Inside the Bar

”Inside the Bar" is a song written in 1917 by the English composer Edward Elgar, with words by Sir Gilbert Parker.

In its original version it is a part-song for four baritones with a piano part marked accompaniment ad lib., but it was also arranged by the composer as a song for solo voice with piano accompaniment, and for a group of two tenors and two basses.

It is sub-titled A Sailor's Song, and dedicated to the singers Charles Mott, Harry Barratt, Frederick Henry and Frederick Stewart, following their successful performances of Elgar's The Fringes of the Fleet.

Notably, with its juxtaposition to the Fringes of the Fleet songs, it makes no reference to the wartime role of sailor or ship.

The song's first dedicatee, Charles Mott, was killed on 22 May 1918 in the World War I action in France.