The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #5746 Message #2048968
Posted By: Artful Codger
11-May-07 - 04:51 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req/Add: Free and Easy
Subject: RE: Req/ADD: Free and Easy
Thanks, Masato!
The Fennig's version is fairly close to Johnson Ballads 507, published between 1846 and 1854, making it perhaps the earliest exemplar in the set. It includes the "If a King" verse (fourth verse rather than second) and a four-line chorus. One notable word change: "puppies" instead of "paupers".
All the broadside choruses begin "So let the world jog as it will" rather than "...jog along as it pleases".
Only one other verse not yet covered appears in the Bodley's broadsides [in Harding B11(1258) and Firth b.27(497)]:
I envy neither great nor wealthy, Poverty I ne'er despise, Let me be contented, healthy, And the boon I'll dearly prize.