I drink lyrics

I drink to drive away all the years I have hated

The ambitions frustrated that no longer survive

I drink day after day to the chaos behind me

Yes, I drink to remind me that still I'm alive

So I give you a toast to the endless confusions

To the lies and delusions that have swallowed my life

Yes, I give you a toast to the wine and the roses

To the deadly cirrhosis that can cut like a knife

I drink to catch a gleam of the love we degraded

Of a life that has faded like the vanishing moon

I drink, as in a dream, to my waning desire

To the passionate fire that has burned out so soon

I drink and I drown in the promise you made me

All the times you betrayed me in your anger and spite

When you took on the town, when you looked for the action

When you took satisfaction, like a whore in the night

I drink to make-believe that my life is worth living

That the gods are forgiving at the end of the day

I drink because I grieve for the dreams when we started

For the innocent-hearted who got lost on the way

For the children unborn, for their dead, phantom faces

For our sterile embraces in the tomb of your bed

I drink, and I mourn for the harvest that failed

For the ship that has sailed, for the hope that is dead

I drink to find a place where the darkness can hide me

Till the terror inside me can at last disappear

I drink to my disgrace, till oblivion claims me

Till there's nothing that shames me, till I'm blind to my fear

Yes, I drink till I burst in my own degradation

To the edge of damnation that is waiting below

Yes, I drink with a thirst that destroys and depraves me

And cuffs and enslaves me, and will never let go

I drink until I'm lost, and the street is my hideout

Where I vomit my pride out till I'm gasping for breath

I drink to count the cost of a life I despair for

Until God hears my prayer for the compassion of death

So I spit out my bile at the gods who demean us

At the silence between us, at the love none can save

For a life that is vile, for a soul that is ailing

For a body that's failing as it heads for the grave

I drink without a care... drink because I must...

Drink to my despair... I drink to your disgust...

I drink, drink, drink... by God, I drink!

Yes, I drink!

• Artist:Charles Aznavour