We all came into the world with nothing

AKA
Lyrics WH Wallis Music Charles Collins Roud RN29840

Music Hall performers Tennyson and Wallis 1910s
Folk performances John Foreman 2017
Ted Poole 1989		 

 
 Life is very funny when you come to think it out,
 What a funny lot we are;
 Some of us are very rich and born without a doubt,
 Underneath a lucky star.
 You may be very poor, but still it matters not, 
 Never let it trouble you what other folks have got
 When a fellow brags about the money that he’s worth
 Point it out that all of us are equal on this earth.
  
 We all came in the world with nothing,
 No clothes to where,
 When we die, just bear in mind,
 All our money we shall leave behind,
 We finish up just the same as we began,
 Without the slightest doubt; 
 We all came into the world with nothing, 
 And we can’t take anything out.
 
 What’s the point of keeping all the money that you earn, 
 Try and be a poor man’s friend,
 Somebody will spend it for you when you leave the earth,
 Money it was made to spend.
 Don’t envy anyone with jewels rich and rare,
 Never wish that you possess the finery they wear
 Live and be content, it is the that best you can do, 
 In the end you’ll find they’re but no better off than you.
  
 My advice to those who want to lead a happy life,
 Whether you be rich or poor,
 Laugh away your troubles, you must never think of strife
 Look for better days in store
 Life is a pleasure if you go the proper way,
 Do not worry over little items every day,
 Keep it in your memory that life is just a span,
 While we’re here let’s make our life worth living if we can.

John Foreman sang a fragment of this in the excellent BBC Radio 4 Programme John’s Songs , which may still be available.

Ted Poole, radical socialist activist and founder of Swindon Folk Club, recorded a fragment for Roy Palmer.

The Music Hall performers most associated with the song were Joe Tennyson and William H Wallis, a double act who advertised themselves as “comedians, patterers* and dancers“, they worked together 1902-1915. Joe Tennyson had previously appeared in a double act with Joe O’Gorman.

* 100 years previously a “patterer” referred to a person who aided a “chaunter” in selling printed broadside ballads. The patterer provided a maudlin or comic spoken commentary whilst the chaunter sang the ballad. I’m not sure that’s the meaning here…

Sources:

As recorded by Arthur Gilbert, under the name Johnny Wakefield: