A street seller's cry turned into rhyme, chairs to mend and old clothes to sell, sung by someone dreaming of never having to cry it again. The repeated lines echo real tradesmen's calls once heard in English streets.
From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.
If I'd as much money as I could spend,
I never would cry old chairs to mend;
Old chairs to mend, old chairs to mend;
I never would cry old chairs to mend.
If I'd as much money as I could tell,
I never would cry old clothes to sell;
Old clothes to sell, old clothes to sell;
I never would cry old clothes to sell.
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition