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19 Jan 04 - 09:48 AM (#1096227) Subject: Skinny Malinky From: GUEST,Dian I learnt the following as a child but have no idea what the next lines are, if any: Skinny Malinky Lang Legs Umbarella Feet Went to the Pictures And fell through the seat Any ideas? Dian |
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19 Jan 04 - 10:09 AM (#1096237) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: Dave Hanson Guest Dian, this from ' The Scttish Folk Singer 'by Peter Hall and the late Norman Buchan, Skinny makinky long legs umbrell feet, Went tae the pictures an' could-nae find a seat, He got the bus hame an' he wid-nae pay his fare, So the rotten auld conducter kicked him doon the stair, eric |
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19 Jan 04 - 10:20 AM (#1096246) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: masato sakurai From Some Old Scottish Street Poetry: Skinny Malinky Longlegs Big Banana feet went tae the pictures and couldnae find a seat when the picture started Skinny Malinky farted Skinny Malinky longlegs Big Banana feet |
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19 Jan 04 - 11:36 AM (#1096319) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: Fergie In Dublin we sang Skinny malink melodeon legs umbar-ella feet went to the pictures and couldn't get a seat when the picture started skinny malink farted Skinny malink melodeon legs umbar-ella feet |
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19 Jan 04 - 12:37 PM (#1096365) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: GUEST Thank you everyone. There is a five-year-old waiting for this! I may not be very popular with her mother though. Greetings from Heidelberg, Dian |
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19 Jan 04 - 09:23 PM (#1096713) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: masato sakurai Listen to Tommy Scott's version of "Skinny Malinky Long Legs" [clip] on Hail-Hail Caledonia here. Another version from here: Skinny me linky longlegs three stairs up. The wumman in the middle door hit him wi' a cup. His mooth's a' bleedin' an' his eyes are a' black. Skinny me linky longlegs 'll no' be comin' back. |
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20 Jan 04 - 06:52 AM (#1096928) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: Fiona What a great thread, we sang (60's Glasgow) the version Masato posted, with big banana feet and farting at the pictures. Billy Connolly wore huge Ffyes banana feet in this 'Great Northern Welly Boot Show', they used to be in the Peoples Palace (a sort of folk culture museum). However the song above we had as, Murder, murder polis, Three stairs up. The wummin oan the middle stair, Hit me wi' a cup. Ma heid's aw broken, Ma eye's aw cut, Murder, murder polis, Three stairs up. May I ask if anyone knows the words to a song which went, Mince and totties, Stew and steak, and just a wee bit o' current cake. It was about a wee girl taking her fathers lunch to him at his work. Fiona |
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20 Jan 04 - 11:53 AM (#1097187) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: GUEST,Lofty Good god, heightism rears its ugly head (not to mention those poor unfortunates with severe flatulence problems). Keep this up and you'll have all those long of limb taking to the streets in protest. I await the more politically correct version of this song. |
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20 Jan 04 - 01:35 PM (#1097274) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: GUEST,Van Lofty, Lofty kipper in a poke Went tae the pictures and couldnae see the joke When the picture ended he got on a bus Paid the man the right fare and avoided a' the fuss |
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25 May 06 - 02:03 AM (#1747068) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: alison slightly different version to ones mentioned above... in Belfast we sang skinny malink melodeon legs, big banana feet went to the doctors and couldn't get a seat when he got a seat, he fell fast asleep skinny malink melodeon legs, big banana feet slainte alison |
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25 May 06 - 03:36 AM (#1747095) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: Liz the Squeak Down south he was Slinky Malinky.... but the rest was more or less the same. LTS |
