I have no idea why this bit of doggerel popped into my head today, but it did:

[Atticus]

"It was late in last September---as best as I remember---
when a lady of high society looked down in all propriety
Upon me in the gutter where i lay.

She said 'You can tell a man who boozes
by the company he chooses!'
---and the pig got up and slowly walked away!"

[bullimiami]

1. thanks. :).

[soothsayer]

2. A childhood fave! Judged by the Company One Keeps

One night in late October
When I was far from sober
Returning with my load of manly pride
My feet began to stutter so I lay down in a gutter
And a pig came by and lay down by my side.
A lady passing by was heard to say
“You can tell a man who boozes by the company he chooses”
And the pig got up and slowly walked away.

—-
That’s the version we knew from Best Loved Poems of the American People, but there seem to be a lot of variations out there. Loved it and still do. Thanks for the memories!

[Wolf Frankula]

3. I remember singing it to these lyrics.

It was a year ago, September
a day I well remember
I was walking up and down
in drunken pride
when my knees began to flutter
and I fell down in the gutter
and a pig came by and lay down by my side

As I lay there in the gutter
thinking thoughts I could not utter
I thought I heard a passing lady say,
"You can tell a man who boozes
by the company he chooses..."
And with that, the pig got up and walked away.

Wolf