Origins: Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes

Subject: Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes
From: Dan Evergreen
Date: 13 Aug 99 - 09:40 AM

I love this song but I find it a little hard to figure out the cords. 'preciate some help. Thanks.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Drink to Me Only with Thine E
From: Ferrara
Date: 13 Aug 99 - 05:07 PM

Can't give you the chords, but you can see the sheet music at the following URL:

DRINK TO ME ONLY WITH THINE EYES at The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music.

The vocal line just above the piano part is the melody. It's done in A, maybe this will help you get the chords. I'd try to figure it out, but if it takes more than three or four chords, I'm bound to make a mess of it. - Rita Ferrara

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Drink to Me Only with Thine E
From: Susan of DT
Date: 13 Aug 99 - 10:01 PM

It is in the database. I searched for [drink to me]
Does anyone remember all of the parody:

Drink to me only with ... good hard cider
...any old thing as long as it's alcohol
Now that the wets have won the day ...
To drink to me only with thine eyes
Is a helluva thing to do

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Drink to Me Only with Thine E
From: SingsIrish Songs
Date: 14 Aug 99 - 12:57 AM

From Folk Music from England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and America

http://www.contemplator.com/folk.html

"The origin of the tune is not known. It does not appear earlier than around 1770. The words are Ben Johnson's poem, "To Celia", written in 1616.

Best Loved Songs of the American People states the tune is sometimes attributed to Mozart, but that there is no verification of the fact. Sir Walter Scott used the tune for a song County Guy. It has also been credited to Colonel Mellish."

I think I have the chords someplace and will add them as soon as I find them.

~ SingsIrish Songs

Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes

Drink to me only with thine eyes
And I will pledge with mine.
Or leave a kiss within the cup
And I'll not look for wine.
The thirst that from the soul doth rise
Doth ask a drink divine;
But might I of Jove's nectar sip,
I would not change for thine

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Drink to Me Only with Thine E
From: alison
Date: 14 Aug 99 - 08:48 AM

Hi,

I can give you the chords for the first bit... not sure if the second bit is the same tune. chords inserted before the words they fall on.

(C)Drink to me (F)only (C)with thine (G)eyes
And (C)I (F)will (C)pledge (G)with (C)mine.
Or leave (F)a kiss with(C)in the (G)cup
And (C)I'll (F)not (C)ask (G)for (C)wine.

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Drink to Me Only with Thine E
From: SingsIrish Songs
Date: 15 Aug 99 - 10:59 AM

I haven't forgotten...just been bogged down over the weekend....I'm dashing.

SingsIrish

Subject: Lyr/Chords Add: DRINK TO ME ONLY WITH THINE EYES
From: SingsIrish Songs
Date: 15 Aug 99 - 05:10 PM

Here you go...
-----------

Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes

Key: A

[A]Drink to me [Bm]only [C#m]with thine [D]eyes
And [A]I [D]will [E7]pledge with [A]mine.
[A]Or leave a [Bm]kiss with-[C#m]in [D]the cup
And [A]I'll [D]not [E7]ask for [A]wine.
The [A]thirst that [F#m]from the [C#m]soul doth rise
Doth [D]ask a [A]drink di-[B7 E]vine;
[A]But might I [Bm]of Jove's [C#m]nectar [D]sip,
I [A]would [D]not [E]change [E7]for [A]thine.

I sent thee late a rosy wreath,
Not so much hon'ring thee
As giving it a hope that there
It could not withered be;
But thou thereon did'st only breathe,
And sent'st it back to me,
Since when it grows and smells, I swear
Not of itself, but thee.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Drink to Me Only with Thine E
From: Susan of DT
Date: 16 Aug 99 - 12:22 AM

And the parody was in Song Fest (IOCA, Beth & Dick Best):

Drink to me only with good hard cider
Or rye, or a scotch highball
Drink to me with any old thing
As long as it's alcohol
For now that the wets have won the day
And prohibition is through
To drink to me only with thine eyes
Is a hell of a thing to do.

