Drink With Me Lyrics – Les Miserables

Song Overview

Song Credits

• Featured (1988 Symphonic cast): Kenny D’Aquila (Grantaire), Michael Ball (Marius), William Solo (Feuilly), Jordan Bennett (Courfeyrac), Reece Holland (Joly) and ensemble women’s chorus
• Producer: David Caddick
• Composer: Claude-Michel Schönberg
• Lyricists: Alain Boublil, Herbert Kretzmer, Jean-Marc Natel
• Conductor / Orchestrator: Martin Koch, John Cameron
• Release Date: December 2 1988 (album)
• Genre: Symphonic musical-theatre ballad, quasi-folk drinking song
• Key & Tempo: F major, ~100 BPM
• Length: 2 min 21 s (Symphonic edition)
• Instruments: muted strings, acoustic guitar, French horns, harp arpeggios, low woodwinds, off-stage tenor drum
• Mood: Nostalgic, fatalistic, torch-carrying
• Album: Les Misérables: The Complete Symphonic Recording
• Copyright ©: 1980 & 1985 Alain Boublil Music Ltd / Schönberg Music Ltd

Song Meaning and Annotations

When the muskets finally cool, the barricade boys trade rifles for bottles and memories. “Drink With Me” is Les Misérables’ camp-fire elegy: a waltz that sloshes between camaraderie and creeping dread. Schönberg pares the accompaniment down to pizzicato cellos and a guitar heartbeat; every new toast sits a semitone lower than the last, as if the wine itself is pulling the key toward the grave.

Lyricist Herbert Kretzmer lets the students start with rosy recollection—“pretty girls who went to our heads”—before Grantaire’s verse crashes the party, asking whether any of their deaths will mean a thing. That pivot from nostalgia to nihilism is why the scene lands so hard on stage; audience laughter over drunken banter curdles into throat-tight silence in under thirty seconds. Live recordings capture glasses actually clinking, a Foley detail conductor Martin Koch insisted on to keep the sound world painfully real.

The 2012 film trims the first ensemble stanza, but Eddie Redmayne fought to keep the three-part hummed canon that closes the cue, arguing it “sounds like men willing their own lullaby.” Director Tom Hooper agreed—listen closely and you’ll hear distant musket percussion, mixed so low it feels like a nightmare someone might jolt awake from.

Verse Snapshots

1. Feuilly’s Toast

Drink with me to days gone by
Sing with me the songs we knew

A gentle upward sixth gives hope a last stretch before dusk.

2. Grantaire’s Doubt

Will the world remember you when you fall?

The melody sinks a tritone—musical vertigo mirroring his existential free-fall.

3. Marius’s Soliloquy

Life without Cosette means nothing at all

Schönberg strips away chorus and harmony, leaving one unaccompanied tenor line hanging like a final love-letter.

Annotations

The quiet tableau of “Drink With Me” lets the barricade breathe. When the students raise their cups and sing

“Drink with me to days gone by.”

they reclaim a sliver of humanity, each coping with fear in his own way. Enjolras, normally steel-nerved, bends toward Marius — his friend has just watched Éponine die in his arms at the close of “A Little Fall of Rain.”

Enjolras and Compassion

This tenderness contrasts sharply with “Red and Black,” where Enjolras rebuked Marius for letting love distract him from the cause. Beneath the revolutionary firebrand is a leader who still worries for his comrades; he will show the same concern when Marius is struck during the final assault.

Verses That Fit Their Singers

Prouvaire’s line about lovely girls suits the novel’s gentle poet. Joly, forever fussing over ailments, thinks of witty Musichetta. Their small solos keep Hugo’s sketches intact.

Grantaire — Cynic and Devotee

Grantaire’s verse crystallises him. A hard-drinking skeptic, he laughs at every ideal yet worships Enjolras with near-religious fervour — a devotion the perfect revolutionary openly despises. In the book he sleeps through the fight, wakes as Enjolras is about to be shot, steps beside him and pleads to die

“in one blow.”

Enjolras clasps his hand; both fall together when the volley fires. The musical keeps the image — Grantaire either dies at Enjolras’ side or exposes himself the instant Enjolras is felled — but, with Les Amis trimmed, the full depth of that transformation is easy to miss.

Staging Choices

Directors often use the song’s lull to hint at a reconciliation the novel places later. Sometimes Grantaire silently offers his wine; sometimes Enjolras pointedly takes another bottle and walks away — ice-cold distance made visible.

The 2014 Broadway revival rewrites the moment. Grantaire drains his bottle off to one side; Gavroche hugs him from behind. He slings an arm around the boy and exits. Actor Joseph Spieldenner describes a “big brother” bond — Grantaire would trade his life for Gavroche, echoing Valjean’s prayer in “Bring Him Home.”

Wine and Fellowship

The toast

“May the wine never run dry.”

equates empty bottles with broken friendships. With death near, the students ask only that their camaraderie outlast the night.

Marius — Heart Elsewhere

Earlier, in “Red and Black” and “One Day More,” Marius agonised —

“Do I follow where she goes? / Shall I join my brothers there?”

Choosing the fight seemed noble, yet here, facing almost certain death, he admits he cares less for the cause than for Cosette.

“Will I weep if I am slain, if she is not there?”

The revolution was never the true center of his world.