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25 May 06 - 07:15 AM (#1747187) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: Azizi I wonder if the name "Slinky Malinky" was the basis for "Skinny Minnie"? The Tommy Scott' song that masato sakurai linked to on 19 Jan 04 - 09:23 PM refers to "Skinny me linky longlegs". Given that, I've got a question or two-Are those Slinky Malinky songs about a person who is skinny and who has big feet or just a person who has big feet? Alison's example from Belfast includes the reference for "melodeon legs". Maybe if I knew what "melodeon legs" means then I would be able to answer that question about whether Slinky Malinky was skinny. I think a melodeon is a musical instrument, but I haven't a clue what it looks like. If I had to guess, I would have thought it was like an accordion. But I think that's just because of the similarity in the ending syllable for "melodeon" and "accordion"... And does anyone know the first time "Skinnie Minnie" was used and if there are taunting any rhymes for that name? Is "Skinny Minnie" an American creation? And are there any taunting rhymes about Skinnie Minnie? If the taunting name "Skinnie Minnie" is based on "Slinky Malinky" I find it interesting that the Skinnie Minnie taunt doesn't include any "diss" [insult] about big feet. I'm slightly digressing here but it seems that American taunting songs about big feet are more a thing of the past, maybe because a lot of Americans [UnitedStaters]men and women have big feet. But, in my opinion, some of those [early, at least] big feet songs were city folks putdowns on folks from the country [rural areas]. And if that is so, and if there are indeed fewer taunting song references to big feet in American songs, then the schism between city and country folks may be a thing of the past. There's alot of ifs there, I know. You can consider me iffy this morning. :o) But back to "Slinky Malinky" and "Skinnie Minnie"-when I first read these "Slinky Malinky" rhymes, I thought that person talked about was a female. This was partly because I'm not familiar with the name "Malinky" and assumed it was a female name {like Malinda}. But I linked the name "Slinky Malinky" with the name "Skinnie Minnie" and "Skinnie Minnie" was always female, right? I'm just wondering. Not that any of this is a big deal, but color me curious. |
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25 May 06 - 07:21 AM (#1747190) Subject: Lyr Add: BONY MORONIE (Larry Williams) From: Azizi Also, it seems to me that in the United States the taunting referent "Skinnie Minnie" was booted out by "Bony Moronie". If you were thin like I used to be-many moons ago-you absolutely hated this song: BONY MORONIE Words and music by Larry Williams. As recorded by Larry Williams, 1957.
I got a girl named Bony Moronie.
Well, I told her mama and her papa too
She's my one and only; she's my heart's desire. |
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25 May 06 - 07:23 AM (#1747191) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: Azizi Btw, folks reading & posting on this thread, may also be interested in this related Mudcat thread: Songs About Big Feet |
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25 May 06 - 07:39 AM (#1747198) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: GUEST,JTT Isn't it (a) a skipping rhyme and (b) a way of insulting people who are too thin? |
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25 May 06 - 07:42 AM (#1747201) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: Azizi JTT, which "it" are you referring to? |
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25 May 06 - 07:46 AM (#1747208) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: Sandra in Sydney Liz - have you seen New Zealand's Slinky Malinky? Lynley Dodd's Slinky Malinki One of my favourite authors whose verses are loved by little kids (& big kids like me, too) sandra |
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26 May 06 - 01:26 AM (#1747660) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: Liz the Squeak I have indeed - it and others of hers - were favourites to read to the assembled little ... darlings in my library days. The kids would join in which was great because all I had to do was turn pages and start the first line! Aziz - melodeon legs are long legs that move as if they had more than one knee. Imagine a newborn foal, the way its legs appear to bend all ways and go on for ever.... those are melodeon legs. A melodeon is an instrument with bellows and reeds. The bellows blow air through the reeds on both push and pull (suck and blow, like a mouth organ), creating different notes. If you watch a melodeon/accordion/squeezebox player, the bellows (the flexible bit in the middle) go in and out with the squeezing motion of the player. For an extra long note, or a particularly difficult sequence, the bellows can be extended to what appears to be a phenominal length - hence melodeon legs. Red Setters and teenage boys over 6ft in height suffer from melodeon legs. Hope this is useful. LTS |