Subject: ADD: The Violet (Drink to me only...)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 Nov 03 - 04:28 PM

It's a rainy day in the California foothills, so we're staying inside by the fireplace. My wife was playing "Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes" on her harp, and I started singing alone. My mother-in-law said she knew another song to the same tune, and she gave a few lines from "The Violet." I found these lyrics, which sound right to my mother-in-law. Are they correct? Anybody know anything more about Jane Taylor, or do you know other verses?
-Joe Offer-

THE VIOLET
Written By: Jane Taylor (1783-1824)
Music Ascribed To: Dr. H. Harrington (1727-1816)

Down in a green and shady bed,
A modest violet grew;
Its stalk was bent, it hung its head
As if to hide from view.
And yet it was a lovely flow'r,
Its colors bright and fair,
It might have graced a rosy bow'r
Instead of hiding there.

Yet there it was content to bloom,
In modest tints arrayed;
And there it spread its sweet perfume
Within the silent shade,
Then let me to the valley go,
This pretty flow'r to see,
That I may also learn to grow
In sweet humility.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 15 Nov 03 - 04:51 PM

Found "The Violet," arranged for piano, from the Garland, John Weipert's Favorite set of waltzes, harpist to their majesties, all the royal family, etc. in Levy. It would be interesting to compare the tune with the one your wife played on the harp.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes
From: masato sakurai
Date: 15 Nov 03 - 08:21 PM

Ben Jonson's poem "To Celia" was first published in a collection of poems The Forrest, included in The Workes of Benjamin Jonson (Imprinted at London by Will Stansby, 1616, p. 829; click here for the image):

                               IX.
                            SONG.

                         TO CELIA.

Drink to me, onely, with thine eyes,
And I will pledge with mine;
Or leaue a kisse but in the cup,
And Ile not looke for wine.
The thirst, that from the soule doth rise,
Doth aske a drink diuine:
But might I of Iove's Nectar sup,
I would not change for thine.
I sent thee, late, a rosie wreath,
Not so much honoring thee,
As giuing it a hope, that there
It could not withered bee.
But thou thereon did'st onely breath,
And sent'st it backe to mee:
Since when it growes, and smells, I sweare,
Not of it selfe, but thee.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes
From: Snuffy
Date: 15 Nov 03 - 08:28 PM

Isn't Jane Taylor the one who wrote "Twinkle, twinkle, little star"
?

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords: Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes
From: Willa
Date: 16 Nov 03 - 03:53 PM

My songbook gives this:
(C)Drink to me (G7)only (C)with thine (Dm)eyes
And (C)I(G7)will(C)pledge (G7)with (C)mine.
Or leave a (G7) kiss with(C)in the (Dm)cup
And (C)I'll (G7)not (C)ask (G7)for (C)wine.
The thirst that from the soul doth rise
Doth (F)ask a (C)drink di-(G)vine;
(C)But might I (G7)of Jove's (C ) nectar (Dm)sip,
I (C) would (G7) not (C ) change (G7)for (C) thine.

Subject: Origins: Drink to Me Only withy Thine Eyes
From: GUEST,Ramseyman
Date: 04 Jun 19 - 03:36 PM

I'm interested in finding out something about how this 17th century poem got paired up with the music we know. Apparently we can't be exactly sure what happened, but I would like to find out a little more information than the garble they have on Wikipedia. One theory is that it was already an existing folk tune in 1616. Does anybody know of one? And why am seeing the date 1770, when there's no mention of a person or situation associated with that time period? I submit as always to the wisdom of the assembled wizards.

Subject: RE: Origins: Drink to Me Only withy Thine Eyes
From: RTim
Date: 04 Jun 19 - 03:58 PM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drink_to_Me_Only_with_Thine_Eyes

Tim Radford

Subject: RE: Origins: Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Jun 19 - 07:33 PM

Here's what the Traditional Ballad Index says:

Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes

DESCRIPTION: "Drink to me only with thine eyes And I will pledge with mine, Or leave a kiss within the cup And I'll not ask for wine." The singer prefers his lady's love to "Jove's nectar," and says that her breath makes even a dead wreathe grow
AUTHOR: Words: Ben Jonson
EARLIEST DATE: 1616 (as part of "To Celia," in "The Workes of Benjamin Jonson"); tune in print by 1780
KEYWORDS: love nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Fireside, p. 90, "Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Henderson-Victorian, p. 84, "Drink To Me Only" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 260, "Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 202-203, "Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes"
DT, DRNKTOME*
ADDITIONAL: Aline Waites & Robin Hunter, _The Illustrated Victorian Songbook_, Michael Joseph Ltd., 1984, pp. 204-205, "Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #V3830
RECORDINGS:
Massanutten Military Quartet, "Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes" (Columbia 15751-D, 1932)
NOTES [14 words]: According to Waites & Hunter, Jonson's text is based on a passage by Philostratus. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.4
File: FSWB260A

