subs. (common).—A trifle; a nominal sum or price: also an OLD (or MERE) SONG.
1598. SHAKESPEARE, All’s Well that Ends Well, iii. 2, 8. I know a man that had this trick of melancholy sold a goodly manor for A SONG.
1714. The Spectator, No. 597, 22 Sept. An hopeful youth, who had been newly advanced to great honour and preferment, was forced by a neighbouring cobbler to resign all for AN OLD SONG.
1888. Globe, 2 Sept. Evergreen, who was bought for A MERE SONG.
1901. St. James’s Gazette, 5 March, 5, 1. Ships, like everything else, grow old. Though they cost a round million to build, they are sold for a SONG when obsolete.
TO CHANGE ONE’S SONG (or SING ANOTHER SONG), verb. phr. (common).—To tell a different tale (GROSE): see SING. Also ‘His morning and evening SONG do not agree’ = ‘He tells another yarn at night to the one in the morning.’
