{"id":18211,"date":"2022-12-12T14:55:28","date_gmt":"2022-12-12T14:55:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=18211"},"modified":"2023-01-31T10:24:45","modified_gmt":"2023-01-31T10:24:45","slug":"loom-and-the-lathe-the","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/loom-and-the-lathe-the\/","title":{"rendered":"Loom and the lathe, The"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Sweat of his brow<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>c1859<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>Harry Sydney<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN23216<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Harry Sydney<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>if you know of any, let me know!
<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The loom and the Lathe<\/strong>\nWritten and sung by Harry Sydney<\/em>\n\nLike most other men who've been knocking about,\nStrange places and persons I've seen; \nSometimes I've had plenty sometimes been without,\nAnd frequently hard up I've been.\nBut still tho' dame fortune has been a sad jade, \nAnd baulked me of many a prize,\nWhat I see, I remember, and some say I've made \nA pretty good use of my eyes.\n \nThen hurrah! for the loom and the lathe, \nHurrah! for the spade and the plough, \nThe happiest man I have met with is he \nWho lives by the sweat of his brow.<\/em>\n\nThe lawyers, with eagerness, pocket the fees,\nBut look at them well, and you'll find\nTho' they live in great style and appear at their ease,\nThey're frequently troubled in mind,\nThe parsons have duties fro morning till night,\nIf they do<\/em> them \u2014 but yet I'm afraid\nThe living<\/em> is that, in which most they delight,\nAnd they make their religion a trade.\n\nThe bankers, tho' wealthy, have many a care \nAs to how they will double their cash,\nBut still speculation is often a snare,\nAnd frequently ends in a smash:\nTho' members of Parliament do all they can, \nTo get in the house, 'tis no use,\nIf they wish to be happy, they'll alter their plan, \nFor many get naught but abuse.\n\nSome poets and authors who live by their brain,\nHave seldom a shilling to spare,\nBeset<\/em> thro' their lives by grim poverty's pains,\nThey frequently die in despair.\nThey starve in a garret while striving for fame,\nWhich seldom arrives till they're dead, \nNeglected they live,\u2014then their work get a fame\nAnd a monument's built them instead.\n\nThe higher their station; the more we require, \nAnd the more we're expected to do,\nThe greater the income, the more we desire,\nI'm sure you'll acknowledge that's true.\nThe more we possess, the more anxious we get,\nFor fear that our wealth should be lost, \nThe path of the rich is with troubles beset,\nAs many have found to their cost.\n\nYes! Happy is he on himself who depends,\nIf he has but contentment and health, \nFor Industry more to happiness tends\nThan either position or wealth.\nI envy not those who great riches have got, \nFor wealth is too often a ban,\nBut he has the best and the happiest lot, \nWho works <\/em>\u2014 acts<\/em> \u2014 and speaks<\/em> as a man.\n\n\n\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A song written and performed by Harry Sydney. It was widely printed in songsters and broadsides on both sides of the Atlantic. I have found no evidence it was printed as sheet music – the earliest reference I can find to it is in 1859:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Sunday,  Jan. 16, 1859; The Era<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
There is evidence that the song was revived thirty years later for a Manchester pantomime,  Little Bo Peep <\/em>performed at the Theatre Royal in 1881 (Manchester Courier<\/em>, 19 Dec 1881 p1 and p5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n