The Revellers’ Chorus, 1857
Words and music by Benjamin R. Hanby
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by Denese Coulbeck:
Lyrics
- Shouts at the Reveller’s banquet
Rum is the Reveller’s king
Wild is the Reveller’s carol
Wild is the chorus they sing
Chorus:
Drink and care not for the morrow
Drink boys and banish all sorrow
Blithe be today and tonight shall be gay
And we’ll all meet again in the morning
- Hark there is one of them sobbing
Manhood is struggling again
What doth kind Heaven see here, boys?
Demons that ought to be men
Chorus:
Think boys oh, think of tomorrow
Death with his poison tipped arrow
Down with the cup and to Heaven look up
And away, all away ere the morning
- Wives there are weeping and weary
Hearts there are heavy as lead
Homes there are silent and dreary
Little ones begging for bread
Chorus:
Think boys oh, think of tomorrow
Poverty, anguish and sorrow
Weep, oh weep while our loved ones sleep
And let’s all go to work in the morning
- Down with a clash and a clangor
Flagons and goblets they fling
Back to our tools and our benches
Rum shall no longer be king
Chorus:
Neighbors shall greet as tomorrow
Wives bid adieu to their sorrow
Down with the cup and to Heaven look up
And we’ll all go to work in the morning
- Joy like a beautiful angel
Hovers with silvery wing
Over those Revellers’ hearthstones
This is the chorus they sing
Chorus:
Hope, brothers, hope for tomorrow
Heaven hath banished our sorrow
Brave be the strife till the last day of life
When we’ll all meet again in the morning