Well, Bean, I have to admit to being more partial to bottoms than hobos! I recognise the other meaning too, in context. I also recognise Helen's phrases, including a bum note.

Here’s a nice sidelight on this meaning, from the London Times a few days ago!

Going With A Song

The most traumatic experience in my organ-playing career came not at a wedding but at a funeral. In my student days I sometimes deputised on the electronic organ in the local crematorium. It was a wheezy old instrument, and something about the way it was wired meant it had a tendency to pick up radio signals in certain atmospheric conditions.

One day the inevitable happened. The priest said “Let us sing Abide With Me, and I switched the organ on. But before my fingers hit the keys, a sound came out that set my heart pounding. “Wonder-ful Raaa-di-o One! It’s a Faaaaant-abulous Day in Swinga-ding-ding London,” said an inanely cheery voice from inside the organ.

Frantically I switched off, on, off again. The prattle continued regardless. “Here’s a song for every body stuck inside today!” the voice said. Thirty faces turned to glare at me, each one the spitting image of Munch’s The Scream. And then the crematorium was filled with the fantabulous sound of Gladys Knight and the Pips.

The priest rose superbly to the occasion. “How wonderful for dear Jack to depart this world on such a vibrant note,” he shouted over the music. And dear Jack’s coffin lurched out of sight to the strains of Help Me Make It Though The Night.

Much more appropriate than Abide With Me, we all agreed later. But the crematorium must have lost my telephone number, because my services were not requested again.