Lyrics:
I’ve seen a deal of gaiety through out my noisy life
With all my grand accomplishments I ne’er could get a wife,
The thing I most excel in is the P. R. F. G. game,
A noise all night in bed all day, and swimming in Champagne.
chorus:
For Champagne Charlie is my name, Champagne Charlie is my name
Good for any game at night, my boys, good for any game at night, my boys,
Champagne Charlie is my name, Champagne Charlie is my name
Good for any game at night, boys, who'll come and join me in a spree
The way I gain'd my title's by a hobby which I've got,
Of never letting others pay, however long the shot,
Who ever drinks at my expense are treated all the same;
From Dukes and Lords to Cabmen down, I make them drink Champagne.
From Coffee and from supper rooms, from Poplar to Pall Mall,
The girls on seeing me exclaim “Oh! what a Champagne swell!”
The notion 'tis of ev'ry one, if 'twere not for my name,
And causing so much to be drunk, they’d never make Champagne.
Some epicures like Burgundy, Hock, Claret, and Moselle,
But Moet's Vintage only satisfies this Champagne swell;
What matter if to bed I go, and head is muddled thick,
A bottle in the morning sets me right then very quick.
Perhaps you fancy what I say is nothing else but chaff,
And only done, like other songs, to merely raise a laugh;
To prove that I am not in jest each man a bottle of Cham
I'll stand fizz round—yes that I will, and stand it—like a lamb.
George Leybourne, an English music hall performer who wrote these lyrics, was also the composer (but not the lyricist) of #175 - Rhine Wine Charley. There is some similarity in the theme and chorus.