“Let the Back and Sides Go Bare”

Description

Beggar sings of the pleasures of his life -- drinking, starving, sleeping in filth, etc.

Notes

The chorus, "Let the back and the sides go bare, go bare/let the hands and the feet grow cold/but give to the belly, boys, beer enough/whether it be new or old" appears in _Gammer Gurton's Needle_ (1575), but the verses are quite different. -PJS

The themes are rather similar, though; I suspect the dependence is literary. - RBW

Cross references

References

  1. Sharp-100E 78, "The Beggar" (1 text, 1 tune)
  2. DT BCK&SID2*
  3. Roud #1573
  4. BI, ShH78

About

Alternate titles: “The Beggar's Song”
Author: unknown
Earliest date: 1916
Found in: Britain(Scotland,England)