John Fitch, "The Song of the Brown Jug"
The song below was printed into a will that Fitch drew up in 1792. As can be seen from the song, Fitch intended to commit suicide at that point, but ended up holding off suicide until 1798.
The Song of the Brown Jug
With my jug in one hand and my pipe in the other
I'll drink to my neighbor and friend
All my cares in a whiff of Tobacco I'll smother
My life I know shortly must End
While Ceres most kindly refills my Brown Jug with Brown Ale
I will make myself mellow
In my old Vicar Chair I'll set myself snuf
Like a jolly and true-hearted fellow
I'll ne'er trouble myself with the Cares of my Nation
I've enough of My own for to mind
All we see in this World is but grief and vexation
To Death I am Shortly Resigned
So we'll laugh Drink and Smoke and leave nothing to Care
And Drop like a Pair (Pear) Ripe and Mellow
When Cold in my Coffin I'll leave them to Say
He's gone what a True-hearted Fellow[i]
[i]Fitch, "Will," July 13, 1792, Force Collection, Library of Congress.
The Song of the Brown Jug
With my jug in one hand and my pipe in the other
I'll drink to my neighbor and friend
All my cares in a whiff of Tobacco I'll smother
My life I know shortly must End
While Ceres most kindly refills my Brown Jug with Brown Ale
I will make myself mellow
In my old Vicar Chair I'll set myself snuf
Like a jolly and true-hearted fellow
I'll ne'er trouble myself with the Cares of my Nation
I've enough of My own for to mind
All we see in this World is but grief and vexation
To Death I am Shortly Resigned
So we'll laugh Drink and Smoke and leave nothing to Care
And Drop like a Pair (Pear) Ripe and Mellow
When Cold in my Coffin I'll leave them to Say
He's gone what a True-hearted Fellow[i]
[i]Fitch, "Will," July 13, 1792, Force Collection, Library of Congress.
posted by Ric Caric at 5:53 PM
8 Comments:
At times I feel like Fitch did when he wrote this. The world seems to be full of problems and I’m supposed to care about everything that is going on with everyone everywhere. It’s hard to care though when I’ve got a plate full of problems myself. Sometimes it seems like it would just be easier to drink my cares away. But at the same time, this isn’t the best thing to do. Today’s world seems to be getting more and more apathetic as to what’s going on around them. While not every thought of everyday should revolve around others, we should still think about people other than ourselves. Maybe this is a Polly Anna idea, but if we did care a little more about what is going on with other people, then maybe just maybe there wouldn’t be so many problems in this crazy world. I was surprised to read that this was somewhat of a suicide note though. It certainly doesn’t sound like one to me. It just sounds like the song of a man who doesn’t care anymore and is just going to drink and smoke the rest of his life. But then again, if all one did was drink, I suppose that is in essence killing yourself.
This reminds me of the quote "eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die." which is rather upbeat for an apparent suicide note. If I simply stumbled upon the song myself I would have interpreted it as a seize the moment message. The overall tone of the song is very simple and earthy, Fitch repeatedly returns to the color brown, brown jug, brown alcohol, this gave the overall work an organic feel, yet these elements seem to provide comfort to the author rather than add to his sorrow. Traditionally one would expect a suicide note to be more macabre or mournful. I think the author’s tone gives the piece a sort of relaxed feel, as if suicide for him is not an end so much as a release from life's troubles. It reminds me also of Hamlets "to be or not to be" speech and obviously Fitch has chosen the latter and he seems at ease with his choice.
There is a cliche quote floating about society along the lines of 'death is only the beginning', and this song reminds of those words. Everyone is going to die -it's a fact of life, and one can choose to look at it as a curse, or a new journey. Everything beyond death is unknown, which most human beings are not comfortable with; we are creatures that thrive on the knowledge of what could happen in our lives, or the belief that we have control.
Control is lost in this song, purposefully. Fitch lets it go, giving himself, representationally through color and word choice (brown, as Eden said, etc.) to the earth, which is where the body goes when one dies. He has given up on the idea that he will live forever. At the risk of being feminist, many men do believe that they're going to live together, that they're invincible -hence the higher rate of them that do dangerous, adrenaline-based stunts as well as not wearing their seat belts.
