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
Sung here by Vancha March: