Lyr Req: They Always Pick on Me (Murphy/Von Tilzer

Subject: I'm so very lonesome
From: berk
Date: 03 Dec 01 - 11:16 AM

My grandfather used to sing something like this.

"When I was born my ma and pa,
they looked at me and said 'asha',
The doctor said it's a boy I think,
so pa went out and had a drink.
My sister said I looked like pa,
brother said I took after ma,

ANYHOW, the chorus went,
They always, always pick on me.
They never, never let me be.
I'm so very lonesome, awf'ly sad
its been a long, time since I've been glad,
but I know what I'll do, by and by,
I'll eat some worms, and then I'll die,
and when I'm gone just wait and see,
they'll all be sorry cause they picked on me.

Can anyone help me out, was this just a made up song?

Thanks, Berk

Subject: ADD: Minnie the Moocher (Cartoon lyrics)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Dec 01 - 12:12 PM

Hey, this looks interesting - this page (click) says it was sung by Betty Boop in Minnie the Moocher, a cartoon filmed with Cab Calloway.
-Joe Offer-

---

Betty Boop in Minnie the Moocher

by Megaera and Brenna Lorenz

    Cab Calloway appears with Betty Boop in the Talkartoon Minnie the Moocher, Betty's 17th cartoon appearance. This is justifiably one of the most famous cartoons ever made.
    The cartoon begins with actual film footage of Cab Calloway dancing a slow and sensuous dance in front of his orchestra, the former Missourians, while they perform the Prohibition Blues. This is the oldest known film footage of Cab. His attire is uncharacteristically casual, and we never get a good look at his face. We suspect that Cab wasn't aware that the Fleischers were going to use the actual footage. Cab was well-known for his love of good clothes and his high standards for professional dress. Certainly in his next appearance in a Betty Boop cartoon (Old Man of the Mountain), he is dressed in his more usual immaculate formal attire, and we get to see his face very well!
    The haunting and beautiful instrumental, Prohibition Blues, is an old Missourians piece that was recorded by them in early 1930, right before Cab took over as leader of their band. This cartoon has the only recording of the piece with Cab Calloway. By early 1932, when this cartoon was produced, the group had been renamed "Cab Calloway and His Orchestra," but in this film, they are still wearing their old Missourians uniforms. We can see the drummer, Leroy Maxey, playing with his drumsticks in the background.
    The cartoon commences in Betty Boop's home, where we find her weeping bitterly at the kitchen table while her father berates her for not eating. Her mother stands by, glowering at both of them with her arms folded across her chest. Betty is perhaps plumper than usual in this cartoon, and her eyes are somewhat smaller. Her parents are German Jews; the father's name is Otto, but the mother's name is never mentioned. This would have been a familiar sort of family for a great many viewers of the early 1930s due to the massive influx of poor European immigrants into New York City at the turn of the century. The Fleischer brothers themselves were the children of Austrian Jewish immigrants. To our knowledge, this is the only cartoon in which we see Betty Boop's parents.
    As Otto rants at Betty, his upper body morphs into a victrola, implying that his tirade was all too familiar and often repeated. "Oh, papa!" cries Betty, and we hear Otto reply, "Don't 'papa' me!" Finally Betty runs off, and Betty's mother replaces Otto's rant recording with some German oom-pah music and grimly dances to it.
    Betty runs to the stairs, where she sits and weeps, then sings. Her voice is done by Mae Questal.

They always, always pick on me;
They never, never let me be;
I'm so very lonely, awfully sad;
It's a long time since you've been glad. [This line is sung by the imprint of her lips on her handkerchief.]

But, I know what I'll do, by 'n' by,
I'll eat some worms and then I'll die,
When I'm gone, you wait and see,
They'll all be sorry that they picked on me!

    She then runs up to her bedroom to make preparations for running away. This takes place to the melody of "Mean to Me." She rolls her toothbrush up in a towel and writes a farewell note to her parents, in the process pulling Koko the Clown out of the inkwell for a brief cameo. Then she calls Bimbo on the telephone in her room, inviting him to run away with her. When he arrives, she tosses away her bundle and jumps out of her window, holding on to the blind.
    The instant her feet hit the ground, the whole atmosphere of the cartoon changes. Cab's orchestra cuts in with the menacing and ominous sounds of Minnie the Moocher. Even Betty's appearance changes; apparently the second animator took over at this point. Betty in this part of the cartoon is more streamlined and looks more like her usual self. Betty and Bimbo quickly leave the residential area behind and soon are running through a haunted forest with bubbly-looking trees and weird shapes bouncing around. They end up at a cave -- of course. All of Cab Calloway's cartoons take place in caves.
    A spectral walrus appears and begins to sing Minnie the Moocher. The walrus's voice is Cab's. The walrus's dancing figure was rotoscoped over film footage of Cab Calloway. The rotoscoping process, in which animated figures are drawn directly over actual filmed images, was invented by the Fleischer brothers. The cave is filled with shifting, ghostly, malevolent imagery. This is what the walrus sang:

