Whiskey in the Jar is an Irish folk song dating to the 1600s. The song has been covered by scads of musical acts, including The Kingston Trio, The Ernies, and Metallica.
It’s about a Irish highwayman who robs an English captain and then returns to his woman with the money. After he goes to sleep, she betrays him to the English captain (a la Samson and Delilah, but instead of cutting his hair she fills his guns with water).
There are several versions of the song, varying the precise locale or the woman’s name, but the biggest variation is the ending: in some, the hero gets hanged. In others, he goes to prison, and in some his brother breaks him out of jail and they both go to lie in wait for the captain.
Aside from the chorus, Musha ring dumma do dumma da, Whack for the daddy-o, there’s whiskey in the jar-o, the song has nothing to do with whiskey (other than being Irish).
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