Somebody Buy Me a Drink Lyrics

SOMEBODY BUY ME A DRINK
(Oscar Brown Jr.)
Oscar Peterson - 1960

The other night, I was on Skid Row
By a liquor store sign's garrish glow;
I saw a fellow I used to know a long, long time ago.

He stood with the lost, with the living dead,
With rumpled clothes and a reeling head,
Reviewing the wasted life he'd lead, and as I passed he said,

"Let me tell you a story that's sad but true
About someone who just may remind you of you
Let me tell you a tale that may help you awake a woozy head -
Somebody buy me a drink.

"It begins long ago on a happy day,
With a fool who was loved, but threw it all away,
Who exchanged a good home for a flophouse, a bar and a plank -
Somebody buy me a drink.

[Bridge]
"Well, to see me today, when I have hit the skids,
Who would think I once had a fine wife and kids?
Yes, I was that fool, after treasure and pleasure,
And love was just a game played with some other dame.

"Now there's only one thing I feel certain of:
The only true treasure in life is love.
Without someone to love and love you, see how low you can sink?
Somebody buy me a drink,
Somebody, somebody, buy me a drink."