Do Us a Sub

DESCRIPTION: "Do us a sub, Lend us a quid, Give us a rub Of your Burberry."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1999 (Phillipson)
KEYWORDS: money sailor clothes
FOUND IN: Britain
REFERENCES (1 citation):
David Phillipson, _Roll on the Rodney: Life on the Lower Decks of Royal Navy Warships After the Second World War_, Sutton Publishing, 1999, p. 64, "(no title)" (1 text, with explication)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Blaze Away" (tune, according to Phillipson)
NOTES [109 words]: Although I have not found this in any song collection, Phillipson reports that this was a traditional piece used in the Royal Navy in the years after World War II by sailors who were broke. Sailors were paid every other week, but might have leave on multiple weekends, so there was a tendency to spend all their cash on the first weekend and then try to scrounge more money for the next weekend. As Phillipson comments, the request was not likely to be gratified. His glossed version is as follows:
Do us a sub [substitute for my duty on board this evening],
Lend us a quid [pound sterling],
Give us a rub [loan]
Of your Burberry [uniform raincoat]. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: XYZDoUaS

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