That’s how you get served when you’re old

AKA The Cold Shoulder
First Published 1879
Writer/composer John Read Roud RN12893

Music Hall Performers John Read
Folk performances Collected from the singing of:
unknown singer; England; 1914-18
Adams, Harry; England : Somerset; 1976
Bridger, Charlie; England : Kent ; 1983
Pardon, Walter England : Norfolk; 1987

THAT'S HOW YOU GET SERVED WHEN YOU'RE OLD

One day in the street, I just happened to meet
An old friend whom I'd not seen for years;
The old man looked sad, tho' to meet me was glad.
And his eyes, as we spoke, filled with tears.
I said, "John, be brief, what's the cause of your grief,
To me your misfortunes unfold."
Said he, " In poor me. you a sample may see
Of how a man's serv'd when he's old."

Each day growing older, I get the cold shoulder,
By youngsters thrust out in the cold,
Who jeeringly say that I'm in the Way,
That's how you get served when you're old.

I began as a lad, and a hard place I had,
Which I held for some forty-five years;
I've worked like a slave, yet no money could save,
And now I may starve, it appears.
What I've had to endure is hard I am sure,
Now, by the young master I'm told
I must no longer stay, but for others make way.
That's how you get served when you're old.

When young, I was praised and my wages were raised,
No labor I'd ever then shirk,
And master would then point me out to the men
As the one who best stuck to his work.
Now I'm feeble and weak, he'll to me hardly speak.
Unless it's to grumble or scold;
They simply make fun of what I have done,
That's how you get served when you're old.

My wife, poor soul! she is near seventy-three,
How to keep her from want I don't know,
If I beg, I intrude, and by p'lice are pursued,
And if to the work-house we go
To seek for relief, they but add to our grief,
"You must come in the house," we are told,
Part husband from wife, to to be paupers for life,
That's how you get served when you're old.

A song composed, written and performed by John Read and first published by Charles Sheard in 1879 (6023d in the Musical Bouquet series). It very quickly became popular amongst amateur singers and there are regular reports of it being sung from 1880 on.

It was republished in UK street literature and cheap song collections in America – in deMarsan’s Singers’s Journal it states it was sung by “Frak Lum”- probably meaning Frank Lum a comic vaudeville singer described as “The Great Sensation”.

In the UK it seems to have been collected by Alfred Williams from an unknown singer around the time of the First World War. It was later performed by several prominent traditional English performers. You can hear a fragment of Harry Adams singing it at the British Library Sounds archive.

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