Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)

Subject: Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)
From: and e
Date: 04 Jul 23 - 10:07 AM

When & where did you learn the recitation "Crazy, I was crazy once" ?

in kinda a rap beat:

Crazy, I was crazy once.
They put me in a room with padded walls
I died there, they buried me six feet under
Then the bugs came. Bugs.
Bugs drive me crazy.
repeat

Posted by oldhippie, March 6, 2010.   

See here:https://mudcat.org/detail_pf.cfm?messages__Message_ID=2857994

Any help with getting an earlier date for this repeated recitation is appreciated.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)
From: and e
Date: 04 Jul 23 - 03:22 PM

My best friend says that she learned the "Crazy" recitation in the 1980s.   

Does anyone have earlier memories?   Variants?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)
From: and e
Date: 04 Jul 23 - 03:28 PM

Crazy? I was crazy once! They locked me up in a rubber room! It was cold! I
died! They buried me! There were worms! It drove me *crazy*! Crazy? I
was crazy once...
**Richard Wyckoff**[e-mail]**

Dated April 21, 1993. Usenet archive comp.sys.ibm.pc.games   Used as a tagline at the end of an email.


See online here: https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.ibm.pc.games/c/x0W7qi-HsSk/m/gUbXEI6ZqDkJ

Subject: RE: Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)
From: and e
Date: 04 Jul 23 - 03:47 PM

Eric Pyle,
Jul 22, 1992, 1:01:29?PM

I played Strider for the Genesis a while back. While
playing the game I discovered something very odd. On the
level (I can't remember the #) with all the exploding bombs,
I found a weird looking creature behind some explosives. It
looked like a small panda bear. I saw it come out of the
hatch in the background. He steps out looks left and right
and then steps back in the hatch and disapears. It appeared
to have no significance to the game. I could not touch it or
anything. If others have noticed this, what is it?

(It is located on the far left of the room with all the
explosives, behind some explosives.)
And no I'm not crazy!

Crazy? I was crazy once.... Eric

Fragment only, dated July 22, 1992. Usenet post to alt.games.lynx


See online here: https://groups.google.com/g/alt.games.lynx/c/mnIvNARDzzs/m/aFAEji4T354J

Subject: RE: Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)
From: cnd
Date: 04 Jul 23 - 07:59 PM

"Crazy? I used to be crazy. They locked me in a rubber room with rubber rats. I hate rats. They drive me crazy... Crazy? I used to be crazy. They...

"Reading that, at least 56 percent of readers will correctly assume I spent four hours in a car with three teenagers who had just escaped from church camp."

Ann Gross, in The Deming Headlight, June 24th, 1993 (Deming, New Mexico) - p. 4"

Subject: RE: Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)
From: and e
Date: 05 Jul 23 - 06:47 PM

"Crazy, I was Crazy Once
They locked me in a rubber room.
I died there.
They buried me six feet under.
Daisies grew and tickled my toes.
I laughed so hard it drove me...
Crazy, I was Crazy once…"

March 5, 2010. From Stella Todd, female, 68, House wife, retired,
Princeton, Kentucky

.

From Folklore Collection by Bailey Squires. For the Introduction To Folk Studies, Fall Semester 2009. Deposited at the Manuscripts & Folklife Archives, Library Special Collections, Western Kentucky University.


Retrieved from here:

https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&filename=0&article=1602&context=dlsc_fa_fin_aid&type=additional

Subject: RE: Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)
From: and e
Date: 05 Jul 23 - 07:16 PM

"I laughed so hard I thought I'd die.
I did die.
They buried me, and a flower grew on my grave.
The roots grew down and tickled me.
I laughed so hard I thought I'd die.
I did die…"

Brunvand, Jan Harold. The Study of American Folklore: An Introduction. pg 118. 1968.

See here: https://books.google.com/books?id=bb0J3VIs69UC&q=%22I+thought+I%27d+die%22+%22i+did+die%22&dq=%22I+thought+I%27d+die%22+%22i+did+die%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&printsec=frontcover&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjmrIWkl_j_AhWxJH0KHd8rB54Q6AF6BAgLEAI


I have verified the text above by viewing full scans at the Archive.org of the 1st edition (4th printing). This recitation is on page 118.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)
From: and e
Date: 06 Jul 23 - 05:54 AM

== R H Y M E ==
ID: 316
Date: 1998
Title: I was crazy once
Gender: Male and Female
Classification: Retort
Rhyme:
Crazy! I was crazy once,
They locked me in a rubber room.
It was cold in that room.
I died in there.
They put me in a box.
There were worms in that box.
Worms! I hate worms!
They drive me crazy!
Crazy! I was crazy once!
(NZ ex USA, 1998)
--
Keywords: crazy, circular tale, tall tale,
Location: NZ (ex USA)
Group size: 2
Incidence: 1

From Jancie Ackerley's database of Playground Rhymes of New Zealand Children. 2006. [Private collection].

