Ars Gratia Populi - Here's a Health to the Company (arr. Kevin Elam)

"Here's a Health to the Company"
Anglo/Scottish traditional, arranged by Kevin Elam
Recorded live in concert, 2/2/2025
Alden Theatre, McLean, VA

Kevin Elam - Artistic Director, Arranger, First Solo
John Mullan - Second Solo, Baritone
Amanda Densmoor - Soprano
Ariana Parks - Alto
Dan O'Neill - Alto
David Breen - Bass
___________________________
Kind friends and companions, come join me in rhyme
Come lift up your voices in chorus with mine.
Come lift up your voices, all grief to refrain
For we may or might never all meet here again.

Here’s a health to the company, and one to my lass,
Let us drink and be merry all out of one glass.
Let us drink and be merry all grief to refrain
For we may or might never all meet here again.

And here’s a health to the wee lass that I love so well
In her style and her beauty there’s none her can excel.
There’s a smile on her countenance, as she sits on my knee,
There’s no man in this wide world as happy as me.

Our ship lies at anchor, she is ready to sail
We wish her safe passage without storm or gale
And if ever we should meet again by land or by sea
I will always remember your kindness to me.

I have read the old proverb, I have read it all through,
That love is more dear than the bright morning dew.
I have read the old proverb, and I suppose so have you;
So kind friends and companions, I bid you adieu.