My grandmother used to sing "Tardy scholar is your name" in the nineteen-thirties. I was very young at the time and, I think, used inwardly to take it somewhat personally, because punctuality at school was rather a problem with me.

Later I came to the conclusion that it was a music-hall song from my grandmother's young days. A 3/4 time version of it occurs in a lesser known Johann Strauss waltz, whose title escapes me. I think Strauss was commemorating a visit to Victorian England. I got quite a start when I first heard the waltz!

My memory of the words is very close to those quoted already, but part of the "verse" that I seem to remember (I may have filled gaps from my imagination)is:

I am scolded ev'ry day,
Why it is I cannot say,
When I reach the schoolyard gate,
Someone tells me I am late.

I'd really like to know more!