The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #11873   Message #2087070
Posted By: GUEST,Young Buchan
26-Jun-07 - 02:29 AM
Thread Name: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
As a child about 4 I used to stay on Saturday nights with my grandmother who lived near the village hall, where my parents would go for a dance. I soon learn to recognise the tune Cock of the North, since it always heralded the return of my parents. I realise 50 years down the line that they probably finished each time with Circassian Circle. But what confused me for many years was the disapproval of my grandmother who would pout and shake her head and mutter 'I wish they wouldn't play that dirty tune!' I didn't understand then. Or for a long time afterwards, how a tune, as opposed to a song could be dirty. But I finally realized that in her mind the tune was so inextricably linked to

"Cockadoodle, cockadoodle, lost the leg of my drawers.
Cockadoodle, cockadoodle, won't you lent me yours."

that she considered the tune to be a reference to drawers even when the words were not sung. I don't recall how she coped with Colonel Bogey!