Let the Back and Sides Go Bare

DESCRIPTION: Beggar sings of the pleasures of his life -- drinking, starving, sleeping in filth, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (Sharp); a related piece is from c. 1533 (Gammer Gurton's Needle)
KEYWORDS: drink begging starvation humorous nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland,England(South))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Sharp-OneHundredEnglishFolksongs 78, "The Beggar" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-TheCrystalSpring 142, "The Beggar" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT BCK&SID2*
Roud #1573
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "A-Begging I Will Go" (theme)
cf. "Jolly Good Ale and Old (Back and Sides Go Bare)" (chorus)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Beggar's Song
NOTES [66 words]: 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. For details, see "Jolly Good Ale and Old (Back and Sides Go Bare)." - RBW
Last updated in version 5.3
File: ShH78

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