Going for a Song

[afcjan]

Does anyone know know where the expression "going for a song" comes from. it was mentioned on tv the other day but I cant remember the answer.

thank you

[johnny.5]

it might be what dyslexic school kids do behind the bike shed

Am I right ?
I'm not wrong !

[Quizmonster]

I have no idea what the TV programme had to say on the matter, obviously, but Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable says it probably came from the minimal cost of song-sheets in the olden days or the small change offered to entertainers who sang outside pubs back then, too. In other words, a song was cheap in both cases, so the phrase came to be applied to anything cheap.