Many thanks to those who explained just what this was all about.  I had
not realized what all had gone on in the late 1790's but got a hint the
other day in the paper in an article about candidates NOT elected
President.  I think it noted that Alexander Hamilton ran against John
Adams and it went on to mention the "Alien and Sedition Act."

It adds a lot more meaning to the words of "Jefferson and Liberty".
Trying to understand what they were singing about in times past (18th
Century England and America) is often very difficult, not only because
THEY knew what was going on at the time, but also because they tended to
invert verb-subjects and glom a lot of words on a few notes, or spread a
few words over lots of notes.

e.g. "The Roast Beef of Old England" which I learned as a good eating
and drinking song was actually a lament that "things are not what they
used to be."

"...We then had the stomachs to eat and to fight,
   And when wrongs were a-cooking to set them just right,
But now we are ___  ____
   I could.... but GOOD NIGHT!!!

Oh the Roast Beef of old England, and oh for Old England's Roast Beef!"

2nd prize is actually hearing me sing it :((

Randy Cabell

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