ADD:Shut/Close the Door(They're Coming through..)

Subject: Shut the door their coming through the window
From: SingsIrish Songs
Date: 07 May 99 - 02:50 AM

Chorus:
Shut the door their coming through the window,
Shut the window their coming through the door,
Shut the door their coming through the window,
Oh the room is full and won't hold anymore.

I went in for rabbits and I kept them in a hutch.
I only bought two rabbits, it didn't seem like much.
Next morning when I looked at them how they had multiplied.
A thousand rabbits jumped right out and all the neighbors cried:
(chorus)

Anyone know the other verses??? I can only recall the one.

Thanks a bunch!

SingsIrish

Subject: RE: Shut the door their coming through the window
From: Bert
Date: 07 May 99 - 12:26 PM

Wow! Billy Cotton used to sing a version of that.

Close the door, they're coming through the window
Close the door, they're coming up the stairs
Close the door, they're hanging from the ceiling
Those "Booma de booma de boom" are everywhere.

Don't remember any more verses though
Something about ...grabbed a cricket bat...said take that, take that...

It was a long time ago about 1948 I think.

Bert.

Subject: RE:Shut the door they're coming through the window
From: SingsIrish Songs
Date: 07 May 99 - 02:52 PM

That sounds like a very funny version.

And a good friend of mine pointed out my horrible grammatical error! "their coming..." DOH! And to think I was an English major! My excuse...I was posting at almost midnight my time after a Guinness and a glass of wine (with a late dinner)..........no more needs to be said. LOL

SingsIrish

Subject: RE: Shut the door their coming through the window
From: Bert
Date: 07 May 99 - 02:54 PM

Ah! Guinness the only excuse that I would accept.

Subject: RE: Shut the door their coming through the window
From: The Shambles
Date: 08 May 99 - 06:22 AM

WAKEY, WAKEY!!!!!

Subject: RE: Shut the door their coming through the window
From: Bert
Date: 12 May 99 - 09:23 AM

Shambles,

I'm glad I'm not the only one here that's old enough to remember Billy Cotton.

What an amazing man he was. It wasn't really folk music though he used many folk tunes and old tunes. He practically invented Rap "Down in the jungle...". The most important thing though was that he made music 'so much fun'.

Perhaps someone should start a Billy Cotton thread.

Bert

Subject: RE: Shut the door their coming through the window
From: GUEST,Roll&Go-C
Date: 23 Feb 01 - 07:54 PM

Curious if anyone has come up with the verses to the novelty song "Close the Doors, They're Coming in the Windows" which I also remember hearing on the radio, or with the verses to "The Flying Purple People Eater." Elusive songs, so it seems, but someone must know them; I have examined the old DT threads on these.

Subject: RE: Shut the door their coming through the window
From: SINSULL
Date: 23 Feb 01 - 08:02 PM

I remember this song. My Dad used to sing it. thank you for reminding me. "The Purple People Eater" was covered on another thread, I think. If not I may still have the 45rpm. My favorite line:
Mr. Purple People Eater what's your line?
I see your eatin' purple people and it sure is fine" He was here to get a job in a rock 'n roll band.

Subject: Lyr Add: PURPLE PEOPLE EATER (Sheb Wooley)
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Feb 01 - 08:09 PM

-the # 24 song of the 1955-1959 rock era
-was # 1 for 6 weeks in 1958
NOTE:< words of the PPE> highly reminiscent of the Chipmunks' "voices"


THE PURPLE PEOPLE EATER
Words and music by Sheb Wooley
As recorded by Sheb Wooley, 1958.

Well, I saw the thing comin' out of the sky.
It had the one long horn, one big eye.
I commenced to shakin' and I said: "Ooh-eee!
It looks like a purple eater to me."

It was a one-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eater
(One-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eater)
A one-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eater
Sure looks strange to me. (One eye?)

Well he came down to earth and he lit in a tree.
I said: "Mr. Purple People Eater, don't eat me."
I heard him say in a voice so gruff:
"I wouldn't eat you 'cause you're so tough."

It was a one-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eater
One-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eater
One-eyed, one-horned, flyin' purple people eater
Sure looks strange to me, (One horn?)

I said: "Mr. Purple People Eater, what's your line?"
He said: "Eatin' purple people and it sure is fine,
But that's not the reason that I came to land.
I wanna get a job in a rock-and-roll band."

Well bless my soul, rock and roll, flyin' purple people eater
Pigeon-toed, undergrowed, flyin' purple people eater
(We wear short shorts) friendly little people eater
What a sight to see!

And then he swung from the tree and he lit on the ground.
And he started to rock, really rockin' around.
It was a crazy ditty with a swingin' tune:
"Sing a bop bap aloopa lappa loom bam boom."

Well bless my soul, rock and roll, flyin' purple people eater
Pigeon-toed, undergrowed, flyin' purple people eater
(I like short shorts) Flyin' little people eater
What a sight to see. (Purple People?)

And then he went on his way, and then what do ya know?
I saw him last night on a TV show.
He was blowing it out, a-really knockin' 'em dead,
Playin' rock-and-roll music through the horn in his head.

[clarinet solo]

(Tequila!)

Subject: RE: Shut the door their coming through the window
From: GUEST,Roll&Go-C
Date: 23 Feb 01 - 08:48 PM

Thanks, Kat. You are one awesome researcher. How about trying "The Giant Cow Song" thread which I believe is known as "Pass the Other Udder".

Subject: RE: Shut the door their coming through the window
From: Sorcha
Date: 23 Feb 01 - 09:00 PM

omigawd.........this dates me badly. I remember The Purple People Eater........but not They're coming through the windows........would that be the Boogie Men, then? omigawd.........I don't suppose we could includ Gypsy Rose Lee floatin' down the river with her belly button winkin' at the moon, here, could we? aaaarrrggghh.

Subject: RE: Shut the door they're coming through the window
From: Wusie
Date: 09 Dec 04 - 04:04 AM

This seems to be a pretty old thread, but I really want to find the whole thing....wot I CAN remamber is :
Close the door, they're coming through the window,
Close the door, they're coming up the stair,
Close the door, they,re (coming through the window....maybe)
Those (sound like chickens) are everywhere.
then there's a bit about grabbing a cricket bat + the singer sez....
The more + more I knocked them down,
The more they multiplied.
Please help. I cannot sleep.
I believe Eccles may have sung of them at some point also.

Subject: RE: Shut the door they're coming through the window
From: Jeanie
Date: 09 Dec 04 - 04:33 AM

Goodness, I'd forgotten all about this song ! From a google search, a recording of it by Billy Cotton & Band is available on a compilation CD "The Unforgettable Collection" issued February 2002 and available through Amazon.

Seeing Shambles' and Bert's comments about Billy Cotton earlier on this thread, I agree: his radio and TV shows were very much a part of my earliest music memories as a kid in the 50s.

You might like to know that Billy Cotton's trumpeter, Alf Reece, is very much alive, well and still going out teaching trumpet, living in the block of retirement flats where my mum lives.

- jeanie

Subject: Lyr Add: SHUT THE DOOR (Mann/Ives/Kern/Howard)
From: Brian Hoskin
Date: 09 Dec 04 - 05:23 AM

Here's a version, posted here


SHUT THE DOOR
(Mann / Ives / Kern / Howard)

I know a certain fellow By the name of Joe Devine,
He started seeing funny things From drinkin' too much wine;
Around his bed pink elephants And zebras played about,
A purple monkey kissed him twice And he began to shout:

CHORUS: Shut the door! They're coming through the window!
Shut the window! They're coming through the door!
Shut the door! They're coming through the window!
Oh! the room is full And won't hold any more!

