Rick Fielding mentioned this song in Sandy Paton's birthday thread. I wondered what in the world a song like that would have to do with Sandy Paton, but maybe it would be impertinent to ask a question like that (grin). I did a search and found most of the words in a message above, but I've added verses that I found in the terrific Anne Hills/Cindy Mangsen album called Never Grow Up, which is something I never intend to do.
So, Rick, what is the connection between this song and Sandy Paton? No, Sandy is not particularly portly...
-Joe Offer-

THE THINNEST MAN
(earliest known printed version, dated 1881, credited to Frank Dumont - found by Joe Hickerson)

Oh, the thinnest man I ever saw lived over in Hoboken
If I ever told you how thin he was you'd say that I was jokin'
He was as thin as a postage stamp or the skin of a new potater
For exercise, he'd take a ride through the holes of a nutmeg grater
Oh me, oh my, he was the thinnest man.
Thin as soup in a boarding house, or the skin of a soft-shelled clam.

Through a keyhole he'd go slipping, through a mousehole he'd go sliding
And when the landlord came for rent, in the gas pipe he'd be hiding
He was as thin, as thin as grass, as thin as porous plaster
He was as thin as thin can be, he couldn't grow thin any faster
Oh me, oh my, he was the thinnest man.
Thin as soup in a boarding house, or the skin of a soft-shelled clam.

He'd never go out on a stormy night, he'd never go out alone
For fear that some poor hungry dog would take him for a bone.
While sitting by the fire one night, the lamp was burning dimly
A bedbug grabbed him by the hair and yanked him up the chimney
Oh me, oh my, he almost lost his breath
Fell through a hole in the seat of his pants, and choked himself to death.


JRO
^^ Transcribed in honor of the birthday of Sandy Paton

....is there such a thing as a soft-shelled clam?????