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Note that the Ballad Index cites Fuld's Book of World Famous Music - one of my favorite sources - comin' right up.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Origins: Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Jun 19 - 07:45 PM

From Fuld's Book of World Famous Music, (Crown Publishers, 1966) pp 202-203

Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes

m. Unknown. w. Ben Jonson The words were first published after March, 1616, in the poem To Celia in a collection of poems by Jonson called The Forrest, included in The Workes of Benjamin Jonson, at p. 829. There are three variant editions: in one the title page reads “Imprinted at London by Will Stansby” (BM), in the second “London printed by W. Stansby and are to be sould by Rich. Meighen” (BM and LC), and in the third “London Printed by William Stansby (LC and NYPL). Priority is unknown. Commencing about 1750 the poem was sung to several other musical settings all of which have been forgotten.

The present well-known melody was first published about 1780 in a number of editions with priority uncertain, none of them claiming entry at Stationers’ Hall. Interestingly, all of the early printings, except (g) below, are in the form of a glee for three voices. Following is the group of early printings:

(a) John Lee, at the Corner of Eustace Street in Dame Street (no. 70), Dublin, dated Ca. 1780 by BM
(b) T. Straight, 138 St. Martin’s Lane near Charing Cross [London], 1777/8—ca. 1783, at LC
(c) Babb’s Musical Circulating Library, 132 Oxford Street facing Hanover Square [London], Ca. 1780, at CA
(d) Dale [London], 1783—1821, is mentioned by one authority but no copy has been located
(e) and (f) Major and Barford, dated ca. 1790 in BM Music Catalogue, are later according to Humphries-Smith
(g) in Elegant Extracts for the Guittar [sic], vol. I, p. 20, originally printed in London by 3. Preston, 97 Strand, 1778—1787, the only known copy, however, having a 1795 watermark, at BM
(h) E. Rhames, Dublin, ca. 1790, at NLI
(i) A. Bland, 23 Oxford Street, London, 1784—1792, at JF
(j) in 3. W. Callcott, A Select Collection of Catches, Canons and Glees [London?], p. 16 (watermarked “79”—at JF—however, the composer’s name is followed by “B.M.,” meaning presumably “Bachelor of Music” which title he acquired in 1785, and the British Museum dates its copy as ca. 1790)
(k) there may be other contemporary British editions
(l) there are several American editions in the late 1780s.

All attempts to discover the composer of this beautiful melody have proved unavailing.7 There is no foundation for the claim that the composer was Mozart or Col. R. Mellish. A new possible contender is J. W. Callcott since his collection mentioned above states “the whole Composed, Selected & Arranged” by him—about as broad a claim as could be made. The collection could have been published after 1785 even though individual songs had been composed by him and performed and published by others before then; although born in 1766, he began writing music for a play in 1780 and glees for the Catch Club in 1784.8 Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes is generally described as a glee in the early editions, and none of the editions listed in the preceding paragraph is proved to have been published before this time. All the other songs in the collection appear original.

Ben Jonson was born probably at Westminster in 1573 and died in 1637.

Subject: RE: Origins: Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes
From: Richard Mellish
Date: 05 Jun 19 - 04:41 AM

> There is no foundation for the claim that the composer was Mozart or Col. R. Mellish. <

Another cherished illusion bites the dust. The story in my family was that the tune had been written by Col. Henry Mellish, who was probably a brother of a direct ancestor. Certainly a picture of him looks very like my father as a young man and even more like me as a young man.

But then another story in my family was that the colonel had been adc to Wellington, whereas this reference says it was a less illustrious general.

Subject: RE: Origins: Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes
From: GUEST,Ramseyman
Date: 16 Aug 19 - 12:52 PM

Joe - amazing! - thank you. On my personal sheet of DTMOWTE, I'm going to credit the music as: "circa 1780, attributed to John Wall Callcott (1766 - 1821)". That oughta be fudgy enough.

Subject: RE: Origins: Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes
From: leeneia
Date: 16 Aug 19 - 09:36 PM

This is a lovely tune on the fretted dulcimer.