A man lived in Vancouver, In a cottage by the sea,
One night he called the sheriff up And said "They're robbing me!
There's twenty crooks around the house, Please tell me what to do!"
The sheriff said, "Don't let 'em in, That's my advice to you!" CHORUS

A dad-to-be was waiting For the stork to bring an heir,
Out came the nurse who said "Two storks Have just brought you a pair!
Oh, wait! There's more storks circling 'round, I think they're gonna light!
Looks like those storks are gonna be Kept busy here tonight!" CHORUS

My wife went in for rabbits And she kept them in a hutch.
She only bought two rabbits And it didn't seem like much;
One morning when we looked at them, Oh, how they'd multiplied!
A million rabbits hopped right out And all the neighbors cried: CHORUS

The first week we were married, My dear wife said to me,
"I'm feeling kind of lonesome For my darling family.
Can we invite them for awhile, Since we've got room to spare?"
They eat me out of house and home, They're getting in my hair! CHORUS

Subject: RE: Shut the door they're coming through the window
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 09 Dec 04 - 05:27 AM

"Hey you -- you down there with the glasses!"

Ah, fond memories ... Sunday lunch just isn't the same today.

Jeanie, I remember Alan Breeze as BC's trumpet player, but not Alf Reece. I know Cotton & Breezy fell out and went their separate ways in the end. (I wonder if Mudcatter Breezy could be ... nah!)

You know, I never understood why an American airman would stop by to talk to him. Must be what Tommy Handley called "YTYTK": "you're too young to know"!

Steve

Subject: RE: Shut the door they're coming through the window
From: GUEST,Mingulay
Date: 09 Dec 04 - 05:49 AM

Alan Breeze was the singer with Billy Cotton's band, not the trumpet player. Sunday lunchtimes, Family Favourites, Billy Cotton Bandshow, Round the Horne, The Navy Lark etc.

"Can I do you now Sir?".

Subject: RE: Shut the door they're coming through the window
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 09 Dec 04 - 09:51 AM

Yes, AB sang with the band, but he was also the leading trumpeter. I don't remember Mrs Mopp, btw, as I really am a bit too young for ITMA.

Subject: RE: Shut the door they're coming through the window
From: GUEST,ClaireBear
Date: 09 Dec 04 - 02:25 PM

Recording 4611 on Brunswick Records, 1929 or 1930 according to the Web site I found this on (www.vitaphone.org), had Sergeant Flagg and Sergeant Quirt on one side and Shut the Door (they're coming through the window) on the other. The artists were Billy Murray & Walter Scanlan.

This song was popular in my family, where for a long time we had only 78rpm playback capability. We also had '20s 78rpm recordings of "Barney Google" and "Yes, We Have No Bananas," so "Shut the Door" would have fit right into the collection. I'm not sure this is the recording we had, mind you, but it's a good guess.

I think the version we liked had a different last line, though; it went "Never mind! They're coming through the floor!"

There's always the possibility that these alternate words were just from my father's sung version; he loved to sing this stuff, and he had just that sort of sense of humor -- and I was too young at the time to be able to remember accurately now whose voice sang "Never mind!"

I'm afraid I don't remember anything else about the recording. Anyone else remember it?

Subject: RE: Shut the door they're coming through the window
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 09 Dec 04 - 04:07 PM

A few remarks about the "Purple People Eater" transcription:

This song is a thingy -- homage? pastiche? It contains titles/first lines to several of the popular songs of that day. "SO Tough" was one. "Who Wears Short Shorts" is another (and should be the line in the chorus following "I wanna get a job in a rock an' roll band." The next chorus should have the "We wear..." line; some time later--perhaps during or leading into an instrumental break-- the Purple People Eater's voice says "I like short shorts".) In the verse that starts "Then he swung from the tree..." the last line should read (sing) "Singin' bopbop aloopa boppalop bam boom", which xome of you older American 'Catters will recognize as the opening line to "TUTTI FRUITI"!! Ya had tuh be deah. circa 1956-58.

How soon they forget!    Tw

Subject: RE: Shut the door they're coming through the window
From: Cool Beans
Date: 09 Dec 04 - 04:20 PM

And "Get A Job" was the title of a Number One hit in the USA in 1958!

