Wow -- this is great! And you've all been helpful. What I'm beginning to think is that this is a genuine folk tune, never learned from a score, never so much as written down or named. And I'm sensing something weird about its history: the oldest reference I've found is someone who says the "Miss (whatever) Had a Steamboat" rhyme is to the tune of "I have a little pussy." Following up on that, I located an old, anonymous traditional riddle for children: "I have a little pussy/ Its coat is soft and grey/ It lives out in the meadow/But never runs away/ She'll always be a pussy/she'll never be a cat/For she's a pussy willow/Now what d'ye think of that?" Well, for obvious reasons people were inspired to obscene parodies, and it looks to me like, from that time on, the tune was used for parodies (most at least flirting with smut). *Interesting* how a tune can develop a meaning, even if it has no words! I want to pursue the Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" lead, too. I'm pretty unmusical; my specialty is verbal folklore, but this is just as cool as a blue moose!