Chapter and verse quotation-citation correspondence site

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

Chapter and Verse debuted in this magazine’s July-August 1979 issue in an effort to assist Robert B. Wood ’40, who had sent the editors a query they couldn’t answer, but hoped their readers could: “My sainted grandmother, born in Scotland, with some time in London before settling here in the U.S., sang a fine ditty—no doubt music hall somewhere—which started, ‘Oh, what will be the outcome / If the income don’t come in?/Where from will come the money/To buy the food and gin?’ Good question! But that’s all I remember. Where from, and what’s the rest of it?”

His question, though rerun in the digital age, remained unanswered until Eve Golden forwarded “What’s Gonna Be the Outcome If the Income Don’t Come In?” ©1935, with lyrics by Eddie Moran and music by Harry von Tilzer, uploaded by some kind soul to the Internet. An older, British version may lurk somewhere, but with this serendipitous citation, C&V bows to the resources of the World Wide Web and becomes an occasional item only. Send inquiries and answers to “Chapter and Verse,” Harvard Magazine, 7 Ware Street, Cambridge 02138 or chapterandverse@harvardmag.com.

Related topics

You might also like

Bringing Korean Stories to Life

Composer Julia Riew writes the musicals she needed to see.

Being Undocumented in America

Karla Cornejo Villavicencio’s writing aims to challenge assumptions. 

Matt Levine's Bloomberg Finance Column Makes Money Funny

Matt Levine’s spunky Bloomberg column

Most popular

How MAGA Went Mainstream at Harvard

Trump, TikTok, and the pandemic are reshaping Gen Z politics.

Harvard Panel Debunks the Population Implosion Myth

Public health professors parse the evidence surrounding falling U.S. birth rates.

Harvard’s New Online Orientation Emphasizes Intellectual Paths

A summer course for first-years focuses on academic success, diverse viewpoints.

Explore More From Current Issue

Colorful illustration of woman multitasking with laptop, baby bottle, toy, and checklist.

Motherhood and Ambition in a Pronatalist World

Gen Z is confronting the age-old question of balance—with a new twist.

Renaissance portrait of young man thought to be Christoper Marlowe with light beard, wearing ornate black coat with gold buttons and red patterns.

Shakespeare’s Greatest Rival

Without Christopher Marlowe, there might not have been a Bard.

Man in gray sweater standing in hallway with colorful abstract art on wall.

How Do Single-Celled Organisms Learn and Remember?

A Harvard neuroscientist’s quest to model memory