Subject: RE: Shut the door they're coming through the window
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 09 Dec 04 - 04:36 PM

Steve, I used to watch the Billy Cotton Band Show every Saturday night, and I have no recollection whatsoever of Alan Breeze playing trumpet. Methinks your memory may be playing tricks on you.

I can still hear Alan Breeze's voice however, if I close my eyes ...

Subject: RE: Shut the door they're coming through the window
From: cobber
Date: 09 Dec 04 - 10:10 PM

I lived in England till age fourteen and Billy Cotton was a big part of my childhood, so much that I can even remember a verse of "Close the door" Here it is:

I was watering the garden on my window sill
And then I saw them coming over yonder hill
There must have been a million of every shape and size
And so I yelled to everybody, "Hurry! Get inside"

Strewth that's forty five years ago!

Subject: RE: Shut the door they're coming through the window
From: Wusie
Date: 09 Dec 04 - 11:32 PM

Cobber seems to be on the track of the version I'm looking for..bit by bit I'm getting the thing...

Subject: RE: Shut the door they're coming through the window
From: JennieG
Date: 10 Dec 04 - 12:20 AM

My mother used to sing "Shut the door" when my brothers and I were kids, I never knew it was a real song. I thought it was something she made up. She was born in 1924 so it's probably something from her own childhood, but I can't ask her now as she died 5 years ago.

I love Mudcat - someone always knows the answer!

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: Shut the door they're coming through the window
From: Bert
Date: 10 Dec 04 - 12:29 AM

Jeanie,

Tell yer mum to pop round the corner and ask him for the words.

Subject: RE: Shut the door they're coming through the window
From: clueless don
Date: 10 Dec 04 - 09:13 AM

I can't resist adding to this thread. I must have been exposed to this song ("Shut the Door ...") when I was a small boy (in Washington DC, USA), because all of my life I have been singing the following poorly remembered version:

Shut the door, they're going through the window
Shut the door, they're going through the door
Shut the door, they're going through the window
I wish I only had one door!

The folk process in action!

Don

Subject: RE: Shut the door they're coming through the windo
From: Charley Noble
Date: 10 Dec 04 - 09:23 AM

Looks like we're closing in on the full version of "Close the Doors" as well. With a little luck it should soon be an "open and shut" case.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble, aka Guest Roll & Go-c back in 2001

Subject: RE: LyrShut the door they're coming through the window
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 13 Dec 04 - 09:20 AM

Sam McGee sings SHUT THE DOOR on the album "Greats of Classic Country, Vol. 1," Grand Avenue CD #7004, 1999. The recordings on this album were made in the 1960s or 70s, near the end of his long career. The album credits McGee as the composer. I transcribed these few lines from a sound sample:

...sheriff up one night and says "They're robbin' me.
Twenty crooks outside my house. Please tell me what to do."
"Don't let them in," cried the sheriff. "That's my advice to you."

CHORUS: Oh, shut the door; they come in through the window.
Shut the window; they come in through the door....

This seems to make the meaning clearer: "If you shut the door, then they come in through the window, etc."

Subject: RE: LyrShut the door they're coming through the window
From: pavane
Date: 13 Dec 04 - 09:35 AM

Think it should be Beyond Our Ken, not the later Round the Horne (Much the same cast though).

I preferred Beyond Our Ken, but I don't know if much of it survives, though there are plenty of Round The Horne recordings.

Subject: RE: LyrShut the door they're coming through the window
From: Flash Company
Date: 13 Dec 04 - 10:21 AM

Cobber, that verse is definitely the Billy Cotton version, but it's all I can remember as well. The same era produced 'Two little men in a Flying Saucer' and 'Sweet Violets'.
Pavane, did you know they have made a stage version of 'Round the Horne' called 'Round the Horne-revisited'
It was compiled from old scripts with some new material by the last surviving member of the script-writing team. I've not seen it yet, but it had good crits. It's on at the Lowry in Salford Quays at the moment, I'll report when I've been me dearios!

