I've doing this song since the late 1950's with slight variations. It was often presented as from the Depression era, but it appears to date back before that timel. It's a pretty good tale of someone with a bit of "black" humor, looking up from the down side of life after being on top. Many can relate. I found a weird corollary to this piece in something Shel Silverstein wrote years ago, called "Beans, They Taste Fine." The chorus sort of sums up the tale with:

"After You've been eatin' steak for a long time,
Beans, they taste fine.
After you've been drinking that champagne and brandy,
You want to settle for - settle for wine.
Life is funny and people are strange,
And man is a creature of constant change.
After you've been eatin' steak for a long time,
Beans, beans taste fine."