{"id":2434,"date":"2020-04-22T11:34:36","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T11:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=2434"},"modified":"2025-12-08T19:20:32","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T19:20:32","slug":"arf-a-pint-of-ale","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/arf-a-pint-of-ale\/","title":{"rendered":"Arf a pint of ale"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Half a pint of ale (!)<\/td><\/tr>
First published<\/td>1905<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Lyrics<\/strong><\/td>Charles Tempest<\/td>Music<\/strong><\/td> Charles Tempest<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN32454<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Music Hall performers<\/strong><\/td>Gus Elen <\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Cosmotheka
Jim Mageean<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I hate those blokes wot talks about\nThe things wot they like to drink\nSuch as tea and coffee, cocoa and milk\nWhy, such fings I never fink\nI'm plain in me 'abits and plain in me food\nAnd wot I say is this\nIf a man wot drinks such rubbish at his meals\nWell, I always gives 'im a miss.\n\nNow at breakfast I never fink of 'aving tea\nI likes arf a pint of ale\nAnd me dinner I likes a little bit o' meat\nAn arf a pint of ale\nFor me tea I likes a little bit o' fish\nAn arf a pint of ale\nAnd for supper I likes a crust o' bread and cheese\nAnd a pint and an arf of ale.<\/em>\n\nNow this is how I looks at it\nAnd I think you'll agree with me\nI've never seen a man get drunk in me life\nOn cocoa, coffee or tea\nTo think I pay one and eight a pound for tea\nWhy, the thought makes me feel queer\nWhen I think of what you'd get for another one and six\nSuch a pretty little barrel of beer.\n\nNow folks wot drinks such stuff as that\nAre always looking pale\nThey've pains in their tummies\nAnd they've pains in their backs\nBut I never had a pain with ale\nI always feel happy, and I always feel right\nWhen I've had a glass or two\nSo why should I drink coffee or tea\nWhen theres' plenty of ale would do?<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Gus Elen (1862-1940): ex-egg packer, one-time shop assistant, was one of the great Coster comedians. At the height of his fame on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1890s and 1900s, he retired in the first world war. According to his contemporaries, he was much more like a real Cockney Coster character than some of his fellow artistes. According to MacQueen Pope there was “a grim seriousness which overlaid the humour” in some of his songs, which included It’s a Great Big Shame<\/em> and If it Wasn’t for the Houses In between<\/em>. Unlike so many of his contemporaries from working-class backgrounds , he amassed a small fortune during his time as a performer, which allowed him to retire to the countryside, refusing all offers of a comeback except a single Royal Variety performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
 The words and music of this song, published in 1905, were written by Charles Tempest, who is not credited with writing any other songs in the sources that I have available, it may be a pseudonym. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quite often heard in UK folk singarounds  – in my experience usually introduced as a music Hall song. It features in the repertoire of both Cosmotheka and Jim Mageean (thanks to Graeme Knights for this last point!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A recording or download of this song can be purchased from Windyridge CDs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n