Folks, now here's the story 'bout Minnie the Moocher,
She was a red-hot hootchie-cootcher,
She was the roughest, toughest frail,
But Minnie had a heart as big as a whale.

    [Cab's band echoes him in the form of skeletons sitting at a bar:]
Ho-de-ho-de-ho-de-ho! Ho-de-ho-de-ho-de-ho!
   [The skeletons drink booze which turns them black and then runs out of them, causing them to collapse as they echo Cab in the next line:]
Hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi!  Hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi!
    [Ghosts emerge from the collapsed skeletons and echo Cab in the next part:]
He-de-he-de-he-de-he! He-de-he-de-he-de-he!
    [Bimbo looks in a well, and his reflections (three of them) echo the last part:]
Ho-de-ho-de-ho! Ho-de-ho-de-ho!

She messed around with a bloke named Smoky,
She loved him though he was cokie,
He took her down to Chinatown,
He showed her how to kick the gong around. Showed her how to kick the gong around!

    [The band members are ghosts in a jail cell; Cab, as a ghost warden, unlocks the door and they walk out through the bars.]
Hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi! Hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi!
    [Cab straps the ghosts into electric chairs.]
He-de-he-de-he-de-he-de-he-de-he-de-he! He-de-he-de-he-de-he-de-he-de-he-de-he!
    [Cab throws the switch, and the ghosts holler their response as they fry.]
Ho-de-ho-he-doddy-hay! Ho-de-ho-he-doddy-hay!
    [The ghosts look up weakly, and respond as Cab mournfully sings:]
Ho-de-ho-de-ho! Hi-de-hi-de-ho!

 Now, she had a dream about the king of Sweden,
He gave her things that she was needin',
He gave her a home built of gold and steel,
A diamond car with a platinum wheel.

    [Cab sings the following in the form of a recumbent ghost mama cat with her back to the audience; his band members respond as ghost kittens who pop up from behind the mother's body. As the chorus progresses, the kittens drink from and drain their mother; they get larger while she deflates to a lifeless husk. This has got to be some of the eeriest animation in all of cartoon history!]

Oh, skip-bop-doop-bop-lay-de-doo! Oh, skip-bop-doop-bop-lay-de-doo!
Skee-bop-de-google-eet-skee-bop-de-goat! Skee-bop-de-google-eet-skee-bop-de-goat!
Skeet-dot'n-dot'n-dot'n-dot'n-dottee-oh! Skeet-dot'n-dot'n-dot'n-dot'n-dottee-oh!
Hi-de-hi-de-ho! Hi-de-hi-de-ho!

Now, he gave her his townhouse and his racing horses,
Each meal she ate was a dozen courses;
She had a million dollars worth of nickels and dimes,
And she sat around and counted them all a billion times.

    [As Cab sings the last chorus, the walrus figure is no longer rotoscoped, but is confronting Betty and Bimbo while the other ghosts close in and gather around.]
Ho-de-ho-de-ho! Ho-de-ho-de-ho!
Hi-de-hi-de-hi! Hi-de-hi-de-hi!
Whoaaaaaaaaaaoh!

    The last wail is sung by a witch ghost whose mouth opens up so wide that you can see the face on her uvala. At this point, Betty and Bimbo flee the cave, chased by a pack of ghosts, witches, devils, moons and the walrus to the tune of the Vine Street Drag. This instrumental piece is another relict of the pre-Cab Missourians, and this is the only recording of it with Cab Calloway. We can hear him shouting in the background.
    Betty and Bimbo run to her house, where Betty dashes in the front door and Bimbo dives into a doghouse. The dog runs out and carries off the doghouse attached to its chain, leaving Bimbo huddled exposed on the ground. We then see Betty in her bedroom, where she leaps under the covers, beneath the note she had left for her parents. The note tears into a neat fragment bearing the words "Home, Sweet, Home," an unusually moralistic ending for a pre-Hays Act Betty Boop cartoon.

