Give Yourself A Pat On The Back

For a chap who hadn't rowed anything except a light canoe since he was up at Oxford, he considers he did dashed well, especially when you take into account the fact that he was much hampered by the Mothers. They would insist on singing that thing about 'Give yourself a pat on the back', and, apart from the fact that Barmy considered that something on the lines of the Volga Boat-Song would have been far more fitting, it was a tune it was pretty hard to keep time to.

Young Men in Spats. 2 Tried in the Furnace

Just as the Bassett said these words, there came from without the uproar of someone singing, and I identified the voice as that of the solid school friend. She was rendering that old number 'Give yourself a pat on the back', and the general effect was of an exhilarated foghorn.

The Mating Season. Chapter 17