The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #2667   Message #12945
Posted By: maureen
23-Sep-97 - 06:47 AM
Thread Name: Songs to sing with Children
Subject: Lyr Add: THE THINNEST MAN^^
Hi. I am having a great time getting acquainted with all of you through your postings.

I wonder if anyone has heard of "The Thinnest Man"? When I was a child my father always made a ritual of singing a certain few songs on New Year's Eve with us, and this one I have never heard anywhere else. Here are the lyrics:

chorus: Oh me, oh my, he was the thinnest man.
He fell through a hole in the seat of his pants
And choked himself to death.

He was sitting in the boarding house,
the light was burning dimly.
A mosquito grabbed him by the neck,
and jerked him up the chimney.

(chorus)

They put him in the city jail,
for stealing auto cars.
They couldn't keep him in the jail,
cause he walked out through the bars.

(chorus)
^^
Of course, this is not what is conventionally known as children's music, although I recall that we loved it and sang it with glee while my mother scowled disapprovingly. I am very curious, though, to know if other people have heard of it.