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26 May 06 - 02:20 AM (#1747666) Subject: ADD Version: Skinny Malinky From: Joe Offer I transcribed the tune I found in The Scottish Folksinger (Norman Buchan and Peter Hall, 1973, page 39. SKINNY MALINKY Skinny malinky lang legs umba-rella feet, Went tae the pictures an' could-nae find a seat. He got the bus hame an' he wid-nae pey his fare, So the rotten auld conducter kicked him doon the stair. Click to play (joeweb) |
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26 May 06 - 04:47 AM (#1747705) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: Jim McLean Joe, my father sang a song called 'The Drunkard's Ragged Wean' (written in 1855) to a slowed down version of that tune. I think the tune is called 'Castles in the Air'. |
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26 May 06 - 05:17 AM (#1747713) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: GUEST,Littlewater ref 'mince and tatties' song - this stirred something in the recesses of my brain and I remember my mother (circa 1950's Glasgow) singing a sort of nonsense song to me as a child. My mother said that I was to go wi my faither's dinner-o Mince and tatties, stewin' steak wi a wee bit curran cake I went tae the river, I couldnae get across I payed ten bob for an auld tin horse I jumped on its back, its bones gave a crack Played my fiddle till the boat came back The boat came back, we a' jumped in the boat capsized and we a' fell in singin' "don't be weary, try be cheery don't be weary for we're a' goin' hame' |
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26 May 06 - 05:26 AM (#1747720) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: GUEST In Fife in the 70s we sang, or rather shouted: Skinny Malinky lang legs Big banana feet Went tae the pictures Couldnae find a seat When the pictures started Skinny Malinky farted When the pictures ended Skinny Malinky bended Everyone knew the last couplet was not quite up to the level of the rest but somehow no-one ever hit upon anything better. |
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26 May 06 - 06:26 AM (#1747746) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: Azizi Liz the Squeak, thanks for that explanation about a melodeon and the term "melodeon legs". I confess that I had never heard of the musical instrument of that insult before reading these Mudcat threads. **** Admittedly this is a bit of drift away from the central topics, but I'm struck by the inclusion of this verse "I went tae the river, I couldnae get across/I payed ten bob for an auld tin horse" in that Skinny Malinky rhyme that GUEST,Littlewater posted. That verse [with "grey horse" instead of "tin horse"] is a widely used floating verse in a number of African America secular slave songs. Maybe that line was used in religious songs too, since floating lines and verses were often used for both religious & non-religious songs. See, for example, this excerpt of a comment I wrote in another Mudcat thread: Subject: RE: Origins: Who wrote Polly Wolly Doodle From: Azizi - PM Date: 17 Dec 04 - 11:58 AM But seriously, folks.. A number of verses to "Polly Wolly Doodle" that Joe Offer gave in his July 27,2004 are floating verses that can be found in various songs from Thomas W. Talley's 1922 book "Negro Folk Rhymes". I'm studying this collection and "offer" these examples to you for your study or just for the heck of it... The page numbers that I cite are from the 1968 Kennikat Press reissue. I believe there is a newer edition out now...The cited verse found in "Polly Wolly Doddle is preceded by a star or stars and the examples that I found are placed under it. *I went to the river and couldn't get across: "Crossing The River" p.6 has this line and these 2nd verses: 1."I jumped on er mule an' I thought 'e wuz er hoss" 2nd verse: "So I mounted on a ram, fer I thought ie wus er hoss" 3rd verse: "So I give a whole dollar fer a ole blin' hoss" "Crossing The River doesn't have the "jumped on a "N-" verse . However, it does include the infamous "N" word in the second couplet of the first verse "Dat mule 'e walk in an' git mired up in de san'/You'd oughter see'd dis N- make back fer de land" --- The verse "I went to the river an' I couldn't get across/paid five dollars for an old blind {or ole gray} horse" is also used as a verse in a number of other songs that are included in Tally's collection. For instance, the song "Gray And Black Horses", p.45 is composed using a formula in which the person trades one defective item for another: I went down to