I was sitting around a couple of weeks ago and realized there’s a serious lack of modern drinking songs. So I wrote one.
I can’t chart the melody here, obviously, but sing it in a vaguely Irish way, with whatever melody fits the chords. The melody I sing is vaguely reminiscent of The Black Velvet Band, if you’re familiar with that.
I offer it up to all the musicians on the board who love to drink (or whose audiences do). Feel free to play it, and teach it to whomever you like. The only rights I reserve with this tune is the right of first recording, and the publishing rights. But play it, have fun with it. I’ll post a recording of us doing it sometime soon.
It’s a great end of night tune that the audience really gets into, and you can play it with a full band, or just a guitar. I like to have my backup guitarist play it, while the rest of us belt out the verses at the top of our lungs while madly waving our pints about. Sometimes the mandolin doubles the melody. The audience tends to join in by the second chorus, and it’s a hell of a lot of fun.
It’s in a medium tempo 3/4 time, with a faint swing to it, depending on how many drinks you’ve had. 
It’s fun to really dig into the downbeat on the chorus (DAH dah dah DAH dah dah etc).
The chords are interspersed with the lyrics as so: [G], 'cause I can’t seem to make them line up on the lines above.
Enjoy!
The Drinking Song
copyright 2005 Barleycorn Music/Mad City Publishing.
[D]When I set off on my travels my years were but twenty and [A] nine
And I [D]wandered the land such a [G]thirsty young man with a [A]fondness for whiskey and [D]wine [verse chords sim.]
I long sought my fame and my fortune as I travelled so far and so wide
And I emptied my purse and I worked up a thirst that I knew better than to deny
CHORUS
So [D]lift up your cup for there’s [G]toasts to be made and there’s [D]tales to be told on this [A]night
There’s [D]songs to be sung and there’s [G]hearts to be won & much [A]merriment for our [D]delight
Some men were born to be doctors and others were destined for sales
And some have a call to do nothing at all but for drinkin’ and spinnin’ their tales
While I’d not the endurance for labor nor the intellect for a degree
I never disputed that I was well suited for tipping a bottle or three
So lift up your cup for there’s toasts to be made and there’s tales to be told on this night
There’s songs to be sung and there’s hearts to be won & much merriment for our delight
We give thanks to the growers of barley and those people who tend to the stills
For we’ve whiskey and ale and so we will not fail to make merry as we drink our fill
And much honor to those in the vineyards who press all the grapes for our wine
So join me by raising your drink as we’re praising those workers who made it so fine
So lift up your cup for there’s toasts to be made and there’s tales to be told on this night
There’s songs to be sung and there’s hearts to be won & much merriment for our delight
And there’s one more profession to honor that deserves our devotion and pride
They top off our glasses and brush off our passes and laugh as they fill up our pints
We salute all these hard-working people that pour us these flagons of beer
And watch all the while with a wink and a smile as we rattle these rafters in here
So lift up your cup for there’s toasts to be made and there’s tales to be told on this night
There’s songs to be sung and there’s hearts to be won & much merriment for our delight