Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die

18 Mar 00 - 01:48 AM (#197100)
Subject: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: GUEST,The Beanster

My intention here is not to p..s off any purists that come here for music only but a lot of you here are so knowledgeable on just about everything, I wanted to throw this out to you all. Kat/katlaughing posted a thing on being a child again which got me thinking...does anyone know where to find the words to and/or the origins of those funny old nursery rhymes like "Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die," "Fat and Skinny," "Little Nellie Kelly," etc? Some of these are very foggy in my mind and I know some were pretty hysterical. Any help would be appreciated.

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18 Mar 00 - 02:51 AM (#197118)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: GUEST,steve micallef

poor old lady, i think she'll die.

isn't the song your thinking of

there was an old lady who swallowed a fly i dont know why she swallowed i fly i guess she'll die

there was an old lady who swallowed a spider it wiggled and jiggled and ticked inside her she swallowed the spider to swallow the fly i dont know why she swallowed the fly i guess she'll die

is that one your thinking of? (btw, that brought back some painful memories) :-)

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18 Mar 00 - 03:08 AM (#197120)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: Brendy

As far as I remember Burl Ives recorded that one.

B.

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18 Mar 00 - 03:25 AM (#197121)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: Joe Offer

Hey, Beanster, you came to exactly the right place. If you put swallowed a fly (or click here) in the blue search box, you'll come up with the song, a parody, and a releated song. If you search by category and put @kids or @camp in the search box, you'll get a treasure chest full.
If you use the drop-down menus above and search the forum or click here for kids or camp, you'll find lots more.
I didn't find "Fat and Skinny" or "Little Nellie Kelly," but maybe somebody else can.
-Joe Offer-

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18 Mar 00 - 10:07 AM (#197167)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: Art Thieme

Canadian, Alan Mills, told me he wrote "The Old Lady That Swallowed A Fly"

Art Thieme

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18 Mar 00 - 10:13 AM (#197169)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: dick greenhaus

Fat and Skinny had a race All around the Steeplechase.....(here memory fails)

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18 Mar 00 - 10:28 AM (#197172)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: Abby Sale

I have a note.. Tune: Alan Mills, to a poem by Rose Bonne. But I can't prove it.

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18 Mar 00 - 12:38 PM (#197252)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: GUEST,The Beanster

Thanks, everybody! And thanks, Joe for the (as usual) extremely helpful information!! Not that anyone (but me!) cares, but I spoke to a friend who knew the words to Little Nellie Kelly:

Little Nellie Kelly
Had a pimple on her belly
So she went to the lady next door

The lady next door
Put some jelly on her belly
Now she doesn't have a pimple anymore!

For some reason, this one used to crack me up as a kid! (Hope I did the line breaks correctly...)

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18 Mar 00 - 02:17 PM (#197271)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: Uncle_DaveO

Then other memories of childhood are:

Moses supposes his toeses are roses
But Moses supposes erroneously.
For Moses, he knowses his toeses aren't roses
As Moses supposes his toeses to be!

or

Little Isaac Isenheimer
Thought he'd be a steepleclimber.
Climbed to the top of St. Peter's steeple,
Then fell down and sacred some people!
Broke the "E-R" off his name;
Wasn't that a measly shame?
His father rushed up just in time
To pick up little Isaac Isenheim!

I'm not sure what the tune(s) is(are) to this(these), if indeed there is(are) tune(s).

Dave Oesterreich

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18 Mar 00 - 08:22 PM (#197428)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: McGrath of Harlow

Of course "Moses supposes" made it into "Singing in the Rain".

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18 Mar 00 - 08:49 PM (#197432)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: Jon Freeman

Little Willie from the mirror licked the mercury right off
Thinking in his childish error it would cure the whooping cough
At his funeral, Mrs Smith sadly said to Mrs Brown
Twas a chilly day for Willie when the mercury went down

Pip (not Jon) Freeman

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18 Mar 00 - 10:31 PM (#197480)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: The Beanster

doesterr and Pip-- hahahahaaaaaaaaahahaha thanks for those--very cute!

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19 Mar 00 - 11:56 AM (#197671)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: Uncle_DaveO

If you liked those, you MIGHT like this one, which I learned at a slightly later point in my alleged development:

The breezes, the breezes,
They blow through the treeses,
They blow the girls' skirtses
Above the girls' kneeses.
The college man seeses
And does what he pleases,
And spreads the diseases.
Oh Jeezuz, oh Jeezuz!

Dave Oesterreich

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19 Mar 00 - 11:56 AM (#197672)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: Art Thieme

the "Little Willie" verses all pretty much scan (or are easily changed to scan) with the tune "TURKEY IN THE STRAW"

Little Willie was mean as hell,
Pushed his sister into the well,
His mother said, while drawing water,
"Gee it's hard to raise a daughter"

Willie fell into a septic tank,
You know that tank it really stank,
He couldn't swim inside that tank,
But he went through the movements before he sank.

Art Thieme

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19 Mar 00 - 02:09 PM (#197736)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: Jon Freeman

Willie in one of his bright new sashes
Fell in the fire and was burnt to ashes
Although the room grows cold and chilly
We haven't the heart to poke poor Willie.

Pip

PS Loved yours Art, Jon & Pip

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19 Mar 00 - 03:02 PM (#197755)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: The Beanster

I love these--I have a lot of memorizing to do! Keep 'em coming! (I'm SO easily entertained).

