West Sussex Drinking Song

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, the very best Beer I know.

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 rousng chorus.

If I were what I never could 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 should my harvest fail
I'd sell every rood of mine acres, I would,
For a bellyful of good Ale, a bellyful of good Ale.

With my here etc.

by (Joseph) Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953) , "West Sussex Drinking Song", from Verses, published 1910

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by Albert Melville Cook , "West Sussex Drinking Song", published 1957. [TTBB chorus a cappella]
by Peter Cork , "A Sussex Drinking Song", published 1966. [chorus and piano]
by David Gow (1924-1993) , "A West Sussex Drinking Song", published 1966. [voice and piano]
by Ivor Gurney (1890-1937) , "West Sussex Drinking Song", published 1921. [voice and piano]
by Carl J. Kittleson (1920-) , "West Sussex Drinking Song" [baritone, SATB chorus, and piano]
by John Raynor (1909-1970) , "West Sussex Drinking Song", published 1971 [voice and piano], from Eleven Songs, no. 3.
by Philip George Wilkinson (1929-) , "West Sussex Drinking Song", published 1959. [TBB chorus a cappella]

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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