See a perusal copy of the music.
Hear a performance
This is a rollicking drinking song from Ireland, and makes a great final number or encore. The tune is very catchy, and there's lots of rhyming, which makes it easy to swing the piece along from phrase to phrase. The words should be heartfelt and the tone need not be too ‘nice’. This is a song in praise of the pleasures of life, and to hell with the toil or trouble.
Verse 2, arranged for tenor and bass on their own, can be taken either by two soloists or by the entire sections.
Verse 4 includes a simple descant.
The verse scansion is irregular, which takes getting used to, but the whole song is very singable by any moderately experienced choir.
Words
Why spend your leisure bereft of pleasure? Amassing treasure you'll scrape and save. Why look so canny at ev'ry penny? You'll take no money within the grave. Landlords and gentry with all their plenty Must still go empty where'er they're bound, So to my thinking, we'd best be drinking, Our glasses clinking on — another round.
The huxter greedy will grind the needy Their straits unheeding, shouts: 'money down!' His special vice is his fancy prices, For a florin's value he'll charge a pound. With hump for trammel, the scripture's camel Missed the needle's eye and so came to ground Why pine for riches when still you've stitches To hold your britches up — another round.
The shipmen trading in Spain and Aden Return well laden with oil and corn. And from Gibraltar their course they'll alter And steer for Malta and the Golden Horn. With easy motion they sail life's ocean With ne'er a notion they'll soon run aground, So lads and lasses make all your passes And fill your glasses for — another round.
King Solomon's glory, so famed in story, Was far outshone by the lily's guise. But cold winds harden both field and garden; Pleading for pardon, the lily dies. Life's but a bubble of toil and trouble, A feathered arrow, once shot ne'er found. It's nought but miming, so ends my rhyming And still we've time in for — another round.
Original Irish words by Riocard Bairéid (Richard Barrett), an 18th-century schoolmaster from Co. Mayo in the west of Ireland. English translation by Donal O'Sullivan Despite extensive enquiries, we have been unable to trace who administers copyright for the late Dr Donal O'Sullivan's translation, and would welcome any information enabling us to do so.
Purchase – 2007: Preab san ól
Before you click the "buy" button, please enter the name of your group and select the appropriate size.
The price depends on the number of singers in your group.
This is a single payment for a licence to make as many copies as you
need for your group to rehearse and perform the song. You can also re-print
- for instance, to replace copies that get lost or worn out.
Copies must not be given, lent, hired or sold to any other group.
Orders are normally despatched within 24 hours - not
instantly, because each PDF file is created specially
for the purchaser.
Canasg sales are processed via Paypal. Paypal lets you pay with a simple
credit or debit card if you don’t have a Paypal account.
Your Paypal transaction will be in
sterling and it will be converted automatically if
your credit card draws on a different currency.
Paypal passes none of your secure information to Canasg.
If you would like us to send an invoice before you pay, or if you would like your order priced in $US or Euros,
then please e-mail your order to us instead of using the form above.
