“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
- cf. "A-Begging I Will Go" (theme)
- cf. "Jolly Good Ale and Old (Back and Sides Go Bare)" (chorus)
References
- Sharp-100E 78, "The Beggar" (1 text, 1 tune)
- DT BCK&SID2*
- Roud #1573
- BI, ShH78