Friml–VK, Drinking Song, chapman

As we continue in Act 1 of The Vagabond King, we get to the third number of the show, “Drinking Song” (A Flagon of Wine). It is sung by Villon and a chorus, and it is intended to show Villon in his worst light, as a thief and drunkard who will go to his death in a drunken stupor.

Thus, in the lyrics, he suggests that the more wine, the better. He starts with a flagon, moves to a gallon and then to a barrel. He must have had a strong liver.

There is also an excellent swipe at the upper classes (also known as “blue-bloods”), as the lyric refers to noble blood as “blood that is old and blue.” This type of blood is rejected by Villon, who would rather be a vagabond with the wine of France in his veins.

We are going to start by listening to William Chapman, recruited by Reader’s Digest in its recordings of a series of operettas.