John Barleycorn

John Barleycorn is in English-speaking countries, a mocking, mostly harmless sounding name for the alcohol.

A ballad of the same name of the Scottish poet Robert Burns describes how the barley (English barley ) is brought as a grain in the earth and eventually ends up in processed form as whiskey in glass. The poem goes back to an old folk song that has been proven in the 16th and 17th centuries.

John Barleycorn is also the title of a 1913 published autobiographical novel by Jack London. The novel was published translated into German under the original title, and under the title of King of alcohol. London used the name John Barleycorn as the personification of the alcohol and describes vividly how much dominated him the alcohol dependence and its nature changed.

In 1979, the American literary magazine Atlantic Monthly a preprint of the short story by TC Boyle with the title John Barleycorn lives out. In this, the author puts in a satirical narrative with the history of Prohibition and the role of the then leading protagonist ( here: Carry A. Nation, a leader of the temperance movement in the U.S. towards the end of the 19th century ) apart.

An album of jazz rock band Traffic is titled John Barleycorn Must Die and includes an edit of the song. Another musical adaptation is by Jethro Tull and can be found on the CD " A Little Light Music" in 1992. The Oldenburg folk-rock group Lack of limits has on the album " Violin Dance " a song about John Barleycorn, as well as Subway to Sally has released a song called Barleycorn. Next the group " Lausitz Blues" has brought out with Igor Flach a version with German text.