The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #11873   Message #90389
Posted By: Ewan McVicar
28-Jun-99 - 12:20 PM
Thread Name: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
Subject: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
Here's another one I believe to be pretty exclusively Scottish, but I'd be content to be proved wrong. For a start, Ken Dodd sang it the other night on TV, clearly expecting his Scouser audience to know the next - rude line.
I have collected many variants.
Most usual first line is
Aunty Mary had a canary, up the leg of her drawers
But older versions have
Aunty Mary had a canary, whistled the Cock of the North
or even
Barnum and Bailey had a canary
The tune I've almost invariably found used is indeed The Cock of the North.
After the first line things go many ways. In older versions the Canary wins the Victoria Cross for noble or rude deeds. Santa Claus sometimes falls into the act. Peeing and farting abounds in versions I have.
What I now seek is - if you are not Scots, what version do you have of the song, and when and where did you hear it? Has it travelled to the USA? (I have one version from Australia, from Scots emigres.)
Please help me.