Hi there, I'm trying to find this song, as the tune is used for a quite amusing 1930s student parody that goes like so:


'It's Not the Beer'

They send us up to Varsity and make us wear a gown,
They take away our nice short pants just when our knees are brown,
They work us forty hours a week to make us fit to learn -
We go and drown our sorrows for the freshest worm will turn.

Chorus -
Oh, it's not the beer that makes you feel so queer,
Nor the good old long squash shandy;
For the stuff that makes you rock
Is the sherry and the hock,
Vermouth, martini too, and cherry brandy.
Shell-shock and rum will warm the portly tun -
But they don't leave the head too clear:
So if gin and whicky make you frisky,
Peg along on good old beer.


They sell you wine in bottles and whisky by the flask,
They sell you rum and peppermint whenever you may ask
They sell you risky cocktails, but please remember that,
The first one makes you happy but the last one knocks you flat.

Take warning all you freshers when you want to drown your woes.
Some penetrating tipple warm the cockles of your nose;
But take a tip from Billy Nidd who knows what he's about
And say "A pony shnady" just whenever it's your shout.

Tune: They Put us in the Army


From 'Canterbury University College Song Book - 1940'