Lyr ADD: In de Vinter Time (from Carl Sandburg)

Subject: In der Vintertime
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 27 May 01 - 03:20 PM

Would like more words to an old childrens song. In der vintertime in der valley vile/ When der vint blows on der vindowpanes/ And the vimmen of der woderwille/ Ride welocipedes around der westibule.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: Pene Azul
Date: 27 May 01 - 03:29 PM

The lyrics are here (click) in the Digitrad.

Jeff

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 27 May 01 - 03:44 PM

Thanks. I tried digitrad but didn't enter it right, I guess. The words are a little different, but the source is obviously the same. There are still more verses out there somewhere.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 27 May 01 - 09:28 PM

I learned this jolly little song from a 10-inch LP, on red vinyl, sung by Carl Sandburg, the poet and folksong aficionado.

I usually sing it in tandem with another Scandinavian-dialect song from childhood, which starts out,

"It's gonna be a long, hard vinter
And vat vill de birdies do den, d' pyur tings?
Dey'll fly in d' barn, yust to keep demselfs varm,
And pyut deir head under deir vings, d' pyur tings!"

I THINK this is in the DT. In fact I THINK I submitted it. Whether it has made it into the DT yet, I don't know, because the posters are way overloaded. I'll search and see whether it's there or I have submitted it, and if not I'll post it.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: Lyr Add: LONG, HARD VINTER
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 27 May 01 - 09:48 PM

I've searched the forum and DT, and haven't found it, so here is:

LONG, HARD VINTER

It's gonna be a long, hard vinter
And vat vill d' birdies do den, d' pyur tings?
Dey'll fly in d' barn, yust to keep demselfs varm,
And pyut deir head under deir vings, d' pyur tings!

It's gonna be a long, hard spri-ing,
And vat vill d' birdies do den, d' pyur tings?
Dey'll fly in d' sky, yust to keep demselfs dry,
And pyut deir head under deir vings, d' pyur tings!

It's gonna be a long, hard soomair,
And vat vill d' birdies do den, d' pyur tings?
Dey'll fly in d' pool, yust to keep demselfs cyool,
And pyut deir head under deir vings, d' pyur tings!

It's gonna be a long, hard fa-all,
And vat vill d' birdies do den, d' pyur tings?
Dey'll fly in d' trees, yust to keep from d' breeze,
And pyut deir head under deir vings, d' pyur tings!

Learned in my misspent youth in Minnesota, say 55 years ago.

DRO

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 27 May 01 - 09:57 PM

Dicho, I just found your Vintertime song in the DT, and while it cites Carl Sandburg as the source it's not either your song, exactly, or the one that I have the red vinyl disk by Sandburg whereof I spoke.

The one I have and sing is essentially the first verse of the one in the DT, but starting "In de vinter, in de vintertime" rather than "valley green", and the third line is "And de vimmen in de vaud'ville" rather than "working in vaudeville", which doesn't scan very well in any case.

And Sandburg in my recording ends, "Ahh, vimmens! Ahhhh-ahhh ahh-ahh ahh-ahh mens!" Sort of a hymn-ending feeling to the tune of the ending.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 27 May 01 - 10:54 PM

The version posted in DT is from Carl Sandbag's American Songburg. I remember the little red vinyl record vividly. I was delighted when Lyrichord released it on CD (CAMSCO sells it.)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 28 May 01 - 12:08 AM

Thanks, DaveO, for Long, Hard Vinter. It is new to me. I was raised in the US southwest, and I heard In der Vintertime from Mormon friends. A lot of change could have taken place on the song's long journey from Minnesota. I doubt that Sandburg ever heard it sung, as the second verse requires some stretching to fit.

Subject: Lyr Add: VINTER IN THE VALLEY GREEN
From: Mrrzy
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 03:59 PM

VINTER IN THE VALLEY GREEN

Remembered by Mrrzy

It was vinter in the valley green
And the wind blew 'gainst the vindowpanes
And the vomen in the vaudeville
Wrote vilosovy on the vestibule
Copenhagen was taken, hoorah, hoorah (bis)
And all the shtrange people shtood up in the shteeple and SHPIT on the people below
AAAA women...
AAAAmen!
Ve are off to lieber August, September, October
No vonder ve are sober, we ain't got no beer!
My little brother Heinrich by the window stood
Inside, outlooking, he saw a tree there standing
And on the tree a peach there hanging
He leaned the window out
He FELL the window out
His head upon the rocks there lay
Peachless.
He died, he did, he died o'broken rib he did (bis)
We're the boys of Bowling Green, Bowling Green, Bowling Green...
Boys! Don't bowl on the green!
The green is for the king
The king is for the queen
The queen is for the prince!
Prince? What prince?
FINGERPrints? Noooo...
FOOTprints? Nooooo...
Here, Prince!
Then there was granny
Swinging on the outhouse door
Without her nightie
And granpa couldn't ask for more
He's nearly ninety
And granma's only 24
She shows on Sunday
Tommy, cut your toenails
You're ripping the sheets
To shreds!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Vinter in the Valley Green
From: Mrrzy
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 04:01 PM

