"She Was Poor but She Was Honest", sometimes known as "(It's the Same) the Whole World Over" or (more rarely) by other names, is a traditional seriocomic song or monologue.
Out of shame, she flees to London, becomes a prostitute, and eventually drowns herself in the river; whereas he remains an accepted member of high society.
She may be a common or a high-class prostitute; but in Billy Bennett's recorded version, she sells bootlaces on the street instead; and in Derek Lamb's, matches.
The refrain points the moral: It's the same the whole world over, It's the poor what gets the blame, It's the rich what gets the pleasure, Isn't it a blooming shame?
[8][9] In 1962, Derek Lamb, best known as a British animation filmmaker and producer, included it on an album itself called She Was Poor but She Was Honest.