| AKA | Let the world jog along |
| Lyrics | Harry Sydney | Music | Trad | Roud Index | RN1084 |
| Music Hall performers | Harry Sydney, 1840s |
| Folk performances | Various versions of this song have been collected One was collected by Percy Grainger in Lincolnshire from the singing of Bryan Cooper in 1906. |
I'm the lad that's free and easy
Wherever I chance to be,
And I'll do my best to please ye,
If you will but list to me
So let the world jog along as it will,
I'll be free and easy still;
Free and easy, free and easy,
I'll be free and easy still.
Some there are who meet their troubles.
Others drown their cares in drink;
Half our trials are but bubbles,
Fretting forges many a link
Should Prince Albert to sit beside me
I'd smoke my pipe with usual glee
Let puppies laugh and fools deride me
Still I'd free and easy be
I envy neither great nor wealthy,
Poverty I ne’er despise,
Let me be contented, healthy,
And the boon I'll dearly prize
The great have cares I little know of,
All that glitters is not gold,
Merit's seldom made a show of,
And true worth is rarely bold
Why then waste our days in fretting?
The longest lane must have an end,
The wealth that costs such toil in getting,
Takes but little time to spend
I care for all, yet care for no man,
Those who mean well need not fear,
I like a man, I love a woman
What else makes this life so dear
Almost certainly a song whose chorus was around before the Halls, this version is usually credited to Harry Sydney, who performed it in the 1840s at various men only late-night supper rooms, including one called “Evans’ Late Joys’” (Evans had taken over the rooms previously run by Mr Joys hehe) . These supper rooms catered largely to middle-class males, but were an early influence on the more down-to-earth public-house singalongs that sometimes evolved into music hall.
The repertoire in the late-night male-only supper rooms could get quite racy and there is a whole book of Bawdy songs from this period. As well as the bawdy songs, the repertoire seem to include a greater proportion of older songs which we might now consider to be folksongs. These were often sung to comic effect, sometimes dressed in character and often in a comical accent. It may be that Free and Easy was sung in this way .
Broadsides of a song called “Free and Easy” were published as early as 1832 (and probably earlier). Harry Sydney was born in 1825, so it seems unlikely that he wrote these earliest versions, if its the same song …
Sources:
- Lyrics: The Poet’s Box (Broadside, 1856) available from VWML
- Scott Early Doors
- From the singing of Ron Spicer (1991) recorded by Vic and Tina Smith
- Sheet music (cover only) VandA
- US Sheet Music: Levy collection
- Mudcat thread
Last Updated on October 22, 2020 by John Baxter | Published: December 7, 2019