Forgotten lines: between We're the boys of Bowling Green, Bowling Green, Bowling Green... and Boys! Don't bowl on the green! should come: We're the boys of Bowling Green...

And between Here, Prince! and Then there was granny comes:,p>And the moral of the story is to be able to distinguish the difference between asthma (inhale deeply) and passion (exhale strongly)...

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Vinter in the Valley Green
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 05:43 PM

Posted somewhere else, Child No. 36 and 3/4, but too lazy to look- A variation:
"In der vintertime in der valley vile
Ven der vind blows 'genst der vinderpanes
and de vimmen uv de wodeville
Ride welocipedes round der westibule."

Vilosovy? Ven dat age I vas I from noddink neu.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Vinter in the Valley Green
From: NH Dave
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 10:39 PM

Ride welocipedes round der westibule."
Of de Wiking Hotel"

Dave

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: GUEST,Sharon
Date: 11 Sep 04 - 04:07 PM

I learned this song as a child from my great aunt Lois in 1963:

In the wintertime in the valley green
when the wind blows on the window panes
and the people all go to sunday school,
ride velocipides in the vestibule.
And the preacher says to the people gay,
cut the monkey biz on the sabbath day.

Subject: ADD: In De Vinter Time
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Sep 04 - 05:29 PM

The version in Carl Sandburg's American Songbag is just a bit different, and Sandburg's background note is a kick. Here 'tis:

In de Vinter Time

In de vinter, in de vinter-time,
Ven de vin' blows on de vindow-pane
An' de vimmen, in de vaud'vil
Ride de veloc'pede in de vestibule,
Ah, vimmens!
Ah, mens!

Notes: This is sung by superincumbent cucumbers in Iowa and elsewhere. We have it from students and faculty members of Cornell College. The tempo is mazurka and came with Polish and Czeko-Slovak emigration to the Corn Belt.

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Click to play

(may not be ready right away)

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The Traditional Ballad Index lists only the Sandburg version:

In de Vinter Time

DESCRIPTION:

In de vinter, in de vinter-time,
Ven de vin' blows on de vindow-pane,
An' de vimmen, in de vaud'vil,
Ride de veloc'pede in de vestibule,
Ah, vimmins!
Ah, mens!"

AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: nonsense
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Sandburg, p. 334, "In de Vinter Time" (1 short text, 1 tune)
DT, VINTIME
File: San334

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The Ballad Index Copyright 2004 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Feb 05 - 06:17 PM

remember ending asking "How's your mother?"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: GUEST,Michelle
Date: 30 Sep 05 - 06:55 PM

Yes. After the line about asthma and passion:
So, how's your mother?
How's your father?
How's your sister Sue?
And while we're talking
'bout your family,
How's your old wazooooo?
And there was granny, etc.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 01 Oct 05 - 09:25 AM

Wow, Mrrzy!!! I am in awe.

I can only pay tribute by adding a little thing Mother used to sing around the house, probably learned at Girls' Camp, where she learned all the best of her weird tidbits from the world of song:

Where do mosquitoes go,
Nobody knows,
In the winter time...

Probably a piece of a pop song but I haven't located it.

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 01 Oct 05 - 09:37 AM

All this prompted me to get off my duff and look the song up.

All I could find out was that sheet music does exist. A copy is in the Florenz Ziegfeld collection, but is only listed, not accessible.

Lester Levy and American Memory don't have it.

Help, Masato? Anyone?

The correct title is "Where Do Mosquitoes Go In the Winter Time?"

Thread creep, I guess, but it IS one of the silly Winter Time song cluster, if not exactly a relative.

ABC of the fragment:

Where do mosquitoes go, I'd like to know
In the winter time?...

