Lyr Add: The Jailer's Song (1920s, Bawdy)

Subject: Lyr Add: THE JAILER'S SONG (1920s, Bawdy)
From: and e
Date: 10 Jun 23 - 06:46 PM

THE JAILER'S SONG
(Dick Palfreyman [informant])

In the prison cell I sit,
With my fingers dipped in sh---,
While the mice shoot craps upon the floor;
If you want to hear the f---,
You just spread their legs apart,
And they'll blow you through the keyhole in the door!

In the prison cell I sit,
With y shirt-tail dipped in s---,
And my balls a-hanging loose upon the floor;
And the women as they pass,
Shoot peanuts at my a--;
I don't want to go to prison any more!

Pg 40, From Songs and Ballads: Folk Material and Old Favorites, Collected by [James] Kenneth Larson in McCammon, Idaho. Undated [c1933], typescript. Tune not indicated. Dash expurgation in the original.

See online here: https://archive.org/details/1933-1972jameskennethlarson/page/n39/mode/1up

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE JAILER'S SONG (1920s, Bawdy)
From: and e
Date: 10 Jun 23 - 06:50 PM

The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #151842   Message #3548381
Posted By: GUEST,zippyfusenet
12-Aug-13 - 09:22 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Vonnegut's Song
Subject: Lyr Req: Vonnegut's Song

    In _Slaughterhouse Five_, Kurt Vonnegut quotes one verse of a very filthy song:

    In my prison cell I sit with my britches full of shit,
    And my balls are flopping naked on the floor,
    And I see the bloody snag where she bit me in the bag,
    Oh, I'll never fuck a Polak any more!

    I've never heard this one sung, but it seems this verse would fit well to the The Rambles of Spring, or possibly Tramp, Tramp, Tramp Our Boys Are Marching.

    Does anyone know the rest of the lyrics to this song? The preferred tune? The title? Anything?

From this Mudcat post: https://mudcat.org/detail_pf.cfm?messages__Message_ID=3548381

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE JAILER'S SONG (1920s, Bawdy)
From: and e
Date: 10 Jun 23 - 06:52 PM

It is #169, "In the Prison Cell I Sit", pg 531 in Randolph's Unprintable volume #1.

Sorry I don't have a copy. Can someone post the text ?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE JAILER'S SONG (1920s, Bawdy)
From: and e
Date: 10 Jun 23 - 07:02 PM

LITTLE BALL OF YARN (3)

It was in the month of June, all the roses were in bloom
I chanced to take a stroll around the farm;
And a maiden fair to see, came a-walking up to me,
Said, "Would you like to wind my little ball of yarn?"

Ball of yarn, ball of yarn
Would you like to wind my little ball of yarn?
Ball of yarn, ball of yarn
Would you like to wind my little ball of yarn?

Well, I gave her my consent, and behind the barn we went
I promised her that I would do no harm;
Then she pulled up her clothes, and I pulled out my hose
And then I wound her little ball of yarn.

Ball of yarn, ball of yarn
And then I wound her little ball of yarn?
Ball of yarn, ball of yarn
And then I wound her little ball of yarn?

It was nine months after that, in a poolroom where I sat
That I felt a heavy hand upon my arm;
And a gentleman in blue said, "Young man, we're after you
You're the father of an eight-pound ball of yarn."

Ball of yarn, ball of yarn
You're the father of an eight-pound ball of yarn
Ball of yarn, ball of yarn
You're the father of an eight-pound ball of yarn

In my prison cell I sit, with my fingers full of shit
And the shadow of my cock upon the wall;
And the women, as they pass, all shove peanuts up my ass
While the little mice play ping-pong with my balls.

From a mis-spent youth in Brooklyn, ca. 1943. The last verse,
while it may not really fit, was considered a killer in those
days, at least. RG

@bawdy @bastard @seduction @jail
filename[ BALLYAR3
RG

Song #3616, in the Digital Tradition. Entered by Robert Greenhaus.

See here: https://mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=3616

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE JAILER'S SONG (1920s, Bawdy)
From: and e
Date: 10 Jun 23 - 07:19 PM

Prison Life

In the prison cell I sit
With me fingers in me shit,
Watching bedbugs playing shinny on the floor.
And the hair is growing thick
From me asshole to me prick,
And I'll never see me ballicks any more.
And the ladies as they pass
See me bare and naked ass
And the shadow of me bunghole on the floor.
Then I'll let a blowing fart,
Blow the prison walls apart
And I'll never join the army any more.

Pg 22, from Apples of Eden: A Private Collection of American Folk-Lore: Gathered from cowboys,
college boys, and latino americanos by a liberal who does not believe that these choice
morsels should be thrown out of American Literature because of their vigorous and
unconventional language. After all, a manure pile by any other name would smell no better!
And even a manure pile has its values.
77 pages. 4to. (Berkley, California? ca. 1945.) Typescript.

https://archive.org/details/1945applesofeden/page/22/mode/1up?q=prison

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: THE JAILER'S SONG (1920s, Bawdy)
From: and e
Date: 10 Jun 23 - 07:28 PM

169. IN THE PRISON CELL I SIT

In the prison cell I sit
With my fingers in the shit,
And the lice a-playing shinny
With my balls.

(And the ladies as they pass,
They stick hat-pins up my ass,
While the rats run up and down
The moldy walls.)

Pg 531, Unprintable Ozark Folksongs and Folklore, Volume 1, printed with music.

See here:

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Unprintable_Ozark_Folksongs_and_Folklore/rXAE-KbkomsC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22prison+cell+i+sit%22+shit&pg=PA531&printsec=frontcover

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Jailer's Song (1920s, Bawdy)
From: Lighter
Date: 10 Jun 23 - 08:10 PM

The jail song is an dysphemistic travesty of George F. Root's Civil War hit, "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! or, The Prisoner's Hope" (1864, which begins,

"In the prison cell I sit, thinking mother, dear, of you...."

"Ball of Yarn" was inspired by "Winding Up Her Little Ball of Yarn" (1884), by Earl Marble and Polly Holmes:

https://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/collection/139/059

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Jailer's Song (1920s, Bawdy)
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 10 Jun 23 - 08:28 PM

and e



THANK YOU

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

you bring new strength to these old bones of tallow.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Jailer's Song (1920s, Bawdy)
From: cnd
Date: 12 Jun 23 - 09:14 AM

and e, looks like you found all of it previously. I was hoping there may have been more on the next page not shown in the Google books preview, but alas, just the one page. You can also see it on archive.org

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Jailer's Song (1920s, Bawdy)
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 12 Jun 23 - 11:40 AM

Re Ball of Yarn, I can only remember one verse in full which presumably is a London version.

His younger sister Milly
Was a whore in Piccadilly
And his mother was another In Strand
His father flogged his arse hole
At the Elephant and Castle
They're the biggest fucking family in he land

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Jailer's Song (1920s, Bawdy)
From: Joe_F
Date: 13 Jun 23 - 06:11 PM

Aliter:

Oh, my name is Diamond Lily,
I'm a whore in Piccadilly,
And my father runs a brothel in the Strand,
And my brother sells his arsehole
To the guards at Windsor Castle --
We're the finest fucking family in the land.