I'm A Man You Don't Meet Every Day

This is a great song, and one of my favorites; an old traditional one, too. It's only confusing if you don't know the history, which many don't -- but even then, it's clearly a song about a character of a guy, a proud man who thinks a lot of himself but is wildly generous to those around him. It's a rowdy pub song, a drunken Leonine fellow buying rounds.

As for the history of it, though: This old folksong probably came over to Ireland with the Scottish settlers, possibly as early as the late 1400s. It's been played and recorded by many artists, including Jeannie Robertson, Archie Fisher, The Dubliners, The McCalmans, The Tannahill Weavers, Big Paddy, and The Pogues.

The song is generally thought to be the words of a man who is jokingly claiming to be "Jock" Stewart (or James Stewart since "Jock" was short for James), a famed Scottish King -- or that King's son. The singer is selling himself, claiming to be exceptional, royalty in hiding... enough money to be generous, and with men under his command. He invites his companions to order brandy and wine, heavily-taxed and expensive French imports, rather than the cheaper local whiskey or porter.

In the Pogues' version, the man says that he shot his dog while out in county Kildare; the original lyrics, however, mostly just talk about taking the dog out hunting. Also, the Pogues' version of this song is one of the few from that band that was sung by Cait O'Riordan instead of Shane MacGowan, the band's main singer.

The lyrics of this song confuse the hell out of me. But goddamn, those vocals are gorgeous. I could listen to them all day...

Oh -- and here's another verse that's typically in the song, as well as the non-Pogues version of the dog verse:

I'm a roving young blade, I'm a piper by trade, And there's many the tunes I can play; So be easy and free when you're drinking with me, I'm a man you don't meet every day.

I go out with my dog And my gun for to shoot, All along by the banks of the Tay; Be easy and free When you're drinking with me, I'm a man you don't meet every day.

What? No comments on this awesome song?

Havent you ever been drunk? Havent you ever wanted to chat with anyone no matter how much would you pay?

So lovely and depressive song...

Thanks Jack, I appreciate the historical background. I'm glad that someone had more to contribute than just " Band X ROCKS!" The Pogues board is much better than most though; I'm a bit too drunk to write any more. "But how can your punctuation be so on the money" you say? Well my lad, it took a very long time, and I edited myself. Cheers!

This is a superb song. Was Cait Irish? Because her annunciation sounds bit Scottish to me.

Cair is Irish, but London Irish, like Shane.

They're all english!