Subject: RE: Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)
From: and e
Date: 06 Jul 23 - 06:15 AM

CIRCULAR STORY / Traditional
I laughed so hard I thought I'd die.
I did die. They buried me, and flowers grew on my grave.
The roots grew down and tickled me.
I laughed so hard I thought I'd die.
I did die. They buried me

Pg 35, Worlds in Small: An Anthology of Miniature Literary Compositions,
by John Robert Colombo. 1992.

See here: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Worlds_in_Small/5_NZAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22I+did+die+.+They+buried+me+%22&dq=%22I+did+die+.+They+buried+me+%22&printsec=frontcover

Another pre-internet reference.

More variants of "Crazy" to follow.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)
From: and e
Date: 06 Jul 23 - 09:40 AM

>* "Life's tough, then you die... then the worms eat you.

Worms? I hate worms. Worms make me crazy. Crazy? I was crazy once.
They put me in a hole. I died there. Then the worms came. Worms? I
hate worms. Worms make me crazy. Crazy? I was crazy once....

You? I hate you. "U" is a letter of the alphabet. Alpha Bits are cool.
This morning, I got a "U" in my spoon. You? I hate you. "U" is....

March 21, 1996. Usent group post to rec.arts.anime by jchamber


https://groups.google.com/g/rec.arts.anime/c/_s88B3nNAs4/m/6K5CjmCocuYJ


This example has a "You? I hate you" repeating recitation.

Do you know the "You? I hate you..." version?

Would you please share your version, and where & when you learned it?

Thanks!

Subject: RE: Head? Who Said Head. I'll Takes Some of That!
From: and e
Date: 06 Jul 23 - 10:00 AM

HEAD CHANT

Head? Who said head?
I'll take some of that!
Oooh-rah!

And I did, and it was good,
And there was much rejoicing.
And then we fucked. We fucked for hours,
Uprooting trees, bushes, and flowers.
Frightening small children and woodland animals.
We fucked with power tools.
We fucked like Vikings, with horns on our head.

Head? Who said head?
I'll take some of that!
Oooh-rah!

From the May 2001 edition of Half-Mind Hymnal by Paul "Flying Booger" Woodford.

This recitation, common now among Hash House Harriers, was probably inspired by the "Crazy? I was crazy once..." recitation.

This 2001 reference for "Head' is the earliest I've been able to trace the chant. The catch phrase "Head? Who said head" or "Head? I'll take some of that." appears to be older.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)
From: and e
Date: 06 Jul 23 - 10:45 AM

...They fucked and fucked for hours and hours
A-tearing up trees and shrubs and flowers...

Part of text "D" of the recitation "Lady Lil" collected from Mr. A. M., Columbia, Missouri, October 3, 1948. He heard it recited at Kirksville, Missouri in 1918. in Blow the Candle Out: "Unprintable" Ozark Folksongs and Folklore by Vance Randolph (Fayetteville : University of Arkansas Press, 1992), Vol. 2, page 668. Edited & annotated by G. Legman

The "Head? Who said head?" shares that rhyme with the "Lady Lil" recitation.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Jul 23 - 12:42 PM

I was born in 1988 and learned this version as a kid in the 90s:

Crazy? I was crazy once. They put me in a rubber room and told me to get a life. Life? What's life? It's a magazine, costs fifty cents. Rats, I only have a quarter. Rats? Rats drive me crazy!

I have a feeling we may have substituted "it's a cereal" since that was a better cultural touchpoint for me at the time.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)
From: and e
Date: 07 Jul 23 - 07:58 PM

Head
(Traditional/Fred Elkins/Charlie MacConnach)

There's a tropical chant that everyone knows
Singing of loving and tropical blows
Horny Boy sings it as he's on his way
Recalling his memories of tropical days   

"Head?" "Head?" "Who said Head?"
    "I'll take some of that he said"
    He did and it was good he sings
    And there was much rejoicing
    They boinked and boinked for hours and hours
    Uprooting trees and bushes and flowers
    They boinked like Vikings with horns on their head
    That brings us back to "Who said head?"

They sing it at all of the tropical bars
Drinking rum drinks and looking at stars
Laughing and loving the place that they're at
No one can ever forget about that.

Gigging and jigging and breathing through tubes
Showing your butt and showing your boobs
Taking the time to forget about home
Singing this song you're never alone.

"Head?" "Head?" "Who said Head?"
    "I'll take some of that he said"
    He did and it was good he sings
    And there was much rejoicing
    They boinked and boinked for hours and hours
    Uprooting trees and bushes and flowers
    They boinked like Vikings with horns on their head
    That brings us back to "Who said head?"

