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Topic: Cheater's Poetry: “Villon's Straight Tip to All Cross Coves” by W.E. Henly |
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(Some of you may remember this from "Ricky Jay and his 52 Assistants". I thought it would be fun to share it.) Suppose you screeve or go cheap-jack Or fake the broads or fig a nag Or thimble-rig or knap a yack Or pitch a snide or smash a rag Suppose you duff or nose and lag Or get the straight, and land your pot How do you melt the multy swag? Booze and the blowens cop the lot. Fiddle, or fence, or mace, or mack Or moskeneer, or flash the drag Dead-lurk a crib, or do a crack Pad with a slang, or chuck a fag Bonnet, or tout, or mump and gag Rattle the tats, or mark the spot You can not bank a single stag Booze and the blowens cop the lot. Suppose you try a different tack, And on the square you flash your flag At penny-a-lining make your whack Or with the mummers mug and gag For nix, for nix the dibbs you bag At any graft, no matter what, Your merry goblins soon stravag Booze and the blowens cop the lot. It's up the spout and Charley Wag With wipes and tickers and what not. Until the squeezer nips your scrag, Booze and the blowens cop the lot. W.E. Henly |
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Thank you. I wanted a copy for a lecture I am doing. Mark |
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How about a modern english translation of that argot? I wonder if K Weill might have looked at this in context of his "Rise and Fall of the City of Mahogonny" |