so poor are we

So, poor were ye.

Moan

Oh ye were posh growing up so ye were,

You even had brushes to soften ye’re hair,

Things were so bad at our side of town,

We couldn’t get up from being put down,

Reply

You think it was bad you not getting up,

All we had was black tea in a cup,

There was no love in our place, no one to hug,

With your tea in a cup, we hadn’t even a mug,

Moan

Did I say cup heavens too far?

Forgive my boast we had only a jar,

And no money to spare, all ours were broke,

No crust on our bread, it wasn’t a joke,

Reply,

I’ll say this much, I will be honest and true,

We couldn’t afford to have soles in our shoe,

All we had then was string as our laces,

And no bar of soap, to wash our poor faces,

Moan,

Ah worried were you, about faces that were clean,

In our house, we had no face till we were fifteen,

So no soap needed, by either husband or wife,

We were so poor, there was no edge on our knife,

Reply

Ah sure it was tough, having a knife with no edge,

And the man in the house, having to swear to the pledge,

It was tough alright way back in the day,

One tougher than the next by all accounts I’d say,

Both,

We agree than that both our past was quite tough,

Each in our turn has had more than enough,

On and on each in turn got worse,

Money so tight, neither could afford a purse,

Until the shout went up last orders for the night,

They had one more just to avoid a fight.