    We consider this cartoon to be one of the two best Betty Boop cartoons made, along with the other Cab Calloway feature, Snow White. Not only do we see precious footage of Cab, but the animation is excellent, and we think that this is one of the best of all of Cab's performances of Minnie the Moocher.

Subject: ADD: When I Was Born
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Dec 01 - 12:21 PM

But there's more. These lyrics are copied from this page (click) about actress Alice Faye - I take it the lyrics are from her movie Hello Frisco, Hello.
-Joe Offer-

---

When I was born my pa and ma,
they looked at me and said,"Oh, pshaw!"
The doctor said, "It's a girl...I think."
And pa went out and got a drink.
Then ma said I looked just like pa,
and pa said I took after ma.
Aunt Jane said I looked like a quince
and I've been a stepchild ever since.

Ohh...they always, always pick on me,
they never, never let me be.
I'm so very lonesome, awfully sad.
It's a long time since I've been glad.
But I know what I'll do by and by,
I'll eat some worms and then I'll die
and when I'm gone, you wait and see,
they'll all be sorry that they picked on me.

Now why do they always, always have to pick on me?
Why do they never, never, never let me be?
I'm so very lonesome, awfully sad.
It's a long, long time since I've been glad.
But I know what I'll do mmm by and by,
I'm gonna eat me some worms and then I'll die.
And when I'm gone just you wait and see,
they'll all be sorry, terribly, terribly sorry,
gee they're really gonna be sorry that they picked on me.

Subject: ADD: when I was born
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Dec 01 - 12:23 PM

One more version - from here (click).
-Joe Offer-



When I was born,
my Ma and Pa
They looked at me and said
Oh, pshaw
Doctor said
Its a boy, I think
so Pa went out and got a drink.

Granny said I looked like a prince
so I've been a grandchild,
ever since

They always, always pick on me
They never,
ever
let me be
So I know what I'll do
by and by
I'll eat some worms
and then I'll die

And when I'm gone you wait and see

They'll all be sorry that they picked on me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: when I was born
From: berk
Date: 04 Dec 01 - 12:47 PM

Thank you so much.

Berk

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: when I was born
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Oct 05 - 12:46 AM

My great grandmother born in Missouri in 1890 used to sing this song as well. As a boy I learned it all but I remember the first verse a little different I got a search which gave me this but I kinda remember the doctor giving her an extra whack when she came out

"When I was born my pa and ma,
They looked at me and said, "Oh, pshaw!"
The doctor said, "It's a girl, I think."
And pa went out and took a drink.
Then ma said I looked just like pa,
And pa said I took after ma.
Aunt Jane said I looked like a quince
And I've been a stepchild ever since."

The chorus followed by, here is a verse I could not find on the Internet.

"One morning around four o'clock
Somebody tried to pick our lock.
I knew it was papa sure as sin
So I opened the door and let him in.
Just then, the cuckoo cuckooed four
And pa made me cuckoo eight times more."
They always, always pick on me... CHORUS

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: when I was born
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 29 Oct 05 - 01:03 PM

I found a couple of other forums that contain these lyrics, and it seems the verse quoted by Guest above is missing a couple of lines:

One morning just at four o'clock,
Somebody tried to pick our lock.
I knew it was Pa, just as sure as sin,
So I opened the door and let him in.
Ma said, "What time is it, Pa?"
"It's twelve o'clock," my pa told Ma.
Just then, the cuckoo cuckooed four
And Pa made me cuckoo eight times more.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: when I was born
From: GUEST,Gina
Date: 20 Jan 06 - 06:48 PM

My mother's grandma used to sing this song to her when she was young, and my mom sung it to me when I was little. However, I learned it a little different:

When I was born my pa and ma
They looked at me and said "oh pshaw"
The dr. said its a girl I think
And pa went out and got a drink.

Now pa says I look like ma
and ma says I look like pa
Aunt jane says I look like a quince
I've been a stepchild ever since
But, I know what I'll do by and by
I'll eat some worms, and then I'll die
and when I'm gone just wait and see
you'll all be sorry that you picked on me

One morning just at 4 o'clock
I heard somebody pick the lock
I knew it was papa sure as sin
I opened the door and let him in
What time is it said ma
12 o'clock said pa
Just then the cukoo cukooed 4
and pa, he made me cukoo 8 times more

I'm so very lonesome, awful sad
It's a long time since I've been glad
but, I'll know what I'll do by and by
I'll get the measles, and then I'll die
and when I'm gone, just wait and see
You'll all be sorry that you picked on me!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: when I was born
From: GUEST,Kathy
Date: 20 Jan 06 - 08:14 PM

Well, my daughter, Gina, almost got it right. Everything is the way I remember my grandma (who was born in 1892) sing except for the part about the cuckoo clock.

