Lyr Req: The Mosquito Camp Song

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Mosquito Camp Song
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 07 Dec 23 - 09:51 AM

Lambfan's contribution reminds me of a joke said to have been used by Bob Hope:

Straight man:
    Where do flies go in winter?
Comedian:
    Search me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Mosquito Camp Song
From: cnd
Date: 04 Dec 23 - 09:04 PM

You can listen here

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Mosquito Camp Song
From: GUEST,Lambfan
Date: 04 Dec 23 - 08:26 PM

My mom was part of a girls barbershop quartet in the late 1940s – they sang radio jingles and eventually some TV ads and performed at different venues in around Cincinnati. She used to sing that mosquito song to us when we were kids accompanied by the ukulele. Here are the lyrics that she used to sing:

I’d like to know where mosquitoes go when the wintry breezes blow.
Whatta they wear for their underwear, for their underwear? I don’t know.
He’s a young humdinger, sharpens up his stinger for a warmer clime.
Where do mosquitoes go, I’d like to know, in the winter time?

Zing! Caught another Skeeter! Zing! Big as a kangaroo. zing! Old man eater, bit me right where I can’t tell you.
Couldn’t go in the dining room, couldn’t go in the kitchen, couldn’t go where there’s company cause it’s always itchin.’
Tell your troubles to the man, help you solve the puzzle:
Where do you go in summertime unless they wear a muzzle?

I’d like to know where mosquitoes go when the wintry breezes blow.
Whatta they wear for their underwear, for their underwear? I don’t know.
He’s a young humdinger, sharpens up his stinger for a warmer clime
Where do mosquitoes go, I’d like to know, in the wintertime?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Mosquito Camp Song
From: GUEST,Chin Music
Date: 12 Jun 20 - 11:14 AM

The song was written for the June 15, 1920 Ziegfeld Follies show. https://www.loc.gov/resource/ihas.200004207.0/?sp=1

It then appeared in the 1929 MGM movie "The Rube Minstrels" being sung by Billy(The Denver Nightingale) Murray.

The only other pertinent reference is that this ditty was made popular by Wingy Manone & His Orchestra, and Wingy played this song all through the late 1930’s and 1940’s. https://www.allmusic.com/album/1939-1940-mw0000060531

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Mosquito Camp Song
From: GUEST,carrie
Date: 11 Nov 14 - 08:29 PM

My dad played this on the guitar for me and my family and friends...it was a favorite.

The words are:

Where do mosquitoes go
I'd like to know
In the wintertime
What do they wear
For underwear
When the wintry breezes blow
Do the young humdingers
Sharpen up their stingers
In a warmer climate
Where do mosquitoes go
I'd like to know
In the wintertime.

I can sing it but I don't have any notes...sorry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Mosquito Camp Song
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 08 Apr 08 - 08:39 AM

I'm not sure it's the same song, but Wingy Manone & His Orchestra recorded one called THE MOSQUITO SONG (WHERE DO MOSQUITOES GO IN THE WINTER TIME?), Bluebird 10773, 1940. It's on 2 albums: Various-artists, "Laughter from the Hip: 24 Jazz Comedy Classics," and Wingy Manone & His Orchestra, "1939-1940."

Here's what I was able to transcribe from a couple of sound samples:

[Intro, spoken:]
—Say, Bub? Boy, you know about them bird-big mosquitoes they got over there in Jersey?
—You mean those big gallow-whoppers?
—Yes!
—Those kind that bite you when you're not even lookin'?
—Yes! I'm gonna tell you what I want to know:

[Sings:]
[CHORUS?] Now what I want to know
Is where mosquitoes go
When the Jersey breezes blow.
. . .
[VERSE?] …for quite a long, long time.
We'll never rest until they go.
[BRIDGE?] Some folks say they go to the woodland.
Some folks say they go to the well.
They way they bite and itch me, (Ah!)
I hope they go to— (No!).
[CHORUS?] What I want to know
Is where mosquitoes go
When the Jersey breezes blow.

Subject: RE: The Mosquito Camp Song
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 19 Mar 08 - 04:43 PM

Sounds like:

"Where do mosquitoes go, I'd like to know,
in the Wintertime?
What do they wear for underwear,
when they reach that southern clime?"

I posted a query for this in
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=34789#1269504
which is actually about a different, unrelated song, the Swedish (or German) parody "In De Vinter Time."

One guest remembered it, but only a fragment. No further leads developed.

The song is called "Where Do Mosquitoes Go In the Winter Time?" The standard collections, Lester Levy and American Memory, don't have it. A copy is in the Florenz Ziegfeld collection, but is only listed, not accessible, so you'd have to go there, or else arrange for copying and mailing, to see it.

This is a much-wanted song for me, so I'll be happy if anybody can furnish the lyrics, tune, or a source for same.

Bob

Subject: The Mosquito Camp Song
From: GUEST,Willow, Lakes and Pines Council
Date: 19 Mar 08 - 02:55 PM

Only heard it once, it was about where mosquitos go in the winter time, where "the little hum dingers sharpen their stingers.."....it was great, I thought I knew 'em all. Anybody know?