G GGGFE   A AFD
A F D A G
and, on final line,
A F D .B C

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: Jim McLean
Date: 01 Oct 05 - 12:34 PM

It all reminds me of an old joke: Two men arguing over the pronunciation of Hawaii. One says 'Hawaii' and the other says 'Havaii' so they ask a passerbye for his opinion. 'Havaii' he says. 'Thank you', they say.
'You're velcome,' he replies.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: GUEST,Where do mosquitoes go
Date: 31 Jul 06 - 11:27 PM

My grandmother used to sing this one, and from what I can remember some 45 years or so later, the tune followed an ABA form, and the words were:

Where do mosquitoes go, I'd like to know,
in the Wintertime?

What do they wear for underwear,
when they reach that southern clime?

Where do mosquitoes go, I'd like to know,
in the Wintertime?


[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: GUEST,Dot
Date: 29 Jun 07 - 11:04 AM

I have been looking for this songs origins my whole life! My mother used to sing it to us, but slightly different from the versions here:

In de valley, in de vinter-time,
Ven de vin' vhistles through de vind-mills,
An' de vimmen, in de vaud-e-vil
Ride veloc'pede in de vestibule,
Ah, vimmens!
Ah, mens!

Born around 1906, she sang us WW 1 tunes and other early 1900's tunes (Collegiate, The Walloping Willoughby...etc,)

Has anyone ever heard the following:

Ever since I was a little girl so high,
Heaven seemed to be so far up in the sky,
Little did I know that it was here on earth,
In the very land that gave me birth.
(chorus)
Oh, the sun shines bright,
On the fields of white,
And the birds make music all day,
I mean, away down south in Dixie...
(my memory gets sketchy here).. Dixie, my home...
and more - whipoorwills in distant hills and such... my memory fails me

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 02 Jul 07 - 08:31 AM

Dot: I answered your question in another thread: Lyr Add: Away Down South in Heaven (Green, Warren).

It's usually best for each song to have its own thread, unless you're talking about closely related songs.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 02 Jul 07 - 12:30 PM

"Copenhagen was taken, hoorah, hoorah (bis)"

What's bis?

Thanks, everyone, for posting this deathless literature. I bet if someone did this on MTV it would sweep the nation. However, I doubt if the dreck police would allow that to happen.

Or is MTV dead by now?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Jul 07 - 01:07 PM

bis- in music, it means to repeat

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: GUEST,Melanie
Date: 27 Sep 07 - 08:57 PM

I leanred this version at summer camp once:

It was vinter in the valley green and the vind blew on the vindowpanes
And all the vomen in the vaudeville wrote philosophy in the vestibule
Copenhagen was taken, hoorah, hoorah (twice)

And all the shtrange people shtood up in the shteeple and shpit on the people below. *POOEY*
AAAA vomen... AAAAmen!

Octelebra August, September, October
No wonder we are sober, WE AIN'T GOT NO BEER!

My little brother Hymie by the window stood
He saw a tree there standing
And on the tree a peach there hanging
He LOOKED the window out
He LEANED the window out
He FELL the window out
He died, he did, he died of a broken rib he did (twice)

We are the boys on the bowling green, bowling green, bowling green... (twice)
Boys, don't bowl on the green!
The green is for the king
The king is for the queen
The queen is for the prince!
Prince? What prince?
Fingerprints? Nahhh
Footprints? Nahhh
Here, Prince!

The moral of the story is to be able to distinguish the difference between asthma (inhale) and passion (exhale)

How's you mudder?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: GUEST,s
Date: 01 Sep 09 - 06:19 PM

in de vintertime
in de valley green
ven de vind blows
through de vindowpane
all the vimon folk
from a vau-da-ville
ride velocipedes
through de vestibule
of de viking hotel

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Nov 09 - 05:39 PM

this is my version

It was vinter in the Valleygreen and the vind blew on the vindowpane and the vomen in the Vaudeville rode volosopedes in the vestibules.

Copenhagen was taken hoorah hoorah
Copenhagen was taken hoorah hoorah

And all the shtraight people shtood up in the shteeple and shpit on the people below.

Ahhhh vomen, ahhh men.

We were off to leiber august september october novonder ve are sober ve ain't got no beer.

My little brother Heinrich, by the window stood. Inside, out looking, he saw a tree there standing, and on that tree a peach there hanging. He leaned the window out, he fell the window out, his head upon the rocks there lay, peachless. He died he did he died of broken ribs, he did e died he did he died of broken ribs.

