The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #63628   Message #3550269
Posted By: Phil Edwards
17-Aug-13 - 06:51 PM
Thread Name: Grovelling Songs (Male?)
Subject: RE: Grovelling Songs (Male?)
Here's one you probably won't have heard, because I wrote it & I've only sung it out a couple of times. It's a kind of modified grovel, or grovel-and-response.

THE PAUPER
(Phil Edwards)

If my clothes were all tattered and spattered and old
If my shoes let in water and my coat let in the cold
If I'd the look of a dog that had never been fed
Would I still find the way to your bed?
Could you still love a pauper? he said.

"But your larder is full and your clothes are all new
Your labels are good and your credit is too
If I loved a poor man he wouldn't be you
And I'm not into three in a bed.
I've no love for a pauper," she said.

Oh, my life has been tattered and spattered with grief
I'm empty inside, and cold beyond belief
My heart is a pauper, a beggar, a thief
And you don't want that sort in your bed
So I'll vex you no longer, he said.

"You've taken me places both rich and remote
From spoons that were greasy to cuisine that's haute
You've put the world at my feet and put chains round my throat
So don't tell me your heart's in the red
You're not the pauper around here," she said.

"And don't tell me my love's made you emotionally rich
Or you can go and try sleeping in an emotional ditch
Love is better than money, but I know which is which
And you'll owe me if I let you stay -
Shall I tell you how I want you to pay?"