I have a recording somewhere of Ewan MacColl recounting how he was seeking out the words to 'Fourpence a Day' and had not had much success. While waiting for a bus in, I think it might have been Richmond, Yorkshire, he decided to pop his head round the door of an Old Folks Home (is that still politically correct?) and ask did anyone know it. Someone fortunately did and that's apparently how we have the song today.