de woods an' I couldn' go 'cross So I paid five dollars fer de ole gray hoss. De hoss wouldn' pull, so I sol' im fer a bull. De bull wouldn't holler, so I sol' im fer a dollar. De dollar wouldn' pass, so I throwed it in de grass. Den de grass wouldn't grow. Heigho! Heigh! --- You can still hear very similar versions of these verses in contemporary hand-clap rhymes. Here's two more examples of "river/get across": "The Negro And The Policeman", p. 66: I runs to the river, I can't git 'cross Dat Police grap me an'swim lak a hoss. --- "Walk Tom Wilson", p. 69 Tom went down to de river, an' he couldn't go 'cross. Tom tromp [jumped?] on a 'gater [alligator] an'e' think 'e wus a hoss. -snip- Origins: Who wrote Polly Wolly Doodle Other examples from Mudcat threads of "went to the river" can be foundby putting that phrase into the Mudcat Lyric & Knowledge search box and pressing "submit". Btw, I've found that the messages feature doesn't conform to what you're seeking, but the thread feature does. This is probably a result of that major computer crash that happened here last year sometime. I suppose it's possible that enslaved African Americans heard that line "went to the river but couldn't get across" or the entire verse "I went down to de wooods an' I " from some Scottish slave master. What's more important to me is the creative use of material but where the material originally came from is also important. I'm curious about the dates of the Scottish line/verses compared to the date of the African American ones. Anyone? |
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26 May 06 - 08:41 PM (#1748232) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: Q (Frank Staplin) 1. Melodion- A musical instrument consisting of a series of metal rods, actuated by pressing against a metal cylinder. Invented 19th c. by a German. 2. Melodeon- A wind instrument with a keyboard, the bellows moved by pedals moved by the feet. The legs supporting the body, with keyboard and bellows, often had knobby, spindly legs. Like the 'parlor organs', often bought by people who couldn't afford a piano, lacked space, or needed something more portable than a piano. I have one that I started to repair some 20 years ago-- fitted new bellows, but got frustrated by the key actions. It still is in the basement. The verses quoted by Littlewater ('I went down ...') are not in old forms of the seemingly Scottish Malinky; probably picked up from blackface minstrel troupes, both American and English, who were very popular on the English, Scottish and Dublin stages. Some had long runs in London, Glasgow and other cities. Any rhyme with a name was invented over and over by children; 'skinny minnie" is obvious and has no relation to Malinky. I can't find any reliable dates for 'Skinny Malinky; but I suspect it is from around 1900. |
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26 May 06 - 09:26 PM (#1748247) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: GUEST,late 'n short 2 When I was a kid in the 50s my Dad use to call me "Skinny Malink" because I was, well, skinny. He was born on the East Side of New York in the 20's of Irish immigrant parents. So where did he get the term from? |
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27 May 06 - 12:25 AM (#1748289) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: Q (Frank Staplin) See Alison above. The song was known in Belfast, where it probably came from Scotland. Hard to trace the movement of these rhymes, but they spread rapidly, as people emigrate. |
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28 May 06 - 07:12 AM (#1748949) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: Fiona Thank you littlewater, someone did give me a version on another forum, more or less the same 'Mah Maw said, Ah should go Wi mah faither's dinner -o Mince an totties stew an steak Wi'a wee bit currant cake Ah went tae the river, couldny get across Peyed ten bob fur an auld broken horse Ah jumped oan its back, its bones gave a crack Ah waited tae the boat came back The boat came back, we aw jumped in The boat capsized an we aw fell in Singin dont be weary try'n be cheery Jist play the fiddle till the boat comes back.' My dad then remembered his version had 'old blind horse' My dad (b.1935 in Glasgow) had it from his mother (b 1915 Glasgow, 1st gen Irish from Leinster) don't know if that helps with the dates Azizi! fx |
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28 May 06 - 12:17 PM (#1749033) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: Azizi Thanks, Fiona. Interesting that different versions have an old tin horse, and old grey horse, an old broken horse, and an old blind horse. I guess Skinny Malinky or whoever just wasn't trusted with the new horses! :o) |
