I know there are a couple versions of this song in the DT under the title "She Was Poor But She Was Honest" and one under the title "It's the Same the Whole World Over," but the more I search for lyrics for this song, the more different versions I find.

The one I do I learned from a Theodore Bikel album of folk songs from around the world. (The album appears to be out of circulation now, as I can't find a reference to it online, even though I still have the album but just can't recall the exact title.)

Here is Bike's version:

SHE WAS POOR (BUT SHE WAS HONEST)

She was poor but she was honest,
Victim of the squire's whim.
First he loved her, then he left her
And she lost her name again.

Then she went away to London,
There to hide her grief and shame,
But she met another squire
And she lost her name again.

See her riding in a carriage
In the park and oh, so gay,
Where the nooks (?) and nobby persons
Come to pass the time away.

See the little old-world cottage
Where the aged parents live
Drinking the champagne she sends them -
But they never can forgive.

In the rich man's arms she fluttered
Like a bird with a broken wing,
Then callously he lhe left her,
But she hasn't got a ring.

See him in the House Of Commons
Making laws to put down crime,
While the girl that he has ruined
Toils away through muck and slime.

See her on the bridge at midnight
Crying, 'Farewell, blighted love!'
Then a scream, a splash, good 'eavens!
What is she a doing of?

When they dragged her from the river,
From her clothes the water wrung,
And they thought that she had drownded,
But the corpse got up and sung:

"It's the same the whole world over,
It's the poor what gets the blame,
It's the rich what gets the pleasure,
Ain't it all a blooming shame?"

"It's the same the whole world over.
It's the poor that gets the blame.
It's the rich that gets the pleasure.
Ain't it all a bleeding shame?"





Here's the first version in the DT:

She Was Poor But She Was Honest (DT - 1) performed by Billy Bennett
(Almost a Gentleman)



And here's the second one in the DT:
She Was Poor But She Was Honest (DT - 2)    (sts. 4 & 5 learned in the Royal Navy, 1953)


I'm wondering what other variations folks have on this song.

Genie