Origin: do your ears hang low?

Subject: RE: do your ears hang low?
From: Andrea
Date: 05 Nov 97 - 10:28 PM

I need this information about the song, because, as has been pointed out, there are various versions floating around to the same melody. The song I am actually presenting is "The Fifty States That Rhyme", but I know it has the same melody as "Do Your Ears Hang Low". I learned this song years ago in elementary school, and I now am giving a class presentation on it. Thank you for the responses this far, and I still will appreciate any more information that is available. And, by the way Joe Offer, yes I am old enough to be talking about a potential disreputable song!

Subject: RE: do your ears hang low?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Nov 97 - 07:35 PM

Say, Andrea - do you have any information to start out with on this song? We've had a rather lively discussion of this song, but so far, it seems that nobody really knows. Is there something you know that we don't know? Did your music teacher give you anything to start with? Are you old enough that we should be talking with you about a potentially disreputable song?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: do your ears hang low?
From:
Date: 05 Nov 97 - 06:23 PM

I shall look through my Oscar Brand LP's and see if there is a bawdy version in there.

Subject: RE: do your ears hang low?
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 05 Nov 97 - 12:43 PM

There's a great temptation to feel that the "real" version is the "secret", nasty one, and the nice version is cleaned up. In this case, I suspect it's true, because the "balls" version makes more sense to me than the "ears" version. In other cases, I imagine the process went the other way: "If you're horny and you know it, pull your pud."

Subject: RE: do your ears hang low?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Nov 97 - 04:39 AM

Could be so, I suppose, Murray, but this is one that begs for proof. Hey, if some wealthy, self-righteous donor got the idea that the Scouts were publishing bawdy songs, that would make for some interesting news items, wouldn't it? I still contend it's just an innocent kids' song, but I never did like it very much.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: do your ears hang low?
From: Murray
Date: 05 Nov 97 - 03:36 AM

I can't believe that the "Balls" version is an obscene transformation of "Ears"--it's surely more likely that the secons is a scoured version of the first, which is therefore first in time [this is actually often the case, as in e.g. the Scots convivial song "Andro and his Cutty Gun", which is proved by the sense of the bawdy version and the non sequitur of the clean]. Cray finds the camp version in Frank Lynn's "Songs for Swingin' Housemothers" (1963), indicated melody "Turkey in the Straw"; but his own tune is the "correct" one of *The College Hornpipe* [often called just "The Sailor's Hornpipe], going in sol-fa d't d' d d sf ms d' d' etc. Cray's remarks, incidentally, of the relationship to old ballad tunes, is a bit unfounded, I think. I may as well give you my text:

Do your balls hang low? Can you swing them to and fro? Can you tie them in a knot? Can you tie them in a bow? Can you swing them to the ceiling With a free and easy feeling, Did you ever catch your ballocks in a rat-trap, O?

Subject: RE: do your ears hang low?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Nov 97 - 10:31 PM

This song has been in the Cub Scout Song Book for as long as I can remember - which, as somebody pointed out to me in another thread, is a long, long time. The song would fit almost perfectly into the genre of "camp song" except for one thing - it's just too nice a song. It must have been made up by an adult leader of a youth group. Judging from the content and structure of the song, I would venture to guess that it was made up by a harried Den Mother who didn't know what to do with the rowdy Cub Scouts who were chasing around her basement one wintry afternoon. So, she took a traditional tune, "Turkey in the Straw" and added hokey words with a strained rhyme (hence, "Continental Soldier," Tim). And, to keep Timmy from hitting Johnny, she added ridiculous hand motions to the song to keep Timmy's hands busy. And, when it found that there was nothing whatsoever naughty or discriminatory about the song, the Boy Scouts of America of New Brunswick, New Jersey, put its imprimatur on the song and printed it in the Cub Scout Songbook and later in the Boy Scout Songbook.
It became a true camp song after that. That same bratty, obnoxious Timmy who occasioned the song in the first place, took that innocuous little ditty and added the words that qualified the song to be printed in "The Erotic Muse."
Now, all this is musings from an aging former Scout leader, and may or may not be the truth. However, I have seen many other really dumb songs formed in the same way - including the later transformation into naughtiness.
The song appears in the 1969 revision of the Cub Scout Songbook and the 1970 revision of the boy Scout Songbook, but not in the 1963 Boy Scout Songbook. I'd like to know if it appears in print any earlier.
It also appears in the 1988 edition of the "Prairie Home Companion folk song book," with a second verse:

Do your ears hang low?
do they wobble to and fro?
Can you tie 'em in a knot?
Can you tie 'em in a bow?
Can you throw 'em over your shoulder?
Like a Continental soldier?
Do your ears hang low?

Do your ears hang high?
do they wave up in the sky?
Do they crinkle when they're wet?
Do they straighten when they're dry?
Can you wave 'em at your neighbor?
With a minimum of labor?
Do your ears hang high?

-Joe Offer, Retired Cubmaster-

Subject: RE: do your ears hang low?
From:
Date: 04 Nov 97 - 08:41 PM

Why the reference to the "Continental soldier", which I assume is a mocking reference to the 18th century American army?

Subject: RE: do your ears hang low?
From: Bruce
Date: 04 Nov 97 - 08:26 PM

See Ed. Cray's The Erotic Muse, 2nd ed. p. 336-8, 192, for the original "Do your balls hang low" and its tune.

Subject: RE: do your ears hang low?
From: Jon W.
Date: 04 Nov 97 - 05:54 PM

The tune to this song is based on "Turkey in the Straw" and there is a lot of controversy over who composed it, if anyone.

Subject: RE: do your ears hang low?
From: Nonie Rider
Date: 04 Nov 97 - 04:31 PM

Lyrics discussed on, I believe, the "Naughty Kids' Songs" thread recently. Take a peek over the last months' stuff.

I haven't heard anyone claim known authorship; seems to be one of those kidfolk thangs.

As you probably know, many versions/verses often refer to other body parts than ears, often obscenely.

Subject: do your ears hang low?
From: andrea
Date: 04 Nov 97 - 02:32 PM

I am working on a project for my music class and need some help. I need to know who wrote the song "Do Your Ears Hang Low?", as well as any other information about the song you may have. I'll appreciate any help I can get!