Just wanted to contribute my own encounter to this wonderful thread -

I was on a multi-night backpacking trip in the Finger Lakes region of New York State in August 2008, part of a freshman preorientation program at Cornell University. This "song" was taught by one of the guides. It wasn't actually a song, just a set of lines that were spoken by everyone in the group with emphasis in all the right places. After the trip I wrote it all down, and have included that version below. Fascinating to see the many similarities and a few differences from the versions you have all shared!! Especially interested to hear that the song was being taught at Cornell College in Iowa (no relation to Cornell University) - I imagine it must have gained currency in college outdoor education circles in the '70s!

-Noah

===

It vas a vinter in the vonderland
and all the vicked vimen
vere velocitating in the vestibule.

Copenhagen was taken, hurrah, hurrah!
Copenhagen was taken, hurrah, hurrah!

And all of the people
went up in the steeple
to spit on the people below.
Pitooey!

Ah, ah, women!
Ah, ah, men!

My leetle brother Heinrich,
he leaned the window out.

And there he saw a tree.
And on the tree a peach.

He leaned the window out,
he fell the window out!
His head on the rocks below...
Peachless!

He died, he did,
he died o' broken ribs he did!
He died, he did,
he died o' broken ribs he did!

Let's go bowling on the bowling green,
the bowling green,
the bowling green!
Let's go bowling on the bowling green,
so early in the morning!

But we CAN'T go bowling on the bowling green!

Why CAN'T we go bowling on the bowling green?

Because the bowling green belongs to the king!

The king? What king?

The husband of the queen!

The queen? What queen?

The mother of the prince!

The prince? What prince?
Hand prints, hoof prints?

*dog whistle*
Here Prince!

The moral of THIS story is,
don't confuse ASTHMA *inhale wheezily*
with PASSION *exhale dreamily*