I Drink - Charles Aznavour

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

As I drink to remind me that I still am 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 a vanishing moon

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

To the passionate fire that has burned out too soon

I drink and I drown in a promise you made me

All the times you betrayed me in your anger and spite

When you took to the town and 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 and 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 and the hope that is dead

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

Till the terror inside me can at last disappear

I drink to my disgrace until 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

Till the edge of damnation that is waiting below

Yes I drink with a thirst that destroys and depraves me

Engulfs and enslaves me and will never let go

I drink until I’m lost and the street is my hideout

Where I hope and I cry out until 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

I drink because I must

I drink to my despair

I drink to your disgust

I drink, drink, drink, my God I drink

Yes I drink