Here's A Health to the Company, from Cures What Ails Ya by The Longest Johns

From the new album Cures What Ails Ya

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The Longest Johns

[WolfyTheWitch]

this song has been stuck in my head for the past week

[nocturne]

Does it sound to anyone else like this guy is drinking alone, just remembering people he'll never see again?

[sunnymoneyray]

This song never ceases to give me chills. There's something about the concept of "we're never going to live this moment again so we might as well make it a good one" that pulls at my heart in all the best ways and feels sad but wholesome.

[iangrant]

Is it just me or does this song sound perfect for a final session of a D&D campaign, as all the characters sit around a tavern table for perhaps the last time?

[poisonsumc]

Owen Phyfe, who passed away in 2012, was a sweet man as well as amarvelous Ren Faire musician, always ended his set with this song - here's a health to you Owen, and thank you Long.Johns

[alexpainter]

In 1946, one year after WW2 ended, a sailor is sitting alone at a table with three empty seats. As he's drinking he begins to sing but as he sings, he sees the shapes of his friends sitting at the table with him & the begin joining in with him. He continues remembering the times they had fun at the bar by singing, drinking, and getting into the occasional bar fight. He flashes back to when he & his friends all enlisted in the Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The memories keep flashing forward, from each of them graduating basic training, to being sent to fight the Japanese in the South Pacific. As the memories keep going, he sees how each of his friends lose their lives in the battle of Midway. One is shot down by a Japanese pilot, another is bombed at a machine gun turret, the final one sacrifices himself to save some fellow sailors (including the narrator) who were wounded.
As he continues remembering how he lost his friends, their shapes begin to fade in the order of which they died; the song gets more and more quiet & lonely as it goes on to the point where only one voice is heard. When the sailor finishes, he begins to cry as he looks at a photo of himself & his friends before they were shipped off. He then wipes his tears and walks out of the bar with a look of determination & vows to live his life the best he can, in the memory of his fallen comrades.

[doyouremebervodka]

Playing this with my friends on our last day of HS. One ships off to the air force, two are going to the same college, one is moving out somewhere and the last one grew distant. And me? Well that's why I'm going to play this. I have no money nor the intelligence for college or travel so I guess I'll wait for them to return when I grow old. For one last glass.

[ROBANN]

random DnD post:
me being the Bard of the party, i'm fully planning to do this one at the end of the very last session, if we manage to survive

[ArtemiFowl]

My friends and I all had a party since we finished school last year. We all like your songs and while we sat around a fire, we sang this song. Especially the line "we may or might never. All meet here again". Thank you

[zmanslasher]

I played this song at my graduation. I got weird looks because classic style shantie. But it made my close friends happy.

[thepennywhistler]

There’s tears in my eyes, gents. One of my very favorite songs and you knocked it out of the park.

[nickc]

Their voices blend so smoothly together. It truly is like listening to an entire crew of men... tell me I'm wrong.

[jaykkinell]

To me this song is a favored tribute to all the friends I've made, lost, & found. Some ripped away not of their own circumstance, some faults of my own and theirs.

But above all else memories both good & bad, looking off towards an uncertain future.

Always better to make today good when you don't know what will happen tomorrow

[cameronmcallister]

There's sea shanties, and then there's a song you could apply to pretty much any armed force pre 1900s.

[DastarRock]

🏴‍☠️ [The Lyrics] 🏴‍☠️

Kind Friend 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
Here's a health to the dear lass, that I love so well,
For her style and her beauty, sure none 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,
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,
Our ship lies at anchor, she's ready to dock,
I wish her safe landing, without any shock,
If ever I should meet you, by land or by sea,
I will always remember, your kindness to me,
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

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

[AshMarked]

I'm growing older, and now wondering at the why and whether of it all. I served in two wars and in three branches of my nation's service. I have lived every line of this tune and a hundred others. I missed the years that should have belonged to my son and wife. In their absence the men and women to whom i pledged my life were everything. Now, in the solitude of this room, i would have them all know what they meant to me in those days, and always.

[twowheelcrusader]

This can just as easily be a pub full of young hopefuls, about to set sail in the morning….

As it could be the lone retired veteran, drinking alone. Remembering his fallen crewmates.

“All out of one glass.”

You can’t drink alone, when your brothers are with you in spirit. One for all of us, lads. One for all of us.

[littledragongirl]

We sing this at the end of every day of Ren Faire. It's a tradition that has been there since the start of it all. We love it when the visitors join in on it. This song was also sung at my wedding so it has so much meaning to me and my husband. <3 <3 <3

[morbillis]

I am just grateful that there are people who dig out, arrange and preserve this kind of masterpieces.

[fosho]

This made me mourne my friends who are ALL still alive