"Beer Barrel Polka", originally in Czech "Škoda lásky", also known as "The Barrel Polka", "Roll Out the Barrel", or "Rosamunde", is a 1927 polka composed by Czech musician
Jaromír Vejvoda.[1] Lyrics were added in 1934, subsequently gaining worldwide popularity during
World War II as a
drinking song.[2]
History
In 1927, the music for the polka was composed by the Czech musician
Jaromír Vejvoda.[3]
Eduard Ingriš wrote the first arrangement of the piece, after Vejvoda came up with the melody and sought Ingriš's help in refining it. At that time, it was played without lyrics as "Modřanská polka" ("Polka of
Modřany").[citation needed]
In 1934, the first text for the polka was written by Vašek Zeman – with the title "Škoda lásky"("Wasted Love").[4]
The
polka became famous around the world. In June 1939, "Beer Barrel Polka", as recorded by
Will Glahé, was number one on the Hit Parade. This version was distributed by
Shapiro Bernstein. Glahé's earlier 1934 recording sold many copies in its German version Rosamunde.[citation needed]
It is possible the reason for the rapid spread was due to the
occupation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany, and subsequent emigration of thousands of Czechs to other parts of the world, bringing this catchy tune with them.[citation needed]
During World War II, versions in many other languages were created and the song was popular among soldiers, regardless of their allegiances. On
VE Day, 8 May or 9 May 1945,
Humphrey Lyttelton played it standing on a handcart outside
Buckingham Palace, a performance that could be heard in the BBC broadcast from the victory celebrations.[6][7]
It was claimed many times that the song was written in the country where it had just become a hit. Its actual composer was not widely known until after the war.[clarification needed][citation needed]
Bobby Vinton recorded "Beer Barrel Polka" in 1975. The song was released as the follow-up single to his multi-million selling "
My Melody of Love" and reached number 33 on the Billboard, number 45 on the Cashbox Top 40 hit charts and number 51 in Australia.[8] The success of the single, which was particularly popular on jukeboxes, led to its inclusion on Vinton's Heart of Hearts album in 1975.
The theme was interpreted in Spanish over the years by various artists such as Manolita Arriola[10] from Mexico, Elsa Valladares from Cuba, Gildardo Montoya and El Grupo Venezuela, Los Hermanos Corrales from Colombia,[11] the group "Los Mismos" from Spain, Anteojito from Argentina, among others.
• The Grateful Dead performed it as well as a filler between songs. The most popular being June 26, 1974 in Providence, Rhode Island
At
San Jose Giants home games, a batter from the opposing team is designated the "beer batter." If the San Jose pitcher strikes out that batter, beer is half price in the beer only lines for the 15 minutes immediately following the strike out. The beer batter promotion is in effect only for the first six innings of the game. The PA system plays Beer Barrel Polka whenever the beer batter comes to the plate and after every strike during the beer batter's at-bat (through the first six innings). After the sixth inning, the beer batter becomes the apple juice batter and if he strikes out, fans get half-priced Martinelli's apple juice.[citation needed]
Pro wrestler
Crusher Lisowski used the song as his entrance music, and would often growl out a few bars of it during interviews.[citation needed]
The German
football club
Bayern München use the tune of Beer Barrel Polka for their song FC Bayern, lala lalala lala.[12]
In the 1946 movie The Captive Heart, the song was sung by the POWs to drown out the camp speakers and by the repatriated troops as they arrive home.[citation needed]
In
Carl Davis's 1990 score for 1916 epic silent drama
Intolerance, Davis incorporates the Beer Barrel Polka at the "Strike" scene at 17:33,[13][14] despite the scene taking place in 1916, a decade before the song was written. It may have been meant to evoke a generic
polka melody.
In the 2022
Dreamworks animated film, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Papa Bear of the "Three Bears Crime Family" gives another character, Mama Luna, the "piano treatment" which involves him playing her piano which she was thrown into while he sings a jaunty rendition of this song.[citation needed]
In an episode of The Critic, a trained bear plays the song for Jay Sherman, the critic, trying to stay a part of his show.[citation needed]
It was played by Amanda McBroom as Eleanor Carlyle on piano at officers' club in
M*A*S*H season 10 episode 1 ("That's Show Biz") after she says that "Even Dvorak and Brahms wrote folk dances" to
Major Winchester.[citation needed]
In the Hogan's Heroes season 1 episode "Papa Schultz - Top Hat, White Tie and Bomb Sights", Colonel Hogan convinces the
Luftwaffe that he knows the details of the
Norden Bombsight and has pro-Nazi leanings. To firm up the subterfuge, Colonel Hogan describes a
vacuum cleaner named "The Norden" in front of a wiretap with the prisoner crew singing "Beer Barrel Polka" loudly, interrupting lines of dialog. Commandant Klink believes the performance because the various details not covered up by singing appear to describe a bombsight.[citation needed]
In the Frasier episode, "Where Every Bloke Knows Your Name",
Frasier Crane and his new friends sing "Roll Out the Barrel" in a British-style pub as a frustrated, and bewildered
Daphne Moon looks on.[citation needed]
Comics
In the
Girl Genius comic and webcomic, the titular inventor Agatha Heterodyne creates a fleet of defensive robots from
carnival wagons and one from a barrel; that robot plays the polka while wielding a pair of axes.[citation needed]