The following song was collected in 1938 by Fred Romanofsky, a worker with the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940.

It was mentioned upthread by Peace on 09 Oct 04 - 02:30 AM, and an excerpt of this rhyme was posted by masato sakurai on 09 Oct 04 - 09:52 PM.

But I think the entire song* should be posted on Mudcat, in part because pf its folkloric value, but also because some of its verses are quite similar to other rhymes that are already posted on this forum or are available elsewhere on the Internet.

*Actually, I think this "song" is a series of "risque" childen's rhymes strung together). The song title was given in the interview notes.


JOHNNY BILLY

"You manna hear some songs? The dirty kind?"

Hei ho! Hei ho!
To Hollywood we go,
To see Mae West and all the rest.
Hei ho! Hei ho!
Me and my friend Toni
We come from Italy.
We drink the booze
And shine the shoes
Me and my friend Toni.
We are the boys of 11th street
That you hear so much about
People hide their pocketbooks
Whenever they go out.
We're noted for our dirty work
Most everything we do.
All the copers hate us
And we hope you hate us too.
Hei ho! Hei Ho!
It's off to the burlesque we go
We sit and stare at the girls bare
Hei ho! Hei ho!
One day I saw something in the grass
It was Mussolini with Hitler in his ass.
In 1492
Columbus was a Jew
He sat on the grass
And tickled his ass -
In 1493.
Tammany, Tammany
Hookus pocus
Kiss my tocus
Tam-m-a-n-y!
A richman takes a taxi cab
A poorman takes a train
A hobo walks the railroad track
But gets there just the same.
Johny and Billy went out for a walk
One Sunday afternoon
Johny said to Billy
"Do you manna have a fight?"
And then the boys threw stones.
Johny took out his little white knife And found the edge was sharpened.
He stuck it into Billy's heart
And blood came pouring after.
"If mother asks you where I am?
Tell her I am dying.
Six little angels at my side
Two to watch
Two to pray
And two to carry my soul away."
Johnson, Johnson is my name
Brooklyn is my station
Heaven is my resting place
God is my salvation!"
Hoover blew the whistle
Mellon rang the bell
Wall Street gave the signal
And the country went to Hell!
-George [Poohepka?], between 9-15 years old, East End, New York City, collected by Fred Romanofsky (the Federal Writers' Project), 1938

http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/DeadEnd.html