<Tr> <Th> Published </Th> <Td> 1938 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Songwriter (s) </Th> <Td> Lorenz Hart </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Composer (s) </Th> <Td> Richard Rodgers </Td> </Tr> <P> "Sing for Your Supper" is an American popular song by composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart . The song was debuted in their 1938 Broadway musical The Boys from Syracuse, in which it was performed as a trio with Muriel Angelus, Marcy Westcott and Wynn Murray . The lyrics describe a singer performing to earn his meals: "Sing for your supper, / And you'll get breakfast . / Songbirds always eat / If their song is sweet to hear ." The song has been recorded by numerous jazz and pop artists over the years, including Rudy Vallée, Count Basie, Mel Tormé, Helen Humes, the Mamas & the Papas and Cher . Author Ethan Mordden used the title for his 2005 study of the Broadway musical in the 1930s, Sing for Your Supper: the Broadway Musical in the 1930s . </P>

Where did the saying sing for your supper come from