shown) has a video of ex-Weaver, Ronnie Gilbert singing "Lincoln and Liberty, Too." Personally I always found it funny singing to the tune of "Old Rosin the Beau" as the family's father was staunchly anti-alcohol, even salting the corn crop he sold to pay their part in an Underground Railroad fine paid by all members of the network.
I use the songs to tie together Liberetta's life story, fitting some incidents to verses, since a normal life, unlike fiction doesn't have an easy outline. The song also has predictable repetition, encouraging audience participation.
Thanks, @ken-longfield and @ken-hulme. I should have know you two would be the first to join the conversation!
Having grown up in Boston, I've know the Charlie and the MTA song about as long as I've known the Longfellow poem about Paul Revere ("Listen my children and you shall hear . . . "). Both were required material in elementary schools.
There are lots of one-offs, I assume. I heard an old Scottish tune called "The Bold Princess Royal" that must have been the source of the melody for Sweet Betsy from Pike.
But so far you guys have confirmed my sense that Rosin the Beau has been used more than any other melody.
The tunes we know for Slane/Be Thou My Vision/Banks Of The Bann; The Riddle Song/12th of Never; Twinkle,Twinkle/Baa Baa Black Sheep/Alphabet Song/A Vous Dirai-je Maman; and Aura Lee/Love Me Tender come to mind; but none with more iterations than Rosin The Beau
This is an interesting question. I thought of the "The Ship that Never Returned" which is the basis for "The Wreck Old 97" which is the basis of "The Municipal Train Protest Song" (MTA), which is the basis of "Super Skier." Not quite as many as Rosin the Beau.
With regard to Rosin the Beau, the Limeliters did a parody called "Acres of Limeliters." Randy Sparks and the New Christy Minstrels did a song entitled "Denver" to that tune. I believe it was also the basis for a campaign song,"The Hero of Tippecanoe," for William Henry Harrison. I'm sure there are others, but those are ones that come to mind.
Ken
"The dulcimer sings a sweet song."
We know how common it has been in the folklore tradition to add new lyrics to an old melody. Poets such as Robert Burns did so incessantly, it seems. Woody Guthrie did so, too. I have two questions for you to contemplate: 1) What melodies seem to have been used more than others for new songs; and 2) Have any melodies been used more than Rosin the Beau?
To provide context for the second question, let me point you to the following:
5) Lament of the Old Sourdough
If you have more to add, please do so.