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28 May 06 - 12:25 PM (#1749037) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: Alice All the way over here in Montana my mom would say "Skinny Marink". She would call me that because I was a skinny kid. alice |
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28 May 06 - 12:41 PM (#1749049) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: Azizi In New Jersey {and any other state I happened to visit} I got called "skinnie minnie". That name and "bonie macaroni". **** Btw, when I said "new horses" I meant young ones... But I guess you figured that out. |
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28 May 06 - 12:43 PM (#1749050) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: Big Mick Same thing in Michigan in the 50's and 60's, Alice. Mick |
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29 May 06 - 02:26 PM (#1749535) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: GUEST,John Cully Foryears I been Singin: Skinny Ber-link Bel-ougne legs, and big banana feet........ |
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29 Jan 08 - 07:40 AM (#2247717) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: GUEST,Andy Allan Malinky = small (Russian) |
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14 Dec 08 - 08:15 PM (#2515375) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: GUEST,Terrie in Louisiana The following was a song taught by my great-great grandfather in Louisiana. I went to the river and couldn't get across Jumped on an alligator and thought it was a hoss, Rammed my heels the alligator's flanks, Ought to have seen it go from bank to bank. |
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16 Feb 09 - 06:18 AM (#2568101) Subject: RE: Skinny Malinky From: GUEST,maine And my dad did this version (he was from Bar Harbor Maine, ancestors from Wales. Any one know the rest of it (if there is any more)? I've got my 5 year old grandson saying it. went down to the river, couldn't get across jumped an a alligator, thought it was a hoss wouldn't go ahead, wouldn't stand still jumped up and down like an old saw mill |
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06 Mar 09 - 09:08 PM (#2583004) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Skinny Malinky From: GUEST,homeec I grew up hearing my dad singing "Skinny Malink the diatty (rhymes with flighty) washer. I am so glad just to have found poems, references to Skinny Malink. Is this a great time to be alive, or what? |
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16 Apr 09 - 04:58 AM (#2612260) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Skinny Malinky From: GUEST wee skinny malinky big banana feet went to the pictures and couldne find a seat |
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22 Jun 09 - 11:56 AM (#2662149) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Skinny Malinky From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego This seems to bear some relationship to an old song I heard in the coffee houses of the 1950's, "Hi Ro Jerum." I believe this came from an earlier thread. "The Rich Man and the Poor Man" There was a rich man and he lived in Jerusalem, Glory, hallelujah hi-ro-je-rum He wore a silk hat and his coat was very sprucium, Glory hallelujah hi-ro-je-rum. cho: Hi-ro-je-rum, hi-ro-je-rum, Skinamalinkadoolium Skinamalinkadoolium . Glory hallelujah hi-ro-je-rum. And at his gate there sat a human wreckium He wore a bowler hat and the rim was round his neckium, That poor man asked for a piece of bread and cheesium, The rich man answered, "I'll call for a policeium" The poor man died and his soul went to heavium, And he danced with the saints 'til quarter past ellevium, And there he dwelt in Abraham's bosium, Fraternizing there with scores of other Jewseum. The rich man died but he didn't fare so wellium He couldn't go to heaven so he had to go to hellium, The rich man asked for to have a consolium, The devil only answered, "Come shovel on the coalium. " The moral of this story is that riches are no jokium, We will all go to heaven because we are stony brokium. RG |
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27 Jun 09 - 06:20 PM (#2666134) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Skinny Malinky From: Jim Dixon From Dictionary of American Regional English, vol. 4, 2002: skinny malink n also skinamelink, skinamulink, skinny marink, ~ merink, skittamalink [OED2 (at skinny a. 6) 1892 –, "chiefly Sc." SND (at skinny adj. 2) "skinnymalink(ie), skinamalink(ie),... skinnylinky, a thin skinny person or animal"] esp NY A thin or emaciated person; also used as a derog term for a person. 1870 Punchinello 2.27 Upstate NY, I had sent too many of such skinamelinks to the clay banks when I was Gustise of the Peece to allow 'em to fool me much.... [plus many more citations]. |
