Yeah, Alistair, it sounds like an English music hall song from the turn of the century. If I recall correctly, Merv Griffin sang it with a cockney accent, or at least an accent that sounded pretty good to me. You wouldn't think of Merv as a singer, but I thought he did a pretty good job of the song. I'd like to know more about the song - my guess is that it was written for a movie, but that's just a guess. Well, it WAS used in the Disney movie "Lion King," but it wasn't written for it. I understand you can find the song in Hal Leonard's New Novelty Songbook.
One source does say the lyric is "roll or bowl a ball."
-Joe Offer-