Lyrics
Me and my wife live all alone
Describes the narrator and his wife living alone in a small log hut.
In a little log hut we're all our own
Emphasizes their self-sufficiency in their dwelling.
She loves gin and I love rum
States the preferences of the narrator and his wife for different alcoholic drinks (gin and rum).
And don't we have a lot of fun
Expresses the enjoyment and fun they have together.
Ha, ha, ha, you and me
Repeated chorus expressing affection for the "Little brown jug."
Little brown jug, don't I love thee
-Ha, ha, ha, you and me
-Little brown jug, don't I love thee
-When I go toiling on the farm
Describes the narrator taking the jug to the farm, placing it under a tree, and attributing friendship and enmity to the jug.
I take the little jug under my arm
-Place it under a shady tree
-Little brown jug, 'tis you and me
-'Tis you that makes me friends and foes
Attributes various outcomes to the proximity of the jug, including making friends and enemies, wearing old clothes, and a humorous reference to tipping the jug.
'Tis you that makes me wear old clothes
-But, seeing you're so near my nose
-Tip her up and down she goes
-If all the folks in Adam's race
Contemplates a sentimental scenario where all people are gathered, expressing reluctance to part with the beloved jug.
Were gathered together in one place
-Then I'd prepare to shed a tear
-(I'd let them go without a tear)
-Before I'd part from you, my dear
-If I'd a cow that gave such milk
Compares the imagined qualities of the jug to a cow, expressing a desire to treat the cow with utmost care.
I'd dress her in the finest silk
-Feed her up on oats and hay
-And milk her twenty times a day
-I bought a cow from Farmer Jones
Tells a humorous story about buying a cow, feeding it well, but it still causing trouble by jumping the fence and straining its milk.
And she was nothing but skin and bones
-I fed her up as fine as silk
-She jumped the fence and strained her milk
-And when I die don't bury me at all
Humorous instructions for what to do after the narrator dies, involving pickling bones in alcohol and keeping a bottle of booze near the head and feet.
Just pickle my bones in alcohol
-I'ut a bottle o' booze at my head and feet
-And then I know that I will keep
-The rose is red, my nose is too
Ends with a playful verse about colors, roses, noses, and the suggestion to take another drink.
The violets blue and so are you
-And yet, I guess, before I stop
-We'd better take another drop
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