From the recording Yellow Butter Moon
I had occasion to meet a delightful older woman in the Florida panhandle a couple years back who is a proud seventh generation native of the State. During our visit she told me about the difficulty of the depression years for rural Floridians and how her father and grandfather struggled to maintain the extended family and hold onto the family farm. With too many to take care of on what little they could make from the crops they raised they were forced to turn to other means to survive. Despite their strong Baptist upbringing they went to making a little moonshine. Not a lot mind you, just enough to help them get through the hard times. Very proud they were of the quality of the corn liquor they brewed and they serviced a very select clientele that included the local Sheriff (a valuable source of information for when the Revenuers might come snooping around). They even had a brand name on gummed labels for the jugs and jars – they called it Yellow Butter Moon.
Lyrics
Oh let's tip back a jug tonight of that yellow butter moon,
A pull or two on that hard home brew'll make you crazy as a loon,
It'll light a fire inside you, make you step to a lively tune,
C'mon let's tip back a jug tonight of that yellow butter moon.
Yellow butter moon shine down through me with a light so true,
There's love and life in the burn and the bite of that yellow butter moon.
My grandpa made corn liquor, had a still back in the woods,
He woulda made his livin' from farmin', but the times they weren't so good,
When your married with six children, a lotta hungry mouths to feed,
You do anything you gotta just to give them what they need.
Yellow butter moon shine down through me with a light so true,
There's love and life in the burn and the bite of that yellow butter moon.
Now the Sheriff and his deputies loved grandpa’s corn squeeze brew,
And thirst came way before duty if it’d save them a jug or two.
So when a Revenuer came callin' one hot Flor'da night in June,
He thought he old grandpa' cornered, thought he’d tree'd him like a coon,
But when he jumped into the clearing he must have felt like a buffoon,
'Cause all he found was a paper label that read "Yellow Butter Moon."
Yellow butter moon shine down through me with a light so true,
There's love and life in the burn and the bite of that yellow butter moon.
Oh there's love and life in the burn and the bite of that Yellow Butter Moon.