Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes

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"Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes" was a popular English song with lyrics from Ben Jonson's 1616 poem "To Celia." The tune is of unknown origin, composed some time after 1770.

Sir Walter Scott used the tune for another song, County Guy.

A version of the song was recorded privately by Johnny Cash at his home recording studio and released posthumously on the album Personal File.

Apparently, it was an old chestnut in American student musical performances in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In his introductory comments, Cash says that this song was one of the first that he ever sang at a public engagement — the occasion being a commencement exercise when he was a junior in high school.

The song features unflatteringly in the 1936 Merrie Melodies short subject "I Love to Singa" as the selection young "Owl Jolson's" parents force him to perform in his lessons rather than the title number.

Duke Special recorded a version of the song as a B-Side for the single Freewheel with Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy.

[edit] References

  • Oxford Companion to Music
  • Best Loved Songs of the American People, states (without evidence) that the tune is sometimes attributed to Mozart.

[edit] External links

http://www.contemplator.com/england/drinkto.html

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