song, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

song n.

1. (also sonnet) a small amount of money.

1602		Shakespeare All’s Well That Ends Well III ii: I know a man that had this trick of melancholy sold a goodly manor for a song.
a.1719		J. Addison Works in Encyc. Dict. n.p.: A hopeful youth [...] was forced by a cobbler to resign for an old song [F&H].
1768		Foote Devil Upon Two Sticks in Works (1799) II 259: The scoundrel let him slip through my hands for a song; only a paltry six pounds and a crown.
1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd edn) n.p.: It was bought for an old song, i.e. very cheap.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1796].
1821		W.T. Moncrieff Tom and Jerry I vii: We can get a prime good one for a song.
1840		T. Haliburton Clockmaker III 167: I got it for half nothin’, a mere song.
1848		G.F. Ruxton Life in the Far West (1849) 68: La Bonté picked up three excellent mules for a mere song.
1873		W.H. Thomes Slaver’s Adventures 24: They told of ivory tushes of the elephant and palm oil that could be bought for a song.
1884		(con. c.1840) ‘Mark Twain’ Huckleberry Finn 236: And here we’ve gone and sold ’em for a song.
1891		J.A. Riis How the Other Half Lives 115: Peaches at a cent a quart, ‘damaged’ eggs for a song.
1899		R. Whiteing No. 5 John Street 124: It is a mere song for a ham bone by Murillo.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 22 Dec. 12/3: Mrs. Harding bought ‘The Towers,’ as it is called for a song from Matthew Davies in the bad times, and atoned for the smallness of its price by the magnificence of its furnishings, which have scarcely seen the light since her death.
1936		(con. 1830s–60s) ‘Miles Franklin’ All That Swagger 131: I got it for a mere song.
1938		F.D. Sharpe Sharpe of the Flying Squad 229: Cases have occured where worn-out and worthless mares have been purchased for a song.
1942		in G. Legman Limerick (1953) 208: A young man, quite free with his dong, / Said the thing could be had for a song.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 168: If I could put the breeze up the shareholders I’d pick the company up for a song.
1965		F.J. Hardy Yarns of Billy Borker 38: I could have got you a brand new Steinway grand worth more than a thousand pounds for a song.
1986		R. Campbell In La-La Land We Trust (1999) 25: Properties purchased for a song in all the most strategic places.
1993		R. Shell Iced 79: She and her room-mate [...] had bought a brownstone, about two miles away in mid-Brooklyn, for a song.
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 191: She lopped £10,000 off her price and the two chuffed Septics got the best pacer in the world for a sonnet.
2003		(con. 1934) W. Woodruff Beyond Nab End 74: Got it for a song in Petticoat Lane.
2012		D. O’Donnell Locked Ward (2013) 218: There’s a very nice detached villa [...] going for a song. A snip.

2. usu. of money, a large amount.

1996

J. Cameron It Was An Accident 100: And it cost you a song and there just as good a chance the thing done crash anyway.

3. see song and dance n.¹ (1)

In phrases

go off like a song (v.)

(US) for a plan to turn out perfectly.

1955

B. Appel Tough Guy [ebook] This job [i.e. a hold-up], too, went off like a song.

make a song about (v.)

see make a song and dance (about) under song and dance n.¹

SE in slang uses

In compounds

songbird (n.) [sing v. (5)]

(US Und.) an informer.

1967		Detroit Free Press (MI) 9 Apr. 49/2: Call him what you will — informant, stool pigeon, songbird.
1970		‘Red’ Rudensky Gonif 103: I’d have liked to take care of that filthy songbird myself.
1994		Quad-City Times (Davenport, IA) 16 May 3/2: [headline] ‘Sammy Bull’ turns mobster songbird. Mafia informer hopes for a break.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 172/2: songbird n. an informer, a nark.

song factory (n.) [play on bird n.¹ (2) + SE factory]

(US Und.) a prison.

1915

G. Bronson-Howard God’s Man 364: I made him for a State’s Evidence louse that’s got a bunch of good fellows jammed into the song-factory up the river.

In phrases

change one’s song (v.) [musical imagery; var. on next]

to alter one’s opinions or statements.

1659		Greene & Lodge Lady Alimony IV iii: Yet she bad her Spouse make haste, / Lest by sojourning long / She might chance to change her Song.
1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn) n.p.: He changed his song; he altered his account or evidence.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

off song [one is not ‘in tune’ or is ‘off key’]

not working well, in bad condition.

1890		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘A Genteel Occupation’ Sporting Times 22 Feb. 1/2: But Elizabeth’s bag was a trifle off song— / Its external appearance was tasty and neat; / But its inner arrangements had somehow gone wrong, / And the diamonds dropped out at Elizabeth’s feet.
1920		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘The Strenuous Week-End’ Sporting Times 31 Jan. 1/3: When he started the week at the office, he looked / So completely off song that the boss / Said, ‘That Mondayfied aspect will soon get you booked / As a wash-out, so drop it, if pos.’.

on song [one is ‘in tune’]

working well, in prime condition.

2002

Guardian 28 Oct. 🌐 The compliments keep flowing for Gianfranco Zola even when he has an off day, or perhaps because of its rarity. Without him on song, the rest growled along.

sing a song (v.)

(US) to ask for credit.

1887

Daily Trib. (Bismarck, ND) 23 Oct. 4/1: When trying to get trusted for a drink a man is ‘bracing the bar, ‘singing a song,’ ‘stifling his jag’ or ‘sparring.’.

what’s your song, King Kong? [assonance]

(US black) how are you? how do you feel?

1947

M.H. Boulware Jive and Sl.