One morning just at four o'clock
I heard somebody pick the lock
I knew it was papa sure as sin
I opened the door and let him in
Then ma said, "What time is it pa?"
"Twelve o'clock", said pa
Just then the cuckoo cuckooed 4
And pa, he made me cuckoo 8 times more

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: when I was born
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 20 Jan 06 - 11:30 PM

My mother (born in Pennsylvania, 1907) also sang it, but without the cuckoo clock verse. She might have learned it from one of the commercial sources. It never occurred to me to ask her where she got it. I must have learned it from her about 70 years ago.
    Sandy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: when I was born
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 01 Feb 06 - 10:57 AM

Can anyone furnish an ABC of the tune?

I will also search likely midi sites, and if I can come up with a tune, I'll ABC it here.

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: when I was born
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 01 Feb 06 - 02:19 PM

Got it -- courtesy of Amba Lee, who's something special in the way of researchers (and in other ways too).

The original "They Always Pick On Me" is by the great WWI-era vaudevillian songstress Ada Jones. If my memory didn't slip between there and here, I think the first date of the recording was 1911. The 78 rpm record (it may actually have been a cylinder) is filed at

http://ia300035.us.archive.org/0/items/AdaJones_part1/AdaJones-TheyAlwaysPickOnMe.mp3

Ada Jones is a treasure, one of the finest troupers of her day, successor to the turn-of-the-century tradition of Faye Templeton et al. Her repertoire had all sorts of comic songs in it as well as some standards. I've known a few of her other songs for years -- I heard "He Lost Her in the Subway" in 1959 and it's been in my repertoire ever since.

Obviously this is where Helen Kane got the song for Betty Boop. Indeed Jones' style may have given Kane the idea.

The Jones recording may also be where everyone's great-grandparents got it, although Boop could as easily be your grandparents' source.

Since the Ada Jones version is available and hearable, I won't ABC it -- go to the site, folks, and treat yourselves! An early recording-era classic.

Bob

Subject: Lyr Add: THEY ALWAYS PICK ON ME
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 01 Feb 06 - 03:22 PM

Here are the lyrics in Jones' original (I assume the song doesn't go farther back than that):

THEY ALWAYS PICK ON ME

As sung by Ada Jones

When I was born my pa and ma, they looked at me and said, Oh, pshaw!
The doctor said, it's a girl, I think, and Pa went out and got a drink,   
Then Ma said I looked just like Pa, and Pa said I took after Ma,
Aunt Jane said I looked like a quince, and I've been a stepchild ever since,   

Cho:
They always, always pick on me, they never, never let me be,   
I'm so very lonesome, awf'ly sad, it's a long time since I've been glad,
But I know what I'll do by and by, I'll eat some worms and then I'll die,   
An' when I'm gone, you wait and see, they'll all be sorry that they picked on   me.

One morning just at four o'clock, somebody tried to pick our lock,   
I knew it was Papa sure as sin, so I opened the door and let him in,   
My Ma said, What time is it, Pa?   It's twelve o'clock, my Pa told Ma,
Just then, the cuckoo cuckooed four, and Pa made me cuckoo twelve times more,

Cho: (note variation in third line)
They always, always pick on me, they never, never let me be,   
I'm so very lonesome, awf'ly sad, it's a long time since I've been glad,
But I know what I'll do, it's no joke, I'll eat a frog and then I'll choke,
And when I'm gone, you wait and see, they'll all be sorry that they picked on me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: when I was born
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 02 Feb 06 - 06:14 PM

Shouldn't that be "...and Pa made me cuckoo eight times more"?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: when I was born
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 03 Feb 06 - 04:34 AM

No, it was sixteen o'clock.

Just kidding. Thanks, Jim, for the correction. Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: They Always Pick on Me
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 04 Feb 06 - 11:02 PM

I just listened to the mp3 file.

