Lyrics

    And I will pledge with mine;

    And I'll not look for wine.

    Doth ask a drink divine;

    I would not change for thine.

    Not so much honouring thee

    It could not withered be;

    And sent'st it back to me;

    Not of itself but thee!

Versions and uses

• Sir Walter Scott used the tune for another song, "County Guy".
• Apparently, the song was an chestnut in American student musical performances in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In liner notes, Johnny 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. (A version of the song was recorded privately by Cash at his home recording studio and released posthumously on the album Personal File.)
• 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. Warner Bros., which distributed (and later produced) the Merrie Melodies series (and sister series Looney Tunes), would later use this song as incidental music in the TV series Baby Looney Tunes, particularly when one of the characters is drinking milk, water or juice, or even pretending to drink tea.
• The song was performed by Paul Robeson in his album "Ballad for Americans and Great Songs of Faith, Love and Patriotism", Vanguard Records.
• Duke Special recorded a version of the song as a B-Side for the single "Freewheel" with Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy.

References

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

External links

• Sheet music and midi for "Drink to me only with thine eyes"
• Lyrics and midi arrangement