Just one more time we all sing the verse
Nobody's better and nobody's worse
Hope once more before we're dead
We can get together and sing about head.

"Head?" "Head?" "Who said Head?"
    "I'll take some of that he said"
    He did and it was good he sings
    And there was much rejoicing
    They boinked and boinked for hours and hours
    Uprooting trees and bushes and flowers
    They boinked like Vikings with horns on their head
    That brings us back to "Who said head?"

    Head?" "Head?" "Who said Head?"
    "I'll take some of that he said"
    He did and it was good he sings
    And there was much rejoicing
    They boinked and boinked for hours and hours
    Uprooting trees and bushes and flowers
    They boinked like Vikings with horns on their head
    That brings us back to "Who said head?"

About this song: We heard Renee down on Normans Cay in the Bahamas reciting the chorus of this and decided that we should write verses for it and put it to music.

"Head" song from Rockfish at Norman's Cay II: Return to MacDuffs CD, 2003 by Rockfish.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)
From: NightWing
Date: 10 Jul 23 - 11:00 AM

The Hashing chant "Head! Who said 'Head'" you described definitely pre-dates 2001.

When I started Hashing in '95 or '96, that chant--in exactly that form--was being "sung" at Circle and had been so for a long time. It definitely wasn't new at that point. I remember seeing it in Flying Booger's Hash Hymnal of about that time, but I never had it in any format but electronic and have updated my copy several times. So I don't even have the 2001 edition.

BB,
NightWing

Subject: RE: Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 11 Jul 23 - 09:48 PM

Night Wing -

Where is your kennel/mother hash?

ON-ON

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

It has been my astounding good fortune to know Kualaha, Okinawa, Wales, UAE, Brussels, Amsterdam, and "Gypsies in the Phallus."

Subject: RE: Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)
From: GUEST,and e (no cookie)
Date: 12 Jul 23 - 06:57 AM

I have many editions of Paul Woodford [Flying Booger] Hash Hymnal.
The "Head? Who said head?" chant doesn't appear in the 1994a, 1994b,
1997, Jan 2000, or 11 Mar 2000 edition (all are the text files).

I will try the Stray Dog songbook... but I don't remember seeing it there either.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)
From: GUEST,and e (no cookie)
Date: 12 Jul 23 - 07:25 AM

Let's do this chronologically. It is not in the following
Hash House Harrier songbooks:

Inter-Hash Songbook, 1986, printed book. [Cover title Hash Music 1986]
Jakarta HHH 1994 songbook, printed book.
The Definitive Hash Songbook, (January 1994), by ZiPpY, printed book.
The Definitive Hash Songbook, (November 1994), by ZiPpY, printed book.
Hash Song Book, 1995, by Mu-Sick. (photocopy of typewriting).
[untitled text file], ca 2001, by Stray Dog.

And as reported above, it is not in the Flying Booger hymnal until 2001.

Anyone have earlier date (1970s, 1980s, 1990s) for the "Head? Who said Head?" repeated chant?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)
From: cnd
Date: 12 Jul 23 - 10:01 AM

It's referenced in several military songbooks (viewer discretion advised before opening most of the songbooks), but sadly not quoted in its entirety. Mostly just included as a throw-away tag line or joke.

- Parachuting, united we fall (1978), p. 300
- Bat Songs (1995) by the 44th Tactical Fighter Squadron
- 44th Fighter Squadron Song (1999)
- Winning the Retention Wars. The USAF, Women Officers and the Need for Transformation (2002), p 27
- 37th Bomber Squadron B1-B Songbook (2002)

Sadly, nothing definitive.

Subject: Lyr Add: The Vikings (Stuart Slack)
From: cnd
Date: 12 Jul 23 - 10:57 AM

Only tangentially related, so please forgive the thread creep, but this reminds me of a song guest Allan Williams shared with my a while back by The Isle of Mann Group, written by Stuart Slack and performed by Al Lawrence and Mike Williams. Recorded circa early/mid 1980s, possibly at the Ballacallin Hotel. You can hear a recording of it here, but my transcription is of a live recording Allan shared with me.

THE VIKINGS
(Stuart Slack, as performed by Al Lawrence and Mike Williams)

Peel is a little city on the west coast on the Isle of Mann that specializes in fishing... (long pause), deviations, [second man] (and drinking), and Vikings -- particularly Vikings. The Vikings have an amazing festival every year in which loads of the local fellows get all dressed up in old sheepskin robes and things and stick painted motorcycle helmets with sheep horns stuck on the top on top of their heads and they brandish wooden swords painted with silver paint, and they go 'round, they come on in with the tide in wooden boats, and they rape and pillage all the young maidens in Peel, one at a time, and they have a marvelous time. And I've often wanted to join, but I'm not big enough. .... [skipping unrelated joke]

This is what they call an audience participation song and your bit is, when we sing the chorus, there's a bit in it that goes "scooby-do, scooby-do, scooby-do." Now if you can all go -- with your hands, like that, "scooby-do, scooby-do, scooby-do." Now, you're not sitting opposite one another, so you can't get a lot of pleasure out of it, but, you can polish up somebody's head, ruffle their perm or something, ok? .... Pretend you're at the disco.

