Lyr Req: 'Oh, the monkey wrapped his tail around..

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Oh, the monkey wrapped his tail arou
From: Charley Noble
Date: 18 May 09 - 08:55 AM

Thanks, Joe!

Eventually on Mudcat all questions are answered in depth.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Oh, the monkey wrapped his tail around..
From: GUEST,Joe, Master Sergeant, USAF (Retired)
Date: 18 May 09 - 03:20 AM

OK, guys, LISTEN UP!!!


Oh, the monkey wrapped his tail
Around the flag pooole.

To let the Wind blooow.
Right up his hooole!!!

Then the people came to see
The icy wind blooow.

Right up his ass hooole
Beside the pooole!!!!

Then the monkey laughed
Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho, ho-hoooooooooooooo!!!

To let the people knooooow
That it was time to gooooooooooooo!!!

And so they all went home
And came back the next day.

To see it all again,
Oh-ho-ho-hooooooo!!!


So why do I sing it "...To let the wind blow, Right up his hole." and not "...To let the wind blow, Right up his ass hole. (or asshole)?" Simple. The single sylable of the word 'hole' fits the music better. Same for 'flag pole' versus 'flagpole'. In both cases (along with the word 'blow') the 'o' sound is extended and I show this by writing it as pooole/hooole/blooow. Go download the song and listen to it all the way through. Then play it again, singing the above lyrics to the second section and repeting them when it is played the second time.
OK, the first part of that about the monkey wrapping his tail around the flag pole has been around for quite a while. I've heard from around the end of WW1 but I havent been able to figure out exactly when or who it was that came up with it. As mentioned above, there were any number of variations, such as "...To watch his ass hole, go up and down". The problem is that this clever bit of verse never went anywhere. I decided to rectify that with the above lyric, which uses the entire first repetition of the first half of the second section of the work. I'm working on the same thing for the entire third section.
To clear up a major misconception, the National Emblem March was not at all written by John Phillip Sousa. It is the work of Edwin Eugene Bagley, who would otherwise be forgotten today. The march was written around 1902 but Bagley wasn't happy with it and put it aside. He finally published it around 1907. As he was still alive during WW1, I'm sure he was aware of the words that some GI came up with that would ensure that his melody would live forever.

By the way, I stil remember the first time that I heard this. It was in Germany in the mid-70's. I was at my desk one day when out of nowhere a certain Sergeant First Class Issacson unexpectedly came out with this. I laughed so hard that I nearly fell out of my chair!

Oddly enough, you if asked almost anyone in the military today if they had ever heard of this, the would say no because it's not part of today's military culture anymore. Singing it to them will normally produce gales of laughter because they've never heard it before and because it's so out of place in today's politically correct armed forces. Same goes for the card game of pinochle. It used to be that you could never expect to become a sergeant if you couldn't play double-deck pinochle. Again, no one in today's military has ever heard of it. Too bad.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Oh, the monkey wrapped his tail around..
From: Joe_F
Date: 17 May 09 - 08:46 PM

In my family it was

Oh, the monkey wrapped his tail around the flagpole
To see his asshole
Wave in the wind.

To skip the preposterous (or is it postposterous?) anatomy implied by that version is surely to miss most of the fun.

I wonder if Freud ever heard it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Oh, the monkey wrapped his tail around..
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 May 09 - 07:40 PM

This one does date to WW1.
Vance Randolph, Ozark Folksongs and Folklore, vol. 2, "Blow the Candle Out," Vulgar Rhymes p.673. has two short rhymes sung to the march, or to a bugle call:

Oh, the monkey wrapped his tail around the flagpole
An' up his ass-hole, an' up his ass-hole!
Oh, the monkey wrapped his tail around the flagpole,
And you can all just .... kiss my ass!

Randolph heard it in 1926, but forgot two syllables marked by '....'

I remember my father sang "Oh, the monkey wrapped his tail around the flagpole, tore his ass-hole, ..." but I can't remember the rest. He picked it up at Ft. Riley, Kansas, about 1918 when he was in training there.

There may never have been a complete song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Oh, the monkey wrapped his tail around..
From: GUEST
Date: 17 May 09 - 05:52 PM

One more phrase I remember hearing, when I was about 10 years old, i.e. 60+ years ago:

"to see his balls roll"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Oh, the monkey wrapped his tail around..
From: GUEST,Forrest Sherman
Date: 17 May 09 - 03:53 PM

Oh the Monkey Wrapped his tail around his tail around the flag pole,
To see the grass grow around his asshole.
my father used to sing this, but he never continued any farther.
He was a marine and I suspect that it was part of ribald parody.

Subject: RE: Lyric req.; The monkey wrapped his tail
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 07 Jul 02 - 05:36 AM

Another music thread taken seriously. Sorry I don't know. But I've heard that being sung to one of those marches, by John Philip Sousa.

Subject: RE: Lyric req.; The monkey wrapped his tail
From: catspaw49
Date: 07 Jul 02 - 12:54 AM

Only "To see his asshole"

Spaw

Subject: Lyric req.; The monkey wrapped his tail
From: GUEST,Jim Hewitt
Date: 06 Jul 02 - 11:47 PM

I have heard about lyrics sung to the tune of National Emblem march which begin "Oh, the monkey wrapped his tail around the flagpole". Does anyone know more about this?