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28 Jun 09 - 08:58 AM (#2666430) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Skinny Malinky From: Jim Dixon Could it be possible that this fairy-like little lady was the Camilla Balfour, the favorite of the Royal Gem Theatre, who performed a "leg part" in the new burlesque, who nightly sang rattling parodies and played the bones and uttered doggerel rhymes and fought combats and danced double-shuffle hornpipes to the inspiriting tune of "Skinamalink;" who, in everything she did, was encored fiercely by the pit and gallery, and whose whole performance had been described by the best critics in town as replete with verve, and as having the greatest possible amount of "go" in it? —The Dollar Monthly Magazine, Boston, vol 20, 1864. S'pose them two old skinamulinks was to go an' have children? —David Harum: A Story of American Life by Edward Noyes Westcott (New York : D. Appleton and Co., 1900). She is not for skinamalinks like thee. —Only Betty by Curtis Yorke (London, J. Long, 1908) This little gal is Cousin Sis Hopkins from Skinny-marink Crossroads, down in Toadhunter Holler. —Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick by Beale Cormack (Boston: Walter H. Baker, 1919) |
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03 Feb 11 - 12:53 PM (#3087951) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Skinny Malinky From: GUEST,NYLYSTIK skinny malinky long legs, big banana feet went tae the pictures and couldnae find a seat when the picture started skinny malinky farted and everybody ran out the picture house. This is the version I remember most from school |
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03 Feb 11 - 01:04 PM (#3087962) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Skinny Malinky From: GUEST,NYLISTIK My granny played for scotland she nearly scored a goal she done the splits and burst her tits then the ball went up her hole Another popular one from my playground days in edinburgh lol |
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14 Jul 11 - 09:15 AM (#3187412) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Skinny Malinky From: GUEST .............Version we sang in Glasgow................ Skinny Malinky long legs, big banana feet went to the pictures and coudnae find a seat when the pictures started Skinny Malinky farted and that was the end of Skinny Malinky long legs, big banana feet |
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30 Apr 12 - 03:06 PM (#3345375) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Skinny Malinky From: GUEST Skinny Malinky Long Legs, Big Banana Feet, He Went To The Pictures And Couldn't Find A Seat, When The Pictures Started, Skinny Malinky Farted, skinny Malinky Long Legs, Big Banana Feet. |
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07 Oct 13 - 01:29 PM (#3564968) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Skinny Malinky From: GUEST,Petrina Skinny Malinky long legs And big banana a feet Went to the pictures But couldn't get a seat When the picture started skinny Malinky farted skinny Malinky long legs,big banana feet |
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07 Oct 13 - 01:47 PM (#3564971) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Skinny Malinky From: GUEST,Eliza I foolishly allowed my class of six year-olds to teach me this in Glasgow. I was a newly-qualified teacher from England and didn't know the song. When they got to the rude word, they positively shouted it in fits of giggles. The teacher next door (through a thin partition) and all her class, heard it too, as I was informed at break. Oh dear! |
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26 Jul 16 - 04:57 AM (#3802061) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Skinny Malinky From: GUEST,Carl in Vermont But where's all the verses I hear on the Matt McGinn YouTube, which I can't make out very well, being a Yank who doesn't speak Scots? Something about his rivalry with his cousin over a girl, he scrubs off his feet & applies cologne, fools the girl, who chooses him instead of the cousin, they go out but she can't eat or smoke because she "smells that bugger yet". Chorus is something like "He was neat, he was sweet, but he'd helluva stinky feet, and they call us Skinny-ma-Linky Longlegs". But nobody here ever heard but the verses quoted above? ??? |
