One of the best drinking songs is a Scottish one that definitely goes back to the eighteenth century, called "The Parting Glass." If the lyrics sound familiar, you may have heard an arrangement from this song at the end of Waking Ned Devine. You can hear a clip of that online here.
Oh all the money that e'er I had,
I spent it in good company.
And all the harm that e'er I've done,
alas, 'twas to none but me.
And all I've done for want of wit
to memory now I can't recall.
So fill to me the parting glass;
good night, and joy be with you all.
Oh all the comrades that e'er I've had,
they are sorry for my going away.
And all the sweethearts that e'er I've had,
they would wish me one more day to stay.
But since it falls unto my lot
that I should rise and you should not,
I'll gently rise and I'll softly call
"Good night, and joy be with you all."
If I had money enough to spend
and leisure time to sit awhile,
there is a fair maid in this town,
that sorely has my heart beguiled.
Her rosy cheeks and ruby lips I own;
she has my heart enthralled.
So fill to me the parting glass --
Good night, and joy be with you all
My dearest dear, the time draws near
when here no longer can I stay.
There's not a comrade I leave behind,
but is grieving for my going away.
But since it has so ordered been
what is once past can't be recalled.
Now fill to me the parting glass;
Good night, and joy be with you all.
If I had money for to spend,
if I had time to waste away,
there is a fair maid in this town,
I feign would while her heart away.
With her rosy cheeks and dimpled chin,
my heart she has beguiled awa'.
So fill to me the parting glass,
good night, and joy be wi' you a'.
If I had money for to spend,
I would spend it in her company.
And all the harm that I have done,
I hope it's pardoned I will be.
And all I've done for want of wit
to memory I can't recall.
So fill to me the parting glass,
good night, and joy be with you all.
A man may drink and not be drunk;
a man may fight and not be slain;
a man may court a pretty girl
and perhaps be welcomed back again.
But since it has so ordered been
by a time to rise and a time to fall
Come fill to me the parting glass,
good night and joy be with you all.