One more correction: "...I'll eat a frog and then I'll croak."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: They Always Pick on Me
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 09 Feb 06 - 07:14 AM

Thanks, Jim, as I'm an inveterate punster you just made my day. Sure am glad not to miss that beauty. Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: when I was born
From: GUEST,berk
Date: 30 Jun 08 - 10:17 PM

I can't believe I stumbled on this thread, I havent been on mudcat for years, but I actually started it. (can't remember my password though. The last version submitted is exactly the one my mother sang to me (and her father had sung to her) To anyone still out there that looked up the info, thank you!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: They Always Pick on Me
From: GUEST,Al Maloney
Date: 06 Jul 08 - 02:28 PM

Get the score here: http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/dc011&CISOPTR=924&CISOBOX=1&REC=5 Al Maloney

Subject: Lyr Add: THEY ALWAYS PICK ON ME (Murphy,Von Tilzer
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 Jul 08 - 09:06 PM

Here's how it appears in the sheet music (See Al Maloney's link above. And thanks, Al, for letting me know about a source of sheet music I've never run across before!) Note there is an extra verse not in the version sung by Ada Jones; and it doesn't have the "frog/croak" pun.

THEY ALWAYS PICK ON ME
Words, Stanley Murphy. Music, Harry Von Tilzer.
New York: Harry Von Tilzer Music Pub. Co., 1911.

1. When I was born, my pa and ma,
They looked at me and said, "Oh, pshaw!"
The doctor said, "It's a girl, I think,"
And Pa went out and got a drink.
Then Ma said I looked just like Pa,
And Pa said I took after Ma.
Aunt Jane said I looked like a quince,
And I've been a stepchild ever since.

CHORUS: They always, always pick on me.
They never, never let me be.
I'm so very lonesome, awfully sad.
It's a long time since I've been glad;
But I know what I'll do by and by:
I'll eat some worms and then I'll die,
And when I'm gone, you wait and see,
They'll all be sorry that they picked on me.

2. My ma put me to bed and said
The angels watched me in the bed.
They wouldn't let things frighten me.
Then the angels started biting me.
When my ma sends me to the store,
I lose the change, then she gets sore.
I lost my cat and my bow-wow.
I think I'm losing something now.

3. One morning just at four o'clock,
Somebody tried to pick our lock.
I knew 'twas Papa sure as sin,
And opened the door and let him in.
My ma said, "What time is it, Pa?"
"It's twelve o'clock," my pa told Ma.
Just then, the cuckoo cuckooed four,
And Pa made me cuckoo eight times more.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: They Always Pick on Me (Murphy,Von Ti
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Aug 08 - 03:39 PM

My eldest sister, now 83, would always recite this poem when I was a child. She said she had been taught it in school....self expression class. She still loves to get up and do this at family reunions.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: They Always Pick on Me (Murphy,Von Tilzer
From: GUEST,Olie Heflin
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 09:08 AM

This morning I waked up thinking of this song that I use to sing when I was a child. I'm sure our mother or Aunt taught it to us. So I'd say it's a real song.

I am 82. Thanks for the rest of the words. I could only remember the firstfew lines of the chorus.

Olie Heflin

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: They Always Pick on Me (Murphy,Von Tilzer
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 02:27 PM

Full sheet music on line at Mississippi State Univ., the Charles H. Templeton Collection of sheet music.
Templeton

Click on 'Search Sheet Music' and enter part of title. Access to specific items is slow, so don't be impatient.

or Sheet Music
to go directly to sheet music.
The first link accesses more of the Templeton Collection than sheet music.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: They Always Pick on Me (Murphy,Von Tilzer
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 02:50 PM

First link doesn't access any more. Use Library search on the page that comes up and click on digital collections.
Sheet music link OK.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: They Always Pick on Me (Murphy,Von Tilzer
From: GUEST
Date: 20 May 11 - 08:07 PM

My mom, gram and great aunt always sang this song when ever we complained about our dibling picking on us. Haha.
they sand very similar to above sheet music lyrics

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: They Always Pick on Me (Murphy/Von Tilzer
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Jun 11 - 11:12 AM

Why Do They Always Pick On Me? by Alice Faye
I found this song on her ULTIMATE album. I was watching the musical, "Hello, Frisco, Hello! and heard the song and went and found it on itunes.

It is a real song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: They Always Pick on Me (Murphy/Von Tilzer
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 26 Jun 11 - 05:32 PM

Alice Faye used a variant title but it seems to be the same song. I listened to a sample at Allmusic.com, and it matches the lyrics I posted earlier.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: They Always Pick on Me (Murphy/Von Tilzer
From: GUEST,Esther Johnson
Date: 11 Sep 15 - 04:51 PM

My name is Esther and 87 years old, i learned this song as a child of probably 4 or 5 years of age. it was considered an old song even then.