Country Pubs

I liked the little country pubs

Travellers are justified in complaining when they are unable to obtain accommodation at country hotels at moderate charges. It is objectionable that a man should have to pay high prices at a second-rate hotel and then have to share a room with a stranger because the hotel is not equipped with proper accommodation.

I liked the little country pubs
Back in the days of yore.
I liked the little country pubs
With sawdust on the floor,
Where fellows lounged about and yarned
Of horses, and crops, and sheep,
And girls and fight. But nowadays
I hate the pubs they keep.

I liked the little country pubs
When Bill and Jim and Joe
Came in to gossip after work
In days of long ago.
They sat and cracked the old, old jokes
That always raised a laugh.
An' Jim and Joe drank shandy-gaff,
And Bill swigged half-and-half.

I liked the little country pubs
Because the kindness there
Was evident; good fellowship
And mirth was in the air.
Joe was the blacksmith, Jim the clerk,
And Bill a poor stone-breaker;
And they looked on the country pub
As some respite from "yakker."

I liked the little country pubs;
But when all's said and done
I think I liked them most because
I'd never slept in one.

I'd seen the proud "commercials" go
A-striding through the door,
While we poor fellows in the bar
(With sawdust on the floor)
Just gazed at these imposing blokes
And mentioned them with scoffs.
For we were just poor humble chaps
And they were "bloomin' toffs."

But years go on, and times must change.
I heard the city's call;
I left the little country town,
And soon forgot it all.
The sawdust, and the beer-pump,
And Bill, and Jim, and Joe
Seemed like a long-lost memory
For that was years ago.

I came there in a motor car
When I was old and grey.
The town looked mean; the houses small.
Romance had slipped away.
Old Bill was dead, and Jim had moved.
Joe, he'd grown bent and white.
But, for the sake of dear old days,
I stayed there for the night.

I liked the little country pubs
With sawdust on the floor;
But, save the night I've slept in one
I vow that nevermore
Shall I applaud the little pubs
As now-a-days they're kept.
'Tis euphemism when I say,
Politely, that I slept.

The room was rank; the walls were stained;
The ceiling falling, too;
My whiskered room-mate snored and tossed
And snored the whole night through.

Oh, how I hate those country pubs
Since I have slept in one.
I paid their tariff in the morn
And knew that I was done.

I liked the little country pubs
Back in the days of yore.
I liked the little country pubs
With sawdust on the floor.
I liked the little country pubs
(You'll pardon this insistence).
But, since I've had a bed in one,
I like them in the distance.