Radcliffe College, of Harvard University, has the records of the Lydia E. Pinkham Medicine Company, plus the largest collection of other data on the several products and their promotion.

At the website of The Museum of Menstruation, Radcliffe-Harvard, an herbalist has this to say about alcoholic content of elixirs:
"The 13-20% of alcohol is not atypical of an herbal tincture. Indeed, an herbal extract with less alcohol is pharmacologically unstable."
The original recipe called for 18% alcohol. The current product (marketed by Numark; the Pinkham Co. no longer exists) has 13%.
The vanilla extract in my spice cupboard is 20%. Thus nothing excessive about the alcohol in the Compound. The FDA would be interested in the components used, and that sufficient alcohol is present to guarantee solubility and stability.

The English Lily the Pink is quoted. Here are the verses:

LILY THE PINK

We'll drink a drink a drink
To Lily the Pink a Pink a Pink,
The saviour of the human race
For she invented a medicinal compound
Most efficacious in every case.

Mr. Frears had sticky-out ears
And it made him awfully shy
So they gave him medicinal compound
And now he's learning how to fly.

Brother Tony
Was noticeably bony
He would never eat his meals
So they gave him medicinal compound
Now they move him round on wheels.

Old Ebeneezer thought he was Julius Caesar
And so they put him in a home
Where they gave him medicinal compound
And now he's Emperor of Rome.

Johnny Hammer
Has a terrible ss-ss-ss-ss-ss-ss stammer
He could hardly s--s--say a word
And so they gave him medicinal compound
Now he's seen (but never 'eard.

Auntie Millie
Ran willy-nilly
When her legs, they did recede
And so they rubbed on medicinal compound
And now they call her Millipede.

Jennifer Eccles
Had terrible freckles
And the boys all called her names
But she changed with medicinal compound
And now he joins in all their games.

Lily the Pink, she
Turned to drink, she
Filled up with paraffin inside
And in spite of her medicinal compound
Sadly Picca-lily died.

Up to heaven
Her soul ascended
All the church bells they did ring
She took with her medicinal compound
Hark the herald angels sing.

Verses from Linda Semple, Res. Asst., Public Health, Edinburgh; British Pop Group, Scaffold, 1960s.
Museum of Menstruation, www.mum.org/mrspink17.htm