The Alcoholic Blues
Words by Edward Laska
Music by Al Von Tilzer
Published 1919

[verse 1]
I love my country, 'deed I do,
But oh, that war has made me blue.
I like fightin', that's my name,
But fightin' is the least about the fightin' game.
When Mister Hoover said to cut my dinner down,
I never even hesitate, I never frown;
I cut my sugar, I cut my coal,
But now they dug deep in my soul.

[chorus]
I've got the blues
I've got the blues,
I've got the alcoholic blues.
No more beer my heart to cheer;
Goodbye whiskey, you used to make me frisky.
So long high-ball, so long gin.
Oh, tell me when you comin' back a-gin?
Blues, I've got the blues
Since they amputated my booze
Lordy Lordy, War is well, you know,
I don't have to tell
Oh, I've got the alcoholic blues, some blues
I've got the blues.

[verse 2]
Prohibition that's the name,
Prohibition drives me insane.
I'm so thirsty, soon I'll die,
I'm simply goin' to 'vaporate, I'm just that dry.
I wouldn't mind to live forever in a trench,
Just if my daily thirst they only let me quench;
And not with Bevo* or Gingerale
I want real stuff by the pail.

[repeat chorus]

*a non-alcoholic beer