Oh we're the boys from bowling green, bowling green, bowling green. We're the boys from bowling green. Boys, don't bowl on the green. The green is for the king, the king is for the queen, the queen is for the prince. Prince? What prince? Fingerprints? No. Footprints? No. Here Prince!

The moral of the story is to know the difference between panic (inhale) and passion (exhale).

So how's your mother, how's your father, how's your sister Sue? And while we're talking, 'bout your family, how's your old wazoo?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Nov 09 - 10:07 PM

Can you tell us how you came across your version? It adds a lot to what Sandburg put in print.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: GUEST,S. Sherman
Date: 06 Dec 09 - 11:40 PM

And here's a slightly different version. Have no idea when (or how) I learned it but I probably learned it from my mother in the 1950s.

VINTER IN THE VALLEY GREEN

It was vinter in the valley green
and the vind blew against the vindowpanes
And the vomen in vaudeville wrote velocities in the vestibule
Copenhagen was taken, hoorah, hoorah
Copenhagen was taken, hoorah

And all the shtrange people shtood up in the shteeple and shpit on the people below.
Ah vomen... Ah men!

And off to lieber August, September, October
No vonder ve are sober, we ain't got no beer!

My little brother Heinrich by the window stood
Inside, outlooking, at a tree there standing
And on the tree a peach there hanging
He LEANED the window out
He FELL the window out
His head there lay upon the rocks
Peachless.
He died, he did, he died of a broken rib he did
He died, he did, he died of a broken rib

Oh, we are the boys from the bowling green, the bowling green, the bowling green
We are the boys from the bowling green---
Boys!
Don't bowl on the green!
The green is for the king
The king is for the queen
The queen is for the prince!
Prince? What prince?
Fingerprints? Nahhh
Footprints? Nahhh
Here, Prince!

The moral of the story is to be able to distinguish the difference between asthma (inhale) and passion (exhale)

How's your mother?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: Genie
Date: 07 Dec 09 - 03:09 AM

Joe,
the MIDI in the DT - which is the same one you posted a link to here - does not seem to scan with the lyrics it's supposed to go with. I've tried and tried to figure out ways of phrasing so that those words will scan with it, but to no avail.

Can someone either sing the bloody thing and digitally share it with us? Or is there such a creature already online where we can find it?

If not, I'm gonna hafta make up my own tune. Y'all've been given fair warning!

Genie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Dec 09 - 03:38 AM

I dunno, Genie, that sounds like a dare....

Click to play

But now dose other ones, I dunno about dem. Maybe Mrr or Dave O or Bob Coltman or Melanie or some nice person would send me a MIDI or MP3....

[e-mail]-

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And in the interest of full disclosure, Click here for a recording by Sandburg.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: Genie
Date: 07 Dec 09 - 08:57 AM

Thanks, Joe. Wunnerful, wunnerful!
Now THAT works!   The lyrics in the DT have an extra word in one line and lack a word in another, so they don't fit as well.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Mar 10 - 02:08 PM

I am unsure of the melody but here's what I know of the Mosquito song:

Where do mosquitoes go, I'd like to know
In the wintertime?
What do they wear for underwear?
What do they wear for underwear, I'd like to know?
Do the young hum dingers
Sharpen up their stingers
In the warmer climbs?
Where do mosquitoes go, I'd like to know
In the winter time?

Zing! I got aboard a ferry
Zing! Thought I'd take a ride
Zing! To visit my auntie Mary
Who happened to be living over on the Jersey side
Zing! Along came a 'skeeter
Zing! Big as a kangaroo
Zing! Backed up and stung me
On the place where I can't tell you!

Couldn't go in the parlor
Couldn't go in the kitchen
Couldn't go were the company was
'cause I was a-itchin!

Where do mosquitoes go, I'd like to know....

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 10 Mar 10 - 03:38 PM

Where do mosquitoes go, I'd like to know,
in the Wintertime?

