Really really short songs

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: GUEST,Fullerton
Date: 26 Apr 05 - 05:39 AM

My love he has listed ....
to fourty -five degrees

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: GUEST,Fullerton
Date: 26 Apr 05 - 05:44 AM

Mr. Carthy once sang.......

As I was a goin to the fair in a fie,
I spied a girls petticoat hanging to dry,
So I took off my trousers and hung 'em close by,
For to keep that girls petticoat warm.

The petticoat flapped and it made a loud noise,
It flounced and it fluttered, lost feminine poise,
And it wrapped round the legs of me old corduroys.......
Oh Trousers I hope your on form

Anyone know where this came from?

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: Naemanson
Date: 26 Apr 05 - 07:59 AM

You want short songs? I heard this one at Mystic several years ago. It is sung to the tune of The Mermaid. The title is longer than the song. The title is "The true Story of the only voyage of His Swedish Majesty's Famous and Most Powerful Warship, The Vasa."

And the song goes:

It was Friday morn and we set sail,
And we sank to the bottom of the sea.

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: GUEST,Redhorse at work
Date: 26 Apr 05 - 08:26 AM

As the B side of one of his records, Shel Silverstein recorded:

"All my friends keep telling me my songs are much too long
So I've just gone and wrote myself a twenty-six second song".

There was a one verse intro, or it would only have been thirteen seconds

nick

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Apr 05 - 08:44 AM

The Corries used to sing:

My brother Bill's a fireman bold,
he pits oot fires.
He's only twenty seven years old,
he pits oot fires.
Oneday a fire he did fight,
Somebody shouted dynamite.
Where he is now he'll be alright.
He pits oot fires.

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: GUEST,The Barden of England at work
Date: 26 Apr 05 - 08:54 AM

"Were you ever in Quebec"? - "Non"

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: GUEST,banjoman
Date: 26 Apr 05 - 09:46 AM

Heard this Pete Seeger rendition a few years ago:

Why do Scotsmen leave the country
Why do Scotsmen emigrate
They're all following the whisky
Thats exported by the crate.

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: GUEST,Seaking
Date: 27 Apr 05 - 03:16 AM

Billy Connoly sang one about goldfish

Oh the goldfish is a fine fish
And he swims round and round

Chorus

...and round and round, and round and round, and round and round , and round and round

Repeat Chorus

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: Lanfranc
Date: 27 Apr 05 - 04:00 AM

Another "Greensleeves" variant, from Derek Craft of 1812:

"My darling, you look a bit of a mess
When you wipe your nose on the sleeve of your dress
It's most unhygienic you must confess
It's no wonder the boys call you Greensleeves"

And, to the tune of the Can-Can (Derek Craft again):

"I know a girl called Lisa, she's a little teaser
And she lives in Paris with a rich old geezer.
So beautiful is Lisa, if she went to Pisa
I am sure the tower would stand up straight"

Alan

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: GUEST,Guest, Adam
Date: 27 Apr 05 - 04:22 AM

I hate to lengthen one of your short songs, but the B part of the Irish Washerwoman is:
McTavish he suffered from peritonitis,
His brother he suffered from chronic arthritis,
And both of them died and oh my, how they cried
When each of them found that the other had died.

Pat Shuldham Shaw passed it on to lots of folk.

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: CStrong
Date: 27 Apr 05 - 07:32 AM

You'd better watch out
You'd better not cry
Better not pout, I'm tellin' you why:
Santa Claus is dead."

Don't sing it at the kids' show...

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 27 Apr 05 - 08:07 AM

oh when I was just a wee liitle lad
Full of health and joy
My Grandad homeward came one night and he brought this toy
it was a lovely sight to see
all pretty colours bright
i only started to have me doubts
when he pulled off grandma's tights
Cos she went oooh when it moved
and ooooooooh when stopped and
oooooooooooh when it stood still
it was a rubber penis on a black and decker drill!

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: Grab
Date: 27 Apr 05 - 08:34 AM

Frogprince, that's part of a longer song by Garth Brooks. Excerpts don't count! :-)

Tom Paxton has lots of short songs. I like this one:-

(Tune: Twinkle twinkle little star)

"Tinky Winky must be gay",
I heard Jerry Falwell say.
"He is purple - and what's worse,
Tinky Winky has a purse.
That triangle on his head
Is a symbol," Jerry said.
But I think it's just a sign
That Jerry has too much free time.