In a sense, Fitch has realized that he will die, but he is still riding through life without his seat belt. He is not interested in fighting it anymore. This is admirable and beautiful, a sacrifice of human desires and instict. He shows an extraordinary willingness to accept the inevitable, which, these days, is a rarity.
This is a very interesting song because I believe just about everyone can relate to it. At one time or another people become overwhelmed with their own personal problems. Not only that but when those same people are exposed to the great problems of our society it can cause a great amount of stress and possible suicidal thoughts on the extreme side of things. Even though there may not be a ton of people that have had feelings that are borderline suicidal, everyone has either thought about or tried various substances to ease their pain. Either by drowning their sorrows in alcohol or feeling like they need to smoke something to take their problems away, everyone feels stressed enough to try and erase pressing times. Generally speaking this song reflects a negative outlook on life but it doesn't come off to me to be extremely dark and depressing. There are some very good points that could be considered cynical but its just a temporary mindset that many experience at some point in their life. The absence of divinity here is obvious to me because he is much more concerned in earthly pleasures of getting drunk and smoking instead of considering where death will take him.
It is very interesting that this song was supposed to be a suicide note. To me the writer does not seem to have a desire to die. Rather he gives his decree on how he will never beat death.Knowing this disturbs him deeply. Since there is nothing that he can do about death why bother with life? He has just given up. The songwriter’s suicide is not one where he dies literally. It is more like a discharge of his problems. In essence he is still alive but he might as well be dead. He decides to just drink and smoke for the rest of his life. It is so funny that people still do that now after all this time. Drinking to forget your problems is what a lot of college students that I know do. Instead of finding solutions they prefer to have a good time and forget about it. Simply existing like this is not beneficial to anyone. If the man had killed himself it would have had the same result. By living all he is doing is taking up space. He is no closer to making a difference. Most importantly he is no closer to enlightenment.
All artistic endeavors can be interpreted in many different ways. For this reason, I have multiple views about this song. In a sense, I agree with bob barker that Rabelais might have approved of this song, but I don’t believe Fitch’s point in writing this was “loosen up a bit and enjoy life.” I interpret the song as him being very discouraged and unmotivated to continue living when “all we see in this world is but grief and vexation.” I think it would be more accurate to say his point was to “loosen up a bit and enjoy death.” It seems Fitch cannot figure out how to enjoy living, so he is going to make dieing as ‘pleasant’ (so to speak) as possible.
Also, I completely disagree with what Krangor wrote about Fitch’s decision to commit suicide being a conclusion of “lots of rational thought.” Suicidal thinking is not rational, healthy, or a sign of mental stability. However, I do not think anyone can judge someone for attempting, committing, or thinking about suicide for this reason as well. If the individual is mentally unstable/unhealthy/irrational, then their decision to commit suicide isn’t truly a sign of their character. Therefore, I don’t believe this song shows that Fitch is selfish or cowardly…just simply suicidal.
Meaghan Dill
If this song hadn't been intended as a suicide note, I would have guessed that John Fitch was a bit of an existentialist. He seems to wield defiance toward life in his suggestion that everyone sit back and party. An existentialist would say that our actions in life simply do not matter, so we must face life with stoicism and live it however the heck we want, which is especially prevalent in the line suggesting that everyone just drink, smoke, and "leave nothing to care". However an the fact that this poem is about committing suicide completely ruins that argument, for if John Fitch truly were existential, he would have known that by killing himself, life would have defeated him instead of the other way around. He seemed to be on the right track but for the whole ending his life deal. However, if one had a choice as to how they would die, Fitch's way of doing it would be ideal. How best to end your life by sitting around with your friends, having fun (not necessarily drinking and smoking for those of you who might not enjoy it)? I for one, certainly would like to go out laughing and happy. I hope that Fitch died the way he described in this song.
Unless I miss interpreted this song, I love it!
This is how I want to live my life. Pretty much not care about anything and everything else just say screw it. This is pretty much true, once you die you die and I hope that someone will say what a true hearted fellow I was!
But this song is honestly pretty amazing. “I’ve enough of my own for to mind.” And this quite right here pretty much says it all, why worry about anything else when you have so much to worry about as it is?
We should all just realize the life we lead is the only life we get, have fun with it, do what we want when we want and not worry about all the crap that comes with it. Throw up our hands grab a pint chug it and have a blast!!!
Pretty much the type of mood this song puts me into. I like it, I want to live it
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