[note: unfortunately the hand motion was not captured]

CHORUS
Why not become a Viking, you will find it to your liking
To join you just grow whiskers on your chin -- scooby-do, scooby-do, scooby-do
We have lots of rape and pillage in every town and village
We kick off a hell of a din

And we hold our Viking festival on the fourth day of July
That's the day the Yanks call Independence Day
And the ale and wine flows free, but it doesn't bother me
I know the tourists' board are going to pay

CHORUS

And we get into our Viking boats and we hide behind the pier
Where we smoke and play pontoon until a signal we do hear
And then we roll like hell as we finish off the whiskey and the beer
And the people all yell out -- "Hey lads, here come the Vikings -- My God!"

CHORUS

One evening when the signal came we rowed behind the pier
And the skipper said, "now come on lads, don't talk"
But some mist blew in the bay and we headed the wrong way
And the next thing was we landed in New York -- dear me

CHORUS

Another time we'd reached the shore and I was first to leap
Well, the lads were pretty keen on rape -- they followed me like sheep
But the trouble was, the water was still seventeen feet deep!
And the people all yelled out -- "Hey lads, where's the Vikings gone? They were there a minute ago?"

CHORUS

Subject: RE: Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)
From: GUEST,and e (no cookie)
Date: 15 Jul 23 - 06:43 PM

HEAD? WHO SAID HEAD?

Head! Who said head?
I'll take some of that,
And I did, and it was good
And there was much rejoicing.
And then we fucked. We fucked for hours
Uprooting trees, shrubs & flowers,
And then we fucked like Vikings
With horns on our head!

[Repeat the above until you want to finish.
Then do the following verse.]

Head! Who said head?
I'll take some of that,
And I did, and it was good
And there was much rejoicing.
And then we fucked. We fucked for hours
Uprooting trees, shrubs & flowers,
And then she fingered my asshole and I quivered [shivering sound]
It wasn't fun, it wasn't funny, it's dangerous
So I'm taking my TV, my dog, my football and I'm going home.
So fuck you you fucking fucks!

From the "Head? Who Said Head?" field recording of Tom "Fuk Stik" Tarka, recorded May 7, 2004.

Listen online: https://ia804702.us.archive.org/9/items/jack_horntip_collection_field_recordings/1425%20Head%20Who%20Said%20Head%20%5BWith%20Additional%20Verse%5D.mp3

Subject: RE: Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)
From: NightWing
Date: 23 Aug 23 - 02:00 AM

Re Gargoyle's question: My Mother Hash is the Colorado Full Moon H4. In addition, I used to Hash regularly with Colorado Springs H4, Denver H3, Boulder H3, Fort Collins H3, Kimchi H3, Boulder Flatlanders H3, and assorted other Colorado kennels. My Hash Names are "Little Head" and "Shut Yer Manhole".

Eleven years ago, I moved from the Denver/Boulder (Colorado, USA) area to very rural southwestern Virginia and I'm now 3-4 hours (in any of several directions) to the nearest towns/cities with kennels. I went to a couple of Hash runs after I moved, but 6 hours (round trip) is a little far to go. So I have not hashed in about 10 years. :-(

BB,
NightWing

Subject: RE: Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Aug 23 - 05:40 AM

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Subject: RE: Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)
From: GUEST,Catzardo
Date: 10 Nov 23 - 04:48 AM

I’m glad i’m not the only one trying to find the origin of this lol. I learned this as a cub scout years ago. Still like to use it to annoy my friends (still in scouts)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)
From: Mo the caller
Date: 13 Nov 23 - 10:00 AM

Our never ending story was -

It was a dark and stormy night
And the Captain said to the first mate
Tell us a story
And the story went like this

It was a dark and stormy night...

Subject: RE: Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)
From: GUEST,Catzardo
Date: 10 Nov 23 - 04:48 AM

I’m glad i’m not the only one trying to find the origin of this lol. I learned this as a cub scout years ago. Still like to use it to annoy my friends (still in scouts)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Crazy? I Was Crazy Once (recitation)
From: Mo the caller
Date: 13 Nov 23 - 10:00 AM

Our never ending story was -

It was a dark and stormy night
And the Captain said to the first mate
Tell us a story
And the story went like this

It was a dark and stormy night...