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: Abby Sale
Date: 27 Apr 05 - 08:40 AM

There's a difference between travesties (for which you really need to know the base song) and genuine short ballads which stand alone. Here's my favorite:

I Was Standing On the Corner         (From Ed McCurdy)

I was standing on the corner
Just as lonely as could be,
When up there came an ugly man
And tied his horse to me.
---

Actually, I've been collecting these for some while. Here's a few others:

Bessie Bell and Mary Grey         (Child #201)

Bessie Bell and Mary Grey,
They were twa bonnie lasses.
They biggit their bower on yon burnside
And thackit ower wi' rushes.

They thackit ower wi' rushes green,
They thackit ower wi' heather;
But the plague cam' fae the borrow toon
An' burried them baith thegaither
-------------------------------------------

The Colorado Trail

Eyes like the morning star,
Cheeks like the rose,
Laura was a pretty girl,
Everybody knows.

Weep all ye little rains,
Wail winds wail,
All along, along, along,
The Colorado Trail.

----------------------

Dog Tick         (from Peggy Seeger)

Dog tick, dog tick, dog tick, 'bacco worm,
Why can't a dog tick dance like a 'bacco worm?

-------------

The Lady in Red         (From Dr. IS Posen)

See the lady in red,
Makes her living on her bed.
For fifteen cents she'll do it once;
For twenty-five cents she'll do it twice.

Here I stand
With a nickel in my hand...
Hey buddy, can you spare a dime.

(Legman notes that the 15 cent price is part of the joke as it's ludicrously low. Typical depression-era low-cost cost was about $2, rising to $5 with the War. He suggests that the song may include the hidden admonition "that the reward of sin may not always necessarily be death, but it ain't much."

-----------------------------

Bob-Tailed Mare       As sung by Phil & Sid Taylor (Sifalid) of near Edinburgh

Of all the horses in the merry green wood
The bob-tailed mare bears the bells away.
There is "Hey," there is "Ree," there is "Whoa" there is "Gee,"
But the bob-tailed mare bears the bells away.
"Hey, Ree, Whoa, Gee,"
But the bob-tailed mare bears the bells away.

---------------------------------------

There's many more verses but I think probably 99% of the times its actually sung, "Cottoneye Joe" is simply:

Where did you come from? where did you go?
Where did you come from, Cottoneye Joe?

I come for to see you, come for to sing,
Come for to show you my diamond ring.

---------------------------------

The 1930'S                     (by Bob Davenport)

The 1930's was always on my mind,
So a steady job was the thing to find.
Now as Wall Street totters and a slump grows near,
Thank the Lord,
I've got a barber's job...in a maternity ward.

---------------------------------

Ye Can't Put Yer Muck in Oor Dustbin         (Glasgow street song)

Ye can't put yer muck in oor dustbin
   Oor dustbin, oor dustbin.
Ye can't put yer muck in oor dustbin
   Oor dustbin, fu'

---------------------------------

WAD YE DO THAT?         (Robert Burns, in _Merry Muses of Caledonia_, page 14   
         Tune: John Anderson, my jo)
                           
Gudewife when your gudeman's frae hame,       [away from]
   Micht I but be sae bauld,
As come to your bed-chamber,
   When winter nichts are cauld;
As come to your bedchamber,
   When nichts are cauld and wat;
And lie in your gudeman's stead;
   Wad ye do that?

Young man an ye should be so kind,
   When our gudeman's frae hame,
As come to my bed-chamber,
   Where I am laid my lane;                   [alone]
And lie in our gudeman's stead,
   I will tell ye what,
He f---s me five times ilka nicht,            [fucks, every]
   Wad ye do that?

-------------------------------------

Supper Is Na Ready         (Robert Burns, in _Merry Muses of Caledonia_, page 45, Tune: Clout the Cauldron - as they all are- learned from MacColl. That is, I did. I don't know where Burns got it.)

Roseberry to his lady says,
        "My hinnie and my succour.
"O shall we do the thing you ken,
        "Or shall we take our supper."
                        Fal lal &c.    [MacColl didn't sing "Fal lal &c."]

Wi' modest face, sae fu' o' grace,
        Replied the bonny lady;
"My noble lord do as ye please,
        "But supper is na ready."
                        Fal lal &c.

----------------------------

My Brither Bill         (Glasgow street song, per MacColl)

My brither Bill's a fireman bold,
   He pits oot fires.
Only twenty-three years old,
   He pits oot fires.
He went to a fire the other night
When somebody shouted, "Dynamite!"
Wherever he is, he'll be all right.
   He pits oot fires.

----------------------------

My Ma's a Millionaire        (Glasgow street song, per MacColl)

My ma's a millionaire,
Big feet and curley hair,
Walking down Buchannan Street
With her big banana feet
My ma's a millionaire.