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20 Mar 00 - 04:11 AM (#197980)
Subject: Little Willie
From: Joe Offer

I sing the "Little Willie" verses to the tune and chorus of "The Dummy Line."

Little Willie Jones fell down the elevator
There they found him six months later
They held their noses, and said, "Gee, whiz,
What a spoiled child our little Willie is."

A search of the database (click here) brings up lots of verses. Also, click here for more verses, along with other kids' songs.
-Joe Offer, always seeking new verses to this song-

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20 Mar 00 - 08:57 PM (#198364)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: The Beanster

OMG, Joe, that one's hysterical! hahahahaaa

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20 Mar 00 - 09:42 PM (#198382)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: Jon Freeman

Thanks Joe. I would not have considered DT as being a possible source for those verses. I'll know another time.

Jon

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21 Mar 00 - 03:50 AM (#198522)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: Joe Offer

Jon, if you're ever feeling bored, put @bawdy in the DigiTrad search box. It'll keep you entertained all week. If you're in the mood for tamer fare, try @kids or @camp. For a full list of DigiTrad categories, Click here.
-Joe Offer-

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21 Mar 00 - 01:11 PM (#198737)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: annamill

Heres how I heard it when I was a kid.

Fat and Skinny had a race, all around the pillowcase (??)

Fat fell down and broke his face, and that's how Skinny won the race!

Did anyone mention "Found a peanut, found a peanut" "Found a peanut last night" ? That was great.

Love, annap

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21 Mar 00 - 01:21 PM (#198740)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: Nathan in Texas

In the family drinking well
Willie pushed his sister Nell
She's there yet, because it kilt her,
Now we'll have to buy a filter

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21 Mar 00 - 05:31 PM (#198867)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: GUEST,Jim Dixon

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't fuzzy, was he?

If you can, get hold of a book called "One Potato, Two Potato: The Folklore of American Children" by Mary and Herbert Knapp. This book was originally published in 1976 and is still in print. It has hundreds of things like this, rope-skipping rhymes, rules of games, jokes and riddles told by children, urban legends repeated by children, and so on - the things that kids learn from one another instead of from adults.

Another good book is "The Prairie Home Companion Folk Song Book" compiled by Marcia and Jon Pankake (foreword by Garrison Keillor) from 1988. It consists of mainly parodies submitted by listeners back when PHC was running its "Department of Folk Song" feature with Peter Ostroushko and others.

Anyone remember "Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts"? "The Worms Crawl In, The Worms Crawl Out"? That's the kind of stuff you'll find in those books.

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21 Mar 00 - 05:55 PM (#198881)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: Brendy

Two by Spike Milligan:

Lady Barnaby takes her ease,
knitting overcoats for fleas.
By her kindness fleas are smitten,
that's why she's very rarely bitten. .....or

Lord Finchely tried to mend the electric light bulb himself.
Killed him dead,
served him right.
'Tis the purpose of the businessman
to give employment to the artisan.

B.

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21 Mar 00 - 08:27 PM (#198988)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: The Beanster

I sit here in front of the computer sometimes, giggling like a schizophrenic! Annap--those ARE the words, so thank you for that!! And Jim, thanx for the lowdown on those books...I've been trying to remember the words to "Greasy, Grimy Gopher Guts" for years--will have to look that one up. Funny funny funny. Thanks everyone for giving me such a chuckle.

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21 Mar 00 - 09:13 PM (#199017)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: annamill

We had a whole thread on greasy, grimy .... I can't do blue clicky things so just do a search on the forum.

...but Joe can (click)

A funeral is a gay affair with friends and relatives everywhere. They shut you up in a mohogony box and cover you up with stones and rocks. The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, the worms play pinochel(SP?) on your spout.

Never one of my favorites, but it stuck. Gross!

I hope this hasn't offended anyone. Just answering a question.

Love, annap

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21 Mar 00 - 10:54 PM (#199069)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: Harold W

Try this one:

Little Tommy's mother kept an alligator. But the alligator ate her, so she never kept another.

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23 Mar 00 - 02:54 PM (#200061)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: Joe Offer

Dave, I need to know the tune for that one, although I'm not sure I'd ever be able to sing it without laughing.
-Joe Offer-

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23 Mar 00 - 08:01 PM (#200276)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: Uncle_DaveO

Re: Toity Poiple Boids.

More's the pity, I don't know a tune. It just came to me this morning (memory is like that), and I couldn't resist!

Dave Oesterreich

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24 Mar 00 - 08:22 PM (#201023)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: mariachera

Takes me back.

Pity now poor Mary Ames Blinded by her brother James Into her eyes red hot nails he poked I've never seen Mary more provoked. or

Benjy met a bear The bear ate Benjy The bear was bulgy the bulge was Benjy

really, I came from a good family!

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24 Mar 00 - 08:38 PM (#201026)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: bseed(charleskratz)

Ooey Gooey was a worm
And a very fine worm was he,
He sat upon a railroad track;
The train he did not see.
Ooey gooey IS a worm.

Willy was a chemist
But he isn't any more,
For what he thought was H2O
Was H2SO4.

--seed

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24 Mar 00 - 09:07 PM (#201037)
Subject: RE: Poor Old Lady, I Think She'll Die
From: Amos

Willy saw some dynamite
Didn't understand it, quite;
Curiousity never pays --
It rained Will for seven days!

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