Living
West Sussex Drinking Song
From Verses (1916 edition)
They sell good Beer at Haslemere
And under Guildford Hill.
At Little Cowfold as I’ve been told
A beggar may drink his fill:
There is a good brew in Amberley too,
And by the bridge also;
But the swipes they take in at Washington Inn
Is the very best Beer I know.
Chorus
With my here it goes, there it goes,
All the fun’s before us:
The Tipple’s Aboard and the night is young,
The door’s ajar and the Barrel is sprung,
I am singing the best song ever was sung
And it has a rousing chorus.
If I were what I never can be,
The master or the squire:
If you gave me the hundred from here to the sea,
Which is more than I desire:
Then all my crops should be barley and hops,
And did my harvest fail
I’d sell every rood of mine acres I would
For a belly-full of good Ale.
Chorus
With my here it goes, there it goes,
All the fun’s before us:
The Tipple’s aboard and the night is young,
The door’s ajar and the Barrel is sprung,
I am singing the best song ever was sung
And it has a rousing chorus.
Codex Note
A drinking song naming good beer at Haslemere, Guildford Hill, Little Cowfold, Amberley and Washington Inn, and ending in a rousing chorus: 'I am singing the best song ever was sung / And it has a rousing chorus.'
Cite this poem
MLA
Belloc, Hilaire. “West Sussex Drinking Song.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/belloc/12/.
Chicago
Belloc, Hilaire. “West Sussex Drinking Song.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/belloc/12/.
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