A Very Old Drinking Song

In the year 1287, a manuscript was published that included the first recorded version of a classic student song titled "Gaudeamus Igitur." It's a cheerful meditation on the brevity of life and the need to enjoy it while one can. The medieval manuscript with the first reference to the song is in the National Library of France. Some of the lyrics in it are similar to a few of the very numerous verses of the song as it is still sung: for example in the video above, by students at the Jagiellonian Universtiy in Krakow, Poland in the Youtube-presented pandemic singing exercise from last spring. The sentiment of the song somehow seems very apt for the current global threat to long life and carefree youth!

The best-known verse, in Latin, which you may recognize from some almost-forgotten high school class:

Gaudeamus igitur

Iuvenes dum sumus.

Post iucundam iuventutem

Post molestam senectutem

Nos habebit humus.

And in translation if you like me have forgotten Latin itself, as well as the high-school class:

Let us rejoice, therefore,

While we are young.

After a pleasant youth

After a troubling old age

The earth will have us.

Many references to the song have appeared throughout history -- sung when students got together to drink beer or wine — or when glee clubs and singing groups met and sang student songs. You thought college drinking was a recent phenomenon? Think again!

A bit more history comes from Wikipedia (of course): 

"The first appearance in print of the present melody was in Lieder für Freunde der Geselligen Freude ("Songs for Friends of Convivial Joy"), published in Leipzig in 1782, together with Kindleben's German lyrics; however, the tune was evidently well known before this date. The first publication of the present Latin text together with the present melody was probably in Ignaz Walter's 1797 operatic setting of Doktor Faust. It is also heard in Berlioz' Damnation of Faust." (source)

Many other classical composers wrote versions of the song, or included snatches of the melody in other compositions, including Johannes Brahms, Franz Liszt, and Johann Strauss.  The Wikipedia article includes an incredibly long list of films, popular songs, and other entertainments where the tune or the words have been referenced.

According to the Williams College Alumni site: "'Gaudeamus Igitur' is one of the oldest 'college songs' in the Western Hemisphere and has a long history of association with many colleges and universities. Though the Latin text, the occasions at which it is often performed, and the quality of the melody give the song a formal air, it is in fact a light-hearted take on university life." (source)

But for something completely different, here's the Monty Python Philosophers' Drinking Song:

Immanuel Kant was a real pissant

Who was very rarely stable

Heidegger, Heidegger was a boozy beggar

Who could think you under the table

David Hume could out-consume

Wilhelm Freidrich Hegel

And Wittgenstein was a beery swine

Who was just as schloshed as Schlegel

There's nothing Nietzsche couldn't teach ya

'bout the raising of the wrist

Socrates, himself, was permanently pissed

John Stuart Mill, of his own free will

On half a pint of shandy was particularly ill

Plato, they say, could stick it away

Half a crate of whiskey every day

Aristotle, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle

And Hobbes was fond of his dram

And Rene Descartes was a drunken fart

"I drink, therefore I am."

Yes, Socrates himself is particularly missed

A lovely little thinker, but a bugger when he's pissed

Here are the Monty Pythons singing it at the Hollywood Bowl, with repeats and audience participation:

Are you in principle opposed to alcoholic beverages? Then I guess this post isn't for you. Sorry. Also sorry if you aren't a Monty Python fan. I'm neither a big drinker nor a teetotaler. But I'm definitely a big Monty Python fan!

On the other hand, if you don't mind some fun about drinking, then this post might be for you. I'm sharing with Elizabeth and her weekly blog event at Altered Book Lover, which is dedicated to drinks of all kinds, especially tea. This post is by Mae Sander, © 2020, with Youtube images as credited.