"Under the Anheuser Bush" is a beer garden song commissioned by the Anheuser-Busch brewing company in 1903.[1] With music by Harry Von Tilzer and words by Andrew B. Sterling, the title contains a pun on the surnames of the company's founders ("Busch" is the German word for "Bush").
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Published by the Harry Von Tilzer Music Pub. Co., it followed on the success of Von Tilzer's 1902 beer garden composition, "Down Where The Wurzburger Flows".[2]
The chorus lyrics below are as printed in the 1903 sheet music.[3] The line "come and have a stein or two" is backed by the first bar of the German folk standard "Oh du lieber Augustin".
- Come, come, come and make eyes with me
- Under the Anheuser Bush
- Come, come drink some "Budwise" with me
- Under the Anheuser Bush
- Hear the old German band... [followed by a bar of "Oh du lieber Augustin"]
- Just let me hold your hand – Yah!
- Do, do come and have a stein or two
- Under the Anheuser Bush
Popular recordings were made by Billy Murray (1904), and as a duet by Collins and Harlan (1905).[2] In the MGM movie Meet Me in St. Louis, set in 1903, the orchestra at the Christmas dance plays an instrumental version.
The song was adapted for a British music hall version called "Down at the Old Bull and Bush", written for Florrie Forde and made popular by her.[4][lower-alpha 1]
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The tune was adapted for the political parody song "Down At The Old Watergate" during the Watergate scandal.[6]
Notes
- ↑ The Old Bull and Bush is a north London public house—now a Grade II-listed landmark with a bar named in Forde's honor.[5]
References
- ↑ Taylor, Timothy D. (2012). The Sounds of Capitalism: Advertising, Music, and the Conquest of Culture. University of Chicago Press. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-226-79114-2.
- 1 2 Jasen, David A. (2013). A Century of American Popular Music. Taylor & Francis. p. 262. ISBN 978-1-135-35271-4.
- ↑ "Under the Anheuser Bush". Levy Sheet Music Collection. JScholarship. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
- ↑ Martland, Peter (2012). Recording History: The British Record Industry, 1888–1931. Scarecrow Press. p. 201. ISBN 978-0-8108-8253-9.
- ↑ "Artist Biography: Florrie Forde". Allmusic. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
- ↑ "Down at the Old Watergate - Congressman William Hungate - YouTube". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-19. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
External links
- "Under the Anheuser Bush", Billy Murray (1904), Monarch (Victor) Record label, at Library of Congress National Jukebox
- "Under the Anheuser Bush", Collins and Harlan (1905), Victor Record label, at Library of Congress National Jukebox