DRINKING SONG
From the Broadway Operetta "The Vagabond King" (1925)
(Rudolf Friml / Brian Hooker)

Herbert Corthell & Male Chorus (Broadway Production) - 1925
Mark Lester & Male Chorus (London Production) - 1927
Oreste Kirkop - 1956
Mario Lanza - 1958



Lay me to snooze in the mud and the ooze
With plenty of booze to warm me
I'll dream of a crown and an ermine gown
And kings bowing down before me
Give me wine as I ask for wine
And the wealth of the world is mine, all mine

So what care I for a purse of gold
For blood that is old and blue
A noble name or a royal fame
When a flagon of wine wil do
A flagon of wine
A gallon of wine
A barrel of wine will do
An ocean of wine will do

Leave me to quench on a tavern bench
With my drowsy, frowsy doxie
She's Helen of Troy for to be my joy
Or Mary of France by proxy
For when I'm drunk as I wish to be
Why, any fat wench is a queen to me

So, what care I for a downccast eye
Or love that is pure and true
There's none so dear as the girl that's here
When a flagon of wine will do
A flagon of wine
A gallon of wine
A barrel of wine will do
An ocean of wine will do

Bury me deep for my last, long sleep
With a gallows steep beside me
I'll never wake with a long headache
Or heaven or hell betide me
For if I die as I hope to die
Then I'll never be sober again, not I

So little I care for a fast and rare
I long for a stronger truth
No water for me to eternity
When a flagon of wine will do
A flagon of wine
A gallon of wine
A barrel of wine will do
An ocean of wine will do



(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - July 2006)