by John Fletcher (1579 - 1625)
The drinking song
Language: English
Drink to-day, and drown all sorrow, You shall perhaps not do it to-morrow. Best, while you have it, use your breath; There is no drinking after death. Wine works the heart up, wakes the wit; There is no cure 'gainst age but it. It helps the headache, cough, and tisic, And is for all diseases physic. Then let us swill, boys, for our health; Who drinks well, loves the commonwealth. And he that will to bed go sober, Falls with the leaf still in October.
Authorship:
- by John Fletcher (1579 - 1625), appears in Bloody Brother, first published 1639 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "The drinking song", 2013 [tenor and piano] [ sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2017-11-14
Line count: 12
Word count: 85