Thus the song layers simple melody over complex ties: noble idealists, weary cynic, reluctant lover — all momentarily united in a fragile toast before dawn and gunfire sweep the barricade away.

Annotations

The quiet tableau of “Drink With Me” lets the barricade breathe. When the students raise their cups and sing

“Drink with me to days gone by.”

they reclaim a sliver of humanity, each coping with fear in his own way. Enjolras, normally steel-nerved, bends toward Marius — his friend has just watched Éponine die in his arms at the close of “A Little Fall of Rain.”

Enjolras and Compassion

This tenderness contrasts sharply with “Red and Black,” where Enjolras rebuked Marius for letting love distract him from the cause. Beneath the revolutionary firebrand is a leader who still worries for his comrades; he will show the same concern when Marius is struck during the final assault.

Verses That Fit Their Singers

Prouvaire’s line about lovely girls suits the novel’s gentle poet. Joly, forever fussing over ailments, thinks of witty Musichetta. Their small solos keep Hugo’s sketches intact.

Grantaire — Cynic and Devotee

Grantaire’s verse crystallises him. A hard-drinking skeptic, he laughs at every ideal yet worships Enjolras with near-religious fervour — a devotion the perfect revolutionary openly despises. In the book he sleeps through the fight, wakes as Enjolras is about to be shot, steps beside him and pleads to die

“in one blow.”

Enjolras clasps his hand; both fall together when the volley fires. The musical keeps the image — Grantaire either dies at Enjolras’ side or exposes himself the instant Enjolras is felled — but, with Les Amis trimmed, the full depth of that transformation is easy to miss.

Staging Choices

Directors often use the song’s lull to hint at a reconciliation the novel places later. Sometimes Grantaire silently offers his wine; sometimes Enjolras pointedly takes another bottle and walks away — ice-cold distance made visible.

The 2014 Broadway revival rewrites the moment. Grantaire drains his bottle off to one side; Gavroche hugs him from behind. He slings an arm around the boy and exits. Actor Joseph Spieldenner describes a “big brother” bond — Grantaire would trade his life for Gavroche, echoing Valjean’s prayer in “Bring Him Home.”

Wine and Fellowship

The toast

“May the wine never run dry.”

equates empty bottles with broken friendships. With death near, the students ask only that their camaraderie outlast the night.

Marius — Heart Elsewhere

Earlier, in “Red and Black” and “One Day More,” Marius agonised —

“Do I follow where she goes? / Shall I join my brothers there?”

Choosing the fight seemed noble, yet here, facing almost certain death, he admits he cares less for the cause than for Cosette.

“Will I weep if I am slain, if she is not there?”

The revolution was never the true center of his world.

Thus the song layers simple melody over complex ties: noble idealists, weary cynic, reluctant lover — all momentarily united in a fragile toast before dawn and gunfire sweep the barricade away.

Similar Songs

1. “The Letter” – Miss Saigon (1989)
   Both Boublil/Schönberg laments use sparse strings and hushed chorus to frame soldiers questioning destiny, though Saigon trades red wine for war-torn Saigon humidity.
2. “Not While I’m Around” – Sweeney Todd (1979)
   Sondheim’s lullaby also couches looming violence in lilting 3/4. Where Grantaire doubts survival, Tobias vows protection, yet both melodies circle the same minor-key cradle.
3. “Requiem” – Dear Evan Hansen (2015)
   A modern pop-ballad analogue: survivors sing about memory, uncertainty, and whether grief erases or engraves the dead.

Questions and Answers

Does the 2012 film keep the full song text?

No—only Feuilly’s opening couplet, Grantaire’s verse and a shortened choral refrain made the final cut.

What key is “Drink With Me” traditionally performed in?

The Symphonic and London cast recordings both sit in F major at roughly 100 BPM.

Which cast albums include the complete scene?

The 1985 London cast, 1987 Broadway cast, 1988 Complete Symphonic Recording, 1995 Dream Cast concert, 2010 25th Anniversary, and 2019 Staged Concert all retain every verse.

Are there notable non-theatre covers?

A cappella group Voctave released a lush nine-part arrangement in 2021; Celtic folk duo The Reverie Road turned it into a slow reel on their 2023 EP (stream-only release).

Why isn’t Enjolras given a sung verse?

Schönberg purposefully leaves him silent to show leadership bearing the weight of looming dawn; his spoken “Marius, rest” signals a commander standing watch.

Awards and Chart Positions

• Grammy Award: The Complete Symphonic Recording won Best Musical Cast Show Album (1991)
• Billboard 200: The Symphonic album peaked at No. 42 (March 1991)
• UK Compilation Chart: Re-entered Top 30 after the 2010 O? concert broadcast

Fan and Media Reactions

“Grantaire’s verse is one long hangover—hits harder than any cannon.” – Reddit /r/lesmiserables

“25th Anniversary cast nail that three-way handshake on ‘here’s to you’—tiny, perfect detail.” – Tumblr meta post

“Film cut too much, but Eddie’s hush on ‘friendship’ still wrecks me every time.” – Period-drama blog review

“Key of F is cruel for tenors after two hours of belting—respect to every Marius who survives it.” – Vocal pedagogy tweet

“Symphonic recording’s clinking glasses are my ASMR—do not @ me.” – CastAlbums forum