{"id":26338,"date":"2025-04-14T14:41:45","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T14:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=26338"},"modified":"2025-04-14T14:42:34","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T14:42:34","slug":"days-when-i-was-hard-up-the","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/days-when-i-was-hard-up-the\/","title":{"rendered":"Days when I was Hard Up, The"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Hard Up
Vagabond<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1853<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>unknown<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN4621<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Edward Corvan, JH Holmes<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Fone, Sam ; England : Devon ; 1894
Parish, Robert ; England : Somerset ; 1907
Wiseman, Skyland Scotty & Lulu Belle ; USA ; 1937
Edwards, George ; USA : New York ; 1948
Unknown singer ; England : Shropshire ; 1958<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\n
DAYS WHEN I WAS HARD UP
As Sung by Edward Corvan
Air - \"John Anderson my Joe<\/em>\"

In the days when I was hard up, not many years ago,
I suffered that which only, the sons of misery know; 
Relations, friends, companions, they all turn'd up their nose.
And they rated me a vagabond, for want of better clothes.

In the days when I was hard up, and wanted food and fire, 
I used to tie my shoes up, with little bits of wire:
When hungry and cold, cast on a rock, I couldn't get a meal,
How oft I've beat the devil down, for tempting me to steal.

In the days when I was hard-up, I used to bolt the door.
For fear the landlady should say, you can't lodge here no more; 
In my own back parlour, about ten feet by six.
In the workhouse wall just opposite I've counted all the bricks.

In the days when I was hard-up, for furniture and rags.
I've often on a summer's night held communion with the bugs; 
I never hunted them with forks, nor smashed them on the wall.
For I thought the world was wide enough, \"there's room enough for all\"

In the days when I was hard-up, I bow'd my spirits down, 
And often did succumb to friends to borrow half a-crown;
How many are there in this world with evil eye to scan, 
They see the shabby suit of clothes, but they never see the man.


SPOKEN: I pity the poor man, but pity is a poor offering, yet some people in this world bestow a great deal of it; at the same time, they contrive to keep their hands in their pockets. \u201cIn the days when I was hard up;\u201d that\u2019s the time I tried my friends, that is, I tried to find \u2019em, but I never found one yet; appearances were against me; so I plucked up my courage; recollections of the past gathered round me, and I began to forget the difficulties, the hardships, and ups and downs of life I had been forced to submit to; yet the experience I have had will teach me a lesson, and learn one to respect and assist a fellow creature in distress. But, let a man be a friend to  himself, and he will never need friendship from others.<\/em>

In the days when I was hard up I found a blissful hope.
Tis all a poor man's heritage, to keep him from the rope,
But I've found a good old maxim, and this shall be my plan, 
If I wear a ragged coat, I'll near it like a man.<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
In the second half of the 19th century The Days when I was Hard Up<\/em> was widely sung throughout the English speaking world. It was written to be sung to the tune of Robert Burns’ John Anderson my Joe, <\/em>but its not clear who wrote the lyrics. It was widely published in broadsides, songsters and song books, particularly in the US in the 1860s,  for example it appears in:<\/p>\n\n\n\n