The answer, seriously, is that the males die, and the females sort of hibernate. Actually not "hibernate", but slow their body processes by a lot, using up the "fat" they stored in warmer weather. Fact.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In der Vintertime
From: GUEST,Heyyy
Date: 03 Oct 10 - 10:27 PM

It was vinter in the valley green and the vind blew on the vindowsill and the vominous philosopher gave philosophy to the rest of us. Copenhagen was taken, hoorah! hoorah! Copenhagen was taken hoorah! hoorah! And all the stray people shtood up on the shteeple and shpit on the people below. Atoui, avenomi. Octilibober, September, October, no vonder we're sober we aint got no beer. My little brother's standin by the windowsill. And outside, a tree there standing. And on that tree, a peach there hanging. He looked the window out. He leaned the window out. He fell the window out. He died, he did, he died a broken rib he did. He died, he did, he died a broken rib he did. We're the boys of bowling green, bowling green, bowling green. We're the boys of bowling green; boys don't bowl on the green! The green is for the King, the King is for the Queen, the Queen is for the Prince. Prince, what Prince? Fingerprints? Nahhh. Footprints? Nahhh. Here Prince! The moral of the story is how to distinguish the difference between asthma (inhale), and passion (exhale). How's your mother?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In de Vinter Time (from Carl Sandburg)
From: GUEST,Bonnie
Date: 13 Nov 15 - 12:40 AM

Amazing to find this thread. I was searching to find out the origins of this little ditty my grandfather, Calvin Bryce Hoover (1897-1974), used to sing. Even though these lyrics are a little different, to me they're the right ones, because they were the way he always sang it.

In de vinter-time, in the valley green
When the wind blows on the window panes
And the washer-women in the waterworks
Ride velocipedes in the vestibules.

And that's all of it that I ever remember hearing. Quite a mystery it has always been to me, and this thread hasn't gotten to the bottom of it either!

I probably heard it from him sometime in the early 1960s.

Even if someone made up the 'washerwomen in the waterworks' to avoid women being in vaudeville, to me the washerwomen phrase has a wonderful sing-song rhythm that also evokes a Scandinavian accent.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In de Vinter Time (from Carl Sandburg)
From: Joe_F
Date: 13 Nov 15 - 05:48 PM

My mother had essentially Sandburg's first verse, but then another one that went

Ven de falling-apple season's chust begun
An de vormy apples fall from off de trees
An de caterpillars mit deir hair in curls
Pick dem apples up to make sveet ci-der.
Ah, vimmen, ah, men.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In de Vinter Time (from Carl Sandburg)
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 13 Nov 15 - 08:12 PM

A line that puzzled me as reported in a few of the above posts:

And off to lieber August, September, October
    and
Ve are off to lieber August, September, October
    and
Octelebra August, September, October
    and
We were off to leiber august september october
    and maybe another variant or so.

I'm firmly of the opinion that the beginning of that line
was originally "Ach, du lieber August" (Or "Augustine"),
which was folk processed by folks who didn't understand German
or the well-known song that starts that way, which garbled the
German words, and maybe somebody thereafter garbled THOSE
folk-processed words, and so forth.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In de Vinter Time (from Carl Sandburg)
From: GUEST,randomtree
Date: 12 Jul 21 - 10:17 PM

Just wanted to contribute my own encounter to this wonderful thread -

I was on a multi-night backpacking trip in the Finger Lakes region of New York State in August 2008, part of a freshman preorientation program at Cornell University. This "song" was taught by one of the guides. It wasn't actually a song, just a set of lines that were spoken by everyone in the group with emphasis in all the right places. After the trip I wrote it all down, and have included that version below. Fascinating to see the many similarities and a few differences from the versions you have all shared!! Especially interested to hear that the song was being taught at Cornell College in Iowa (no relation to Cornell University) - I imagine it must have gained currency in college outdoor education circles in the '70s!

-Noah

===

It vas a vinter in the vonderland
and all the vicked vimen
vere velocitating in the vestibule.

Copenhagen was taken, hurrah, hurrah!
Copenhagen was taken, hurrah, hurrah!

And all of the people
went up in the steeple
to spit on the people below.
Pitooey!

Ah, ah, women!
Ah, ah, men!

My leetle brother Heinrich,
he leaned the window out.

And there he saw a tree.
And on the tree a peach.

He leaned the window out,
he fell the window out!
His head on the rocks below...
Peachless!

He died, he did,
he died o' broken ribs he did!
He died, he did,
he died o' broken ribs he did!

Let's go bowling on the bowling green,
the bowling green,
the bowling green!
Let's go bowling on the bowling green,
so early in the morning!

But we CAN'T go bowling on the bowling green!

Why CAN'T we go bowling on the bowling green?

Because the bowling green belongs to the king!

The king? What king?

The husband of the queen!

The queen? What queen?

The mother of the prince!

The prince? What prince?
Hand prints, hoof prints?

*dog whistle*
Here Prince!

The moral of THIS story is,
don't confuse ASTHMA *inhale wheezily*
with PASSION *exhale dreamily*