No, I smoke real stogies, I'm afraid, when the mood strikes me but all of you will be happy to know I do it at home. Cubans. I am a fatalist, believing in predestination, so when I go I go. The old man was worse, and he lives yet at 79. I admit to drinking wine and beer, although I have reached an age where I prefer quality over quantity.

Irony is one of my faults, I confess, being a Canadian of English descent, and raised amongst Celts and Acadians to boot. This often gets me into trouble in the States.

Anyway, I will post a drinking song. The chorus is older than rest of the song, a form appearing in the Tudor play "Gammer Gurton's Needle". It is a lively tune to sing over one's mug, although one doubts that any real beggar ever sang it with conviction.

If any of you know of other verses, please post as I only ever learned these two and the chorus.

THE BEGGAR'S SONG

I'd just as soon be a beggar as a king,
And I'll tell you the truth for why,
A king cannot swagger nor drink like a beggar,
Nor be half as happy as I.

(Chorus)
Let the back and the sides go bare, me boys,
Let the hands and the feet go cold,
But give to the beggar boys beer enough
Whether it be new or old.

Sometimes we call at a nobleman's hall,
To beg for bread and beer,
Sometimes we are lame, sometimes we are blind,
Sometimes too deaf to hear.

(Chorus again)