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27 Dec 19 - 01:30 PM (#4025119) Subject: Lyr Add: SKINNY MA LINKY LONG LEGS (Matt McGinn) From: Jim Dixon SKINNY MA LINKY LONG LEGS As recorded by Matt McGinn on "Little Ticks of Time" (1969) CHORUS: He was neat; he was sweet, but he'd hell of a sweaty feet, And they called him Skinny Ma Linky Long Legs. Skinny Ma Linky Long Legs had hell of a sweaty feet, And in the warrum weather, they were very far from sweet. In the summer, he often wondered why folk left him by himsel, But he never knew the reason cause he had nae sense o smell. CHORUS Skinny Ma Linky Long Legs was a bit of a gigolo. He fell into competition with a second cousin Joe, For they both took a fancy tae a lassie, Faye Mulguye, And to win her sole affection they decided they would try. CHORUS The three of them arranged they would meet at Glasgow Cross, So Josie booked home early wi permission frae his boss. He jumped into the basin and scrubbed un tae the bone, Then he shook off his whiskers and he sprinkled bloody cologne. CHORUS When she met the two o them, she felt this terrible hum. Says she: "There's only one o you along wi me can come. So tell me who's the smell of, and then I'll judge," said she. So Josie sniffed his aftershave; says he: "It's off o me." CHORUS She turned on puir wee Josie then and gied him a terrible snub. Says she: "Ah think you'd better go hame and gie yersel a scrub." She took the arrum o Skinny Ma Link an they wandered all aroun Till ah landed in a picture hall that used to be up the toon. CHORUS In the middle o the hall they were very soon alone, For the crood an all the chucker-oots they quickly scampered home. She couldn't eat her sweeties; she refused his cigarette. Says she: "Ma darlin Skinny Ma Link, I can smell that bugger yet." CHORUS |
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28 Dec 19 - 07:11 AM (#4025179) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Skinny Malinky From: GUEST I remember a version from about the early 1960s in Co. Armagh, Northern Ireland, which was nearly identical to that mentioned by "Alison" in May 2006 above in Belfast: Skinny Malink, Melodeon Legs, Big Banana Feet Went to the pictures and couldn't get a seat When he got a seat, he fell right through the seat Skinny Malink, Melodeon Legs, Big Banana Feet At that time I probably hadn't heard of the Musical instrument called a Melodeon, and when working on a building site in the summers of 1970 and 1971 was told that an adjustable spanner was called a Malojan (though I don't know if this was spelled this way). If you adjust the spanner, the two ends become closer or further apart, which to me seemed to resonate with the legs of a skinny lightweight person not being very robust, so that he or she might collapse under their weight. However it may well be that the musical instrument is the correct word. I also remember a play on TV set I think in Scotland (possibly Glasgow) many years ago, in which some children called a man "Mr. Skinny Malink.", which I think was not a compliment. |
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07 Jan 20 - 05:18 AM (#4026699) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Skinny Malinky From: Scabby Douglas Jim Dixon's contribution above, cites the lyrics of Matt McGinn's reworking of the rhyme into a more complete song. Jim may have got the lyrics from some printed source, but I can't help feeling that the line "For they both took a fancy tae a lassie, Faye Mulguye," should probably be "For they both took a fancy tae a lassie, **fae Milngavie**" - sounds the same, but.... From memory I also think that the line "Then he shook off his whiskers and he sprinkled bloody cologne." was: "Then he shaved off a' his whiskers and he sprinkled eau-de-cologne." Cheers Steven |
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07 Jan 20 - 12:42 PM (#4026822) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Skinny Malinky From: Jim McLean Faye Mulguye!! I love it! |
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04 Sep 22 - 06:38 AM (#4151923) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Skinny Malinky From: GUEST ma maw said Ahve tae go wi ma Daddy's dinnero champit totties, stewin steak wi a wee bit currant cake cos he's a fisherman he caught a wee bit troot said the troot tae ma faither dis yer mother know yer oot singing dont be weary try an be cheery dont be weary cos wer aw gon hame A came tae a river a couldnae get across a paid 10 bob for an auld scabby horse a jumped oan es back his boneys came a crack a played ma fiddle tae the boat came back the boat came back we aw jumped the boat capsized and we aw fell in singing dont be weary try an be cheery dont be weary cos wur aw gon hame |