The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #56680   Message #889288
Posted By: IanC
13-Feb-03 - 05:26 AM
Thread Name: Quiz: Un Autre Alphabet Quiz
Subject: RE: Quiz: Un Autre Alphabet Quiz
Oh, Sir Jasper
This is in the DT as a Kids Play Song (!!!).
A parody "Oh, Sir Jasper, do not tie me onto the railway track!" is sometimes included in melodramas.

Quare Bungle Rye
Lesley Nelson's page says
"This is a variant of The Oyster Girl, which was in both Duncan and Sharp's Manuscripts (1904). Rev. S. Baring-Gould also collected several versions. Variants were found in Aberdeenshire, Somerset, Northern Ireland and North Carolina. The Oyster Girl was printed on several broadsides (copies can be found at the Bodleian Library), including one by Catnach (who printed in London 1820-1830). Variants and alternate titles include: The Basket of Oysters, Bungerye, Queer Bungle Rye, Quare Bungo Rye, Young Bung-'er'Eye, The Basket of Eggs and Eggs in Her Basket."

Bung Her Eye / Bung Your Eye is also the name of a dance & tune from at least the early C18th.

The phrase "Bung your eye" is apparently Regency Slang, meaning (literally) to drink till your eye is bunged up or closed. In Cambridge and around Yarmouth, I can remember it being used as a toast into the last quarter of the 20th century ("Good health" ... "Bung yer eye").

:-)