{"id":15380,"date":"2022-03-24T08:41:16","date_gmt":"2022-03-24T08:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=15380"},"modified":"2022-08-03T08:52:57","modified_gmt":"2022-08-03T08:52:57","slug":"work-poor-proud-and-particular","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/work-poor-proud-and-particular\/","title":{"rendered":"Work (Poor , Proud, and Particular)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>I don’t like work
I’m poor, I’m proud and I’m particular<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1901<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Harry Boden \/ Bert Brantford<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN24224<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Harry Ford<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Jones, Frank; England: West Midlands; 1984
Costello, Cecilia; England: Warwickshire; 1967<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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From McGlennon's 1902 Song Annual<\/strong><\/em>\n\n\"Work\" (\"Poor, Proud, and Particular<\/strong>\")\nWritten by Harry Boden. Composed by Bert Brantford. Sung by Harry Ford.\nMusic at Reeder and Walsh's\n\nYou cannot judge the temper of a tiger by its spots,\nNor a navvie by the whiskers on his chiv,\nAnd one half of the world don't trouble how the other half\nManages to find a way to live.\nWe've all of us got notions if we haven't, we've ideas\nWith that you will or else you won't, agree\nOne man ain't like another if he's different, that's a cert,\nIf you want an example look at me!\nI've got my health, I've got my strength, in fact I've got 'em both,\nI've got my likes and dislikes too I have, I'll take my oath.\n\nIf I'm poor, I'm proud and I'm particular!\nI don't like work and never did.\nThere's lots of chaps who're fond of it, d'you see?\nAnd they're at liberty to do it all for me.\nI might get a job if I liked to look,\nBut I don't intend to try,\nFor there's lots of millionaires as old and just as strong as I am,\nWho never go to work, so why should I?<\/em>\n\nYou never see Lord Rothschild push a barrow or a truck,\nNor the Prince of Wales at work a shov'ling dirt;\nIf you asked the King of England to go out a pickin' hops,\nHe wouldn't take the job on that's a cert.\nYou never came across John Burns a' holding horses heads,\nNor Chamberlain insuring people's lives.\nYou might as well expect to see Lord Salisbury lay a drain,\nOr else Sir Thomas Lipton grinding knives,\nAnd yet they rub along all right in their own tin pot way\nThey eat and sleep and so do I, so where's the diff'rence, eh?\n\nIf I'm poor, I'm proud and I'm particular and so I always was;\nI could never take the least delight\nIn doing work, you see, from morning until night\nI could do a bit if I wanted to\nBut I don't intend to try\nFor there's lots of toffs with twice the brains and much more sense than I've got\nWho never go to work, so why should I?<\/em>\n\nYou never see a swell what keeps a carriage clean a horse,\nNor a lady who's got servants wash and scrub;\nYou don't expect a man with lots of money to go and search\nFor cigar ends in the sawdust of a pub.\nWhy even cats and dogs are quite contented with a home,\nAll actors and musicians do is play;\nThe monkeys in the Zoo don't work, and when you come to think,\nI'm just as good as they are, ain't I pray?\nI do not say that in this world that no work there should be\nBut what I do say's simply this - 'Don't mention it to me.' For -\n\nIf I'm poor, I'm proud and I'm particular\nI know what suits my health the best;\nAs long as I get all I want, d'you see,\nYou can bet that work'll never trouble me.\nI dare say I could exert myself,\nBut I don't intend to try,\nFor there's lots of toffs about who wear the same sized hat as I do,\nWho hate the name of work, and so do I<\/em>!<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A turn of the century hit for Harry Ford<\/a> co-written by his brother, Bert Brantford. It was recorded for release on wax cylinder . It’s available on various music hall compilations, for example you can find it on one of the excellent Windyridge CDs.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Decades later it was collected from two singers associated with traditional singing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n