A temperance song from 1855
Words and music by Stephen C. Foster
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by Werner Tomaschewski:
Lyrics
- Oh! comrades, fill no glass for me
To drown my soul in liquid flame
For if I drank, the toast should be
To blighted fortune, health and fame
Yet, though I long to quell the strife
That passion holds against my life
Still, boon companions may ye be
But comrades, fill no glass for me
Still, boon companions may ye be
But comrades, fill no glass for me - I know a breast that once was light
Whose patient sufferings need my care
I know a hearth that once was bright
But drooping hopes have nestled there
Then while the tear drops nightly steal
From wounded hearts that I should heal
Though boon companions may ye be
But comrades, fill no glass for me
Though boon companions may ye be
But comrades, fill no glass for me - When I was young I felt the tide
Of aspirations undefiled
But manhood’s years have wronged the pride
My parents centered in their child
Then, by a mother’s sacred tear
By all that memory should revere
Though boon companions may ye be
Oh! comrades, fill no glass for me
Though boon companions may ye be
Oh! comrades, fill no glass for me
Sung here by Vancha March: