The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #123873   Message #2731621
Posted By: MGM·Lion
26-Sep-09 - 02:10 AM
Thread Name: 'naughty'; 'bawdy' - what else?
Subject: RE: 'naughty'; 'bawdy' - what else?
'The Ball of Kerriemuir' [spelt, note, slightly differently - the Scotch town is actually called Kirriemuir] is on DT under that title, in letter T for 'The'. Not the exact version I know, but is it ever? — mine starts "There were four-&-twenty virgins came doon frae Inverness, And when the ball was over there were 4-&-20 less".

There is much about Eskimo Nell [also on DT] in the "'Naughty' songs by well-known writers" thread [I think I have that name right; something very like that anyhow.] It is a spoof of the sort of poem Robert Service used to write, & much dispute as to whether he actually wrote it to send himself up [which tends to be the US view], or whether it is originally a spoof of British origin of the 'Wild West', which view I tend to. For reasons I give on that thread, backed up by some others who claim to know more of its history, I think Noel Coward is a probable attribution.