A Pub with No Beer
A Pub With No Beer is the title of a well-known humorous country song. Adapted by Gordon Parsons from the original poem "A Pub Without Beer" by Dan Sheahan of Ingham, North Queensland (originally from Newmarket, Ireland) "A Pub With No Beer" became in 1957 the first golden hit single by the renowned Australian country singer Slim Dusty, and the biggest-selling record by an Australian to that time. In 1959 Dusty wrote and recorded a sequel, "The Answer To A Pub With No Beer", explaining the reason for the beer delivery truck's failure to arrive and describing the townsmen's efforts to solve the problem.
The renowned Flemish entertainer Bobbejaan Schoepen would later perform the song in several languages. His Dutch version ("Café zonder bier") debuted in 1959 and his German version ("Ich steh an der bar und ich habe kein geld") in 1960. Both became number one hits in Belgium and in Austria. In Germany the song remained 30 weeks in the charts.
A Pub With No Beer is also the Dutch theme song and title of a Belgian-British film starring Bobbejaan, also entitled 'At the Drop of a Head'. In 1999 the alternative rock band Dead Man Ray wrote (partly) a new soundtrack for the film and went on tour with it in the Low Countries. The band also covered the song and released it on one of their albums.
A very similar song, "Bar with No Beer" was recorded by Tom T. Hall in 1985 on the album "Song in a Seashell". Johnny Cash, who also performed the song, advised him to record it. Twenty-five years prior to the Tom T. Hall recording, Benny Barnes from Beaumont, Texas, Americanized the lyrics to "Pub With No Beer" and titled it "Bar With No Beer." The song became a regional hit on the Hall-Way label in 1960. An added bit of trivia: The melody to both is almost identical to an 1800s composition by songwriter Stephen Foster, "Beautiful Dreamer."
List of releases/artists
Anne Kirkpatrick & Slim Dusty, Bobbejaan Schoepen (Benelux, Germany, Austria, 1959/1960), Johnny Cash, Bluey Francis, Errol Gray, Foster & Allen, Gordon Parsons, The Irish Rovers, Johnny Greenwood, John Williamson, Nokturnl, Richard Clayderman, Rodney Vincent, The Singing Kettles, Stewart Peters and The Ten Tenors. Other sources mention versions by Johnny Ashcroft, The Pogues, Danny O'Flaherty, Patsy Watchorn, The Clancy Brothers, Merv Allen & The Jimmy Johnston Showband and Wilson Cole, Rolf Harris (UK, 1963), Hamish Imlach (UK, 1995), The Dubliners (1967), Adge Cutler & The Wurzels (UK, 1968), Midnight Oil (Australia, 1998), Dead Man Ray (Belgium, 2001).