John Barleycorn
In English-speaking countries, John Barleycorn is a derisive, mostly trivializing name for alcohol.
An eponymous ballad of the Scottish poet Robert Burns describes how the barley (Engl. Barley ) is brought as a grain in the earth and finally in processed form as whiskey ends up in the glass. The poem goes back to an old folk song that has been documented as early as the 16th and 17th centuries.
John Barleycorn is also the title of an autobiographical novel by Jack London published in 1913 . The novel was published in German translated under the original title and under the title King Alcohol . London uses the name John Barleycorn as the personification of alcohol and vividly describes how much alcohol addiction ruled him and changed his character.
In 1979 the American literary magazine Atlantic Monthly published a preprint of the short story by TC Boyle entitled John Barleycorn Lives . In this, the author uses satirical narrative to deal with the history of prohibition and the role of the leading protagonists at the time (here: Carry A. Nation , a leader of the abstinence movement in the USA towards the end of the 19th century).
An album by the rock band Traffic is titled John Barleycorn Must Die and contains an adaptation of the folk song. The folk rock band Steeleye Span released their version of the song on the album Below the Salt in 1972 , the folk rock band Fairport Convention versions of the song on the albums Tipplers Tales (1978) and 25th Anniversary Concert (1992). Another musical arrangement comes from Jethro Tull and can be found on the CD A Little Light Music from 1992.
The Oldenburg folk rock group Lack of Limits has published a song about John Barleycorn on the Geigentanz album , as has Subway to Sally a song entitled "Barleycorn". The Lausitz Blues group with Igor Flach has released a version with German lyrics.
literature
- TC Boyle: Death by Drowning: Stories (translated by Anette Grube), Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-423-12329-X