The version I learned--I think at church camp in the '50s--has the first person in the song as a bit of a scoundrel, as the Da in _Angela's Ashes_. It starts the same, but the singer, until he's spent it all, always has tuppence to spend. First, the wife loses out: I've got tuppence to spend and tuppence to lend And no pence to take home to my wife (poor wife) Then there's no tuppence to lend, and finally, the rascal has spent it all, but still maintains his good spirits and is rolling home. The chorus is the same as the one Joe cited as in the DT. Charles
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