From the recording Head, Hearts & Tales
Lyrics
Winter Grog
Lyrics & Music: Irwin
The songs we sign come easy and the draughts we drink are strong
So fill my mug with winter grog and warm my aching bones
Come sing along me hardies a song we know so well
We’ll fight against the coming night and the ringing of the bell
For evening comes with sleeping and sleeping comes with dreams
And dreams are naught but wishes thought by slumber’s flowing streams
We spent the day a’toiling in fields of dirt and grime
And evening spent with laughter seems the thing to pass the time
So fill my heart with laughter and fill my mug with ale
And fill the room with happy songs and fighting’s vict’ry tales
And it’s “hey, hey, hey” and we’ll drink away the pain
And the biting winter chill
And it’s “hey, hey, hey” and we’ll drink away the day
Let’s pour some more until we’ve had our fill
When e’re I was a schoolboy I scarcely would believe
The time I’d spend in labor hard and tears I’d spend in grief
But yet I find salvation in drunkenness and vice
And seek for me a shoulder, please, and my brother’s slurred advice
Don’t speak to me of purity or straight and narrow roads
I’ll not be getting saved today or living by your code
I’ve found the straightest path to peace goes right past the saloon
So while I’m here let’s have a beer and raise a glass to you
We sing for absolution as one exalted choir
We sing for drinks, we sing for free, we sing for hearth and fire
We sing when we are sober, but mostly when we’re not
We sing a bawdy melody, we sing with drunken sots