Learning Resources

What Will We Do if We Have Got No Money

From the singing of Mary Delaney, still said to be alive today and living in London. Mary is an Irish Traveller, blind and a singer of terrific vigour. Her repertoire includes many old songs learnt from her family as well as ditties, such as this one, which have no known origin but were probably invented around the fires and on the road. This song was recorded from Mary while she was living in a caravan underneath the Hammersmith flyover.

 
This song was part of Singing Histories, a national project led by Sing London to create booklets and resources containing traditional folk songs and history from eight areas across England.

The Singing Histories - London illustrated song book (which includes this song) can be downloaded from the document tab at the top of this panel.  Audio recording(s) of this song are also available from the audio tab.