I have the sheet music as published and Stan appeared to have written

The bastard drinks it all away

I was raised on The Spinners version and to a degree the Cilla Black one. I don't sing it in public apart from a couple of times at singarounds where people have asked if anyone knew it, but I sang it to both my lads when a song substituted bedtime stories and I look forward to singing it to my granddaughter when she is old enough to stay over.

Never thought of censoring it on the basis of today's society expectation. It is historical and written at the time of my entry into the world so commands respect for its portrayal of Northern life of the time. As sad as that makes it. ...