------------------------------

"Old Aunt Kate"        (From Peggy Seeger)

Old Aunt Kate she baked a cake
She baked it 'hind the gar-den gate.

She sift the meal and gimme the dust,
She baked the bread and gimme the crust,

She eat the meal and gimme the skin,"
And that's the way she took me in.

-----------------------------------

Old Mother Riley        (learned from Phil & Sid Taylor &
                         in _101_ Scottish Songs)

Old Mother Riley at the pawnshop door,
Baby in her arms and a bundle on the floor.
She asked for ten bob, she only got four,
And she nearly pull't the hinges off the pawnshop door.

------------------------------------

Oor Cat's Deid        (learned from Phil & Sid Taylor &
                         in _101_ Scottish Songs)

Lingle lingle lang tang oor cat's deid
Whit did she dee wi'?
Wi' a sair heid!
A' ye that kent her
When she was alive
Come to her funeral
Atween four and five.

---------------------------------------

Siembamba          (a S. African mother's song, per Marais & Miranda)

Siembamba, momie's baby,
Siembamba, momie's baby,
Twist his neck and hit him on his head,
Throw him in the ditch and he'll be dead.

Siembamba, momie's baby,
Siembamba, momie's baby,
Just for love she throws him in the ditch,
Momie's sweet little, sweet little.........baby.
=============================================================

Some years back, Paul Stamler began to count words, seeking Shortest Stand-alone ballad. He offered the above-mentioned, "Papa loved mama" as being only 14 words.

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: JennyO
Date: 27 Apr 05 - 11:15 AM

The Oz version:

"I'll sing of John Howard and the good things he's done."

This is not a song, but a poem:

"There was movement at the station
For the word had passed around,
That the colt from old Regret had got away -
So they went out and brought him back."

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: frogprince
Date: 27 Apr 05 - 04:35 PM

Grab: pay attention; do you think that, 50 years ago, I heard Carl Sandburg sing an excerpt from a Garth Brooks song? Sandburg specifically referred to it as "the shortest blues song"; Brooks messed with that by including it in his song. It ticked me off when I heard Brooks do that.

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: ConcertinaChap
Date: 27 Apr 05 - 04:40 PM

Martin said to his man,
"Sod off"

Chris

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: Kim C
Date: 27 Apr 05 - 04:51 PM

Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl
But she hasn't got a lot to say
Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl
But she changes from day to day
Wanna tell her that I love her a lot
But I gotta get a belly full of wine
Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl
Someday I'm gonna make her mine, oh yeah
Someday I'm gonna make her mine.

---The Beatles.

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: Naemanson
Date: 27 Apr 05 - 05:39 PM

In Alan Lomax's Folk Songs Of North America there is one called My Sweetheart's A Mule. It's attributed to GG Korson's Minstrels Of the Mine Patch (1927)

My sweetheart's a mule in the mines,
I drive her without any lines,
On the bumpers I sit and tobacco I spit,
All over my sweetheart's behind.

I learned it but my (ex-)wife hated it when I sang it.

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: GUEST,lamarca (cookieless)
Date: 27 Apr 05 - 06:44 PM

Parody of Willy O'Winsbury
(learned from Martyn Wyndham-Read)

Young Willy's knocked up the king's daughter Janet
Now her apron strings won't tie down
The king, bein' a pansy,
Young Willy did fancy
Now he's next in line for the crown...

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Apr 05 - 02:12 AM

My old grandmaw when she very very old used to sing a song at family parties (in our house they were called drunken-auntie parties, can't remember why):

Ye banks and braes o bonnie Doune
I've jist stood up noo I'm gonny sit doon

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: GUEST,Bill the Collie
Date: 28 Apr 05 - 02:13 AM

Sorry, last guest wis me!

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: GUEST,Pete
Date: 28 Apr 05 - 11:33 AM

The valiant ship The Anthracite, she sank in Plymouth Sound

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: JennyO
Date: 28 Apr 05 - 12:07 PM

The answer my friends
The answer my friends
The ants are my friends
They are my friends.

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: GUEST,Puffenkinty
Date: 28 Apr 05 - 02:50 PM

"Where have you been all the day,
Randall, my son?
Where have you been all the day,
My handsome young one?"

"None of your business, Mother."

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: Folkiedave
Date: 28 Apr 05 - 03:02 PM

A you're adorable, B you're adorable, C. you're adorable too.......

Dave

Subject: RE: Really really short songs
From: Rustic Rebel
Date: 28 Apr 05 - 07:20 PM

Red Green does a lot of short songs. Here's one

Life is like a river, it winds and ebbs and flows.
And in the end, it'll probably shoot, water up your nose.