“A Pub With No Beer” was written by Gordon Parsons, famously performed by Slim Dusty (David Gordon Kirkpatrick), and released in April 1957 as the B side to one of Slim Dusty’s other recordings. The song was enormously popular, becoming the only Australian 78 RPM record to be made a “gold record”, and it reached #1 on the music charts in September 1958.
The song was based on a poem written by Dan Sheahan, a Queensland farmer (who was born in Ireland). The background story is that in 1943, during the Second World War, Sheahan had gone to the Day Dawn Hotel in Ingham (Queensland), but found, to his horror, that American soldiers had drunk the place dry of beer the previous day. Sheahan wrote a poem about the incident, “A Pub Without Beer”, which was published in the North Queensland Register the following year. Gordon Parsons, an Australian musician, liked the poem, and subsequently turned it into a song, which his friend Slim Dusty then recorded. “A Pub With No Beer” has become part of Australia’s folk music tradition.
Slim Dusty – A Pub With No Beer
Slim Dusty – A Pub With No Beer (original 1957 version)
Slim Dusty and Gordon Parsons – A Pub With No Beer
Slim Dusty – Tribute to Gordon Parsons – A Pub With No Beer
The Wayfarers – A Pub With No Beer
Frankie Davidson – A Pub With No Beer
The Outlanders – A Pub With No Beer
Paul Kelly – A Pub With No Beer (at home)
Midnight Oil – A Pub With No Beer
John Doringer – A Pub With No Beer
Rolf Harris – A Pub With No Beer
Wilf Carter – A Pub With No Beer (USA)
Tom T. Hall – A Bar With No Beer (USA)
Benny Barnes – A Bar With No Beer (USA)
Johnny Cash – A Pub With No Beer (USA)
Johnny Worth – A Pub With No Beer (England)
The Dubliners – A Pub With No Beer (Ireland)
Additional resources
A Pub With No Beer (1957) [curator’s notes], Australian Screen (National Film and Sound Archive)
A Pub With No Beer (1957), Australian Screen (National Film and Sound Archive)
Slim Dusty, Slim Dusty Enterprises [archived]
Australia’s first hit single ‘a pub with no beer’ turns 50 years old , The Slim Dusty Centre [archived]
“Slim Dusty – A Pub With No Beer (1957)”, Pop Archives
Slim Dusty, Wikipedia (accessed 28 September 2012)
Lyrics:
“Slim Dusty lyrics: “A Pub With No Beer””, AZLyrics
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