I looked over in church and my seven-year-old was reading some LeGrand Richards stories from the 1971 Friend. Elder Richards reminisced:

I was raised on a farm, and we used to sometimes hold Sunday School conferences that members of the general board attended. When I was a boy of about twelve years of age, which is now over seventy years ago, I attended one such conference that made a lasting impression upon my mind.

Our visitors were Brother Karl G. Maeser, who organized Brigham Young University under the direction of President Brigham Young, and Brother George Goddard, who had a beautiful singing voice. I can remember to this day the songs Brother Goddard had us practice in that conference.

The first one is no longer in the hymn-book, but it goes like this: “Take away the whiskey, the coffee, and the tea. Cold water is the drink for me.” This song made such an impression upon me as a boy that I can hardly drink anything but cold water even today.

I was on the train traveling between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles one time when a waiter asked, “Are you ready for your coffee?”

“No, thank you,” I answered.

“Will you have tea?” he asked.

“No, thank you,” I repeated.

“Would you like some Postum?”

“No, thank you.”

He was becoming irritated now. “What do you want to drink?”

“Cold water, please,” I requested.

His reply was, “Well, you’re the funniest man I ever did see.”

The next song Brother Goddard had us practice is in our hymnbook today. It goes like this:

“Who’s on the Lord’s side? Who?
Now is the time to show;
We ask it fearlessly:
Who’s on the Lord’s side? Who?”

This made such an impression upon me as a boy that right then and there I resolved I would always try to be on the Lord’s side.

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We’re familiar with the song “Who’s on the Lord’s Side?” but as Elder Richards noted, it’s been a long time since “Cold water is the drink for me” was used by the Sunday School.

I can’t find it in a hymnal, but the Millennial Star printed the text in 1868. Composed by Elder William Lewis, it was based on a temperance hymn of debated origin, “Cold Water is the drink for me,” and was performed for Brigham Young in 1868 by the children of Moroni, Utah. ((One source for the original cold water song. For an amusing spoof on the cold water song, see the poem “How He Made It.”)) They sang it to the popular tune “Rosalie the Prarie Flower.” ((The sentimental song “Rosalie the Prarie Flower” was written by Fanny Crosby, the blind author of “Give, Said the Little Stream” and many other hymns, and the tune was by George Root, the composer of “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp,” the song tune we use for “In Our Lovely Deseret.”))

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First the tune, then the text.

Water, as it gusheth through the leafy dale,
Water, as it danceth down the vales,
Water, give me water, bounteous and free—
Cold water is the drink for me.
For water yieldeth vigor and health,
Water is a mine of riches and wealth,
Take away the whisky, the coffee and the tea,
Cold water is the drink for me.

Our father Adam and our mother Eve,
Could not have been tempted to believe,
That whisky was “the med’cine to cure cough and cold,”
“And tea to comfort them when old;”
They were not sickly, and it appears,
They lived for more than nine hundred years.
Take away the whiskey, &c.

Father Adam never paid a doctor’s bill,
Eve never swallowed one bitter pill,
For they both drank water, of all diseases free,
Cold water is the drink for me.
Water is sober, water is sure,
To keep the brains cool, to save the mind pure,
Take away the whiskey, &c.

Joseph Smith, the Prophet, a Word of Wisdom had,
Revealed from the heavens to make Saints glad;
The Lord said, shun the whisky, the coffee and the tea,
Cold water is the drink for me.
You shall be mighty, you shall be strong,
You shall do my great work, you shall live long,
If you’ll shun the whisky, the coffee and the tea;
Cold water is the drink for me.

Wicked men and drunkards drink liquors every day,
Talent, time and life, they waste away;
A terrible destruction among them we can see:
Cold water is the drink for me.
In the Millennium, happy and free,
A good Saint shall live as the life of a tree;
As the ancient Prophets have told us it should be:
Cold water is the drink for me.

All ye faithful “Mormons,” who listen to our song,
Keep the Word of Wisdom, and live long;
Till Jesus comes in glory upon the earth to reign,
And father Adam comes again.
Use no tobacco, to smoke or to chew,
Join in this chorus each one of you—
Take away the whisky, the coffee and the tea:
Cold water is the drink for me.

Notes.
The picture of the sheet music is from Duke University Libraries. The picture of LeGrand Richards is from Wikipedia.