Rambling Sid Flash Company

Subject: RE: LyrShut the door they're coming through the window
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 13 Dec 04 - 05:55 PM

Back in the early 1960s, a local Aussie country town radio station played this song - can;t remember what version - but it seemed to be about pests (folk singers? - no!) like some insects - seem to remember songs like 'purple people eater' etc at that time, The station played lots of 'top 40' stuff, that today might be called 'easy listening' with a fair amount of 'country music' as it then existed , especially Aussie artists like Slim Dusty.

Subject: RE: LyrShut the door they're coming through the window
From: pavane
Date: 14 Dec 04 - 03:03 AM

Oi think the answer loies in the SOIL

Subject: Lyr Add: CLOSE THE DOOR! (THEY'RE COMIN' IN THE...
From: Neighmond
Date: 14 Dec 04 - 03:10 AM

We used to listen to this on the old wind-up talking machine. Here is my best recolloection of how it went:

I was waterin' the flowers, on my window sills,
When I saw them comin', over yonder hills...
Why, there must have been a Million, of every shape and size!
So I yell to everyone "You'd better get inside!"

Chorus:
Close the door! They're comin' in the window,
Close the door! They're comin' up the stair!
Close the door! They're comin' in the window!
Them (rattle a can of dry peas in this rhythm: CHA-cha-ch, CHA-cha-cha, CHA-cha-cha, CHA) are everywhere!

Well they got into the kitchen, they got into the sink!
The went down in the cellar...and pourd themselves a drink!
They got on the piana, ran up and down the keys,
Soon I was a'standin' in them, right up to my knees!

Chorus

Well I went into the playroom, grabbed a baseball bat,
And every time I saw one, well, I gave 'em this an' that!
But it nearly drove me wild, it had me mystified...
The more an' more I knocked 'em down, the more they multiplied!

Chorus

Now that all the fus is over, I sink into my chair!
The house is all a'shambles, but really, I don't care!
I'm goin' to take her easy, try an' not to think of them
(rattle the can as in the chorus), Oh! Here they come again!

Chorus



Happy singing.

Chaz

Subject: RE: LyrShut the door they're coming through the window
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 14 Dec 04 - 07:16 AM

Chaz - that seems not too far from it - as much as I can remember...

The
'Them (rattle a can of dry peas in this rhythm: CHA-cha-ch, CHA-cha-cha, CHA-cha-cha, CHA) are everywhere!'
line springs back to mind!

One of a long line of 'traditional' songs where the tradition is to replace a meaningful word with an ambiguous sound which the fertile imagination renders far more impressive!

Subject: RE: LyrShut the door they're coming through the window
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 16 Dec 04 - 11:28 PM

This site claims to have an mp3 file of SHUT THE DOOR (THEY'RE COMING THROUGH THE WINDOW) by Billy Murray and Walter Scanlan, from 1929—but you have to be a registered member to download it.

This page advertises a cassette by Lulu Belle & Scotty that contains the song.

This page says it was recorded by The Buffalo Bills. (They seem to be a barbershop group.)

Subject: "Shut the Door, They're Coming Through the Window"
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 12:45 PM

Composed by Richard Howard, released in 1955. It uses rubber Goo-Goo Dolls for the sound effect, which were a big fad at the time after being popularized by Steve Allen.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shut the Door (They're Coming through...)
From: Joybell
Date: 28 Dec 04 - 04:45 PM

At senior citizens gatherings we've started singing, with audience help, these novelty songs from the past. I hold up placards with lines like, "He wears short shorts" at the appropriate time.
Funny! when we began entertaining older people they were actually older! (than us). Always knew this day would come!
Thanks for this one. I'd forgotten all about it. Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shut the Door (They're Coming through...)
From: GUEST,Robert Jones
Date: 29 May 05 - 11:19 AM

I am having great trouble in finding a copy of it on CD, any were on the net. Any idea where I cna either buy a copy of it or download it?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shut the Door (They're Coming through...)
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 21 Mar 09 - 06:33 PM

Wish I knew. My mother (born 1909) used to sing it around the house in the 1940s. Her version didn't have anything to do with rabbits, I think, but all I remember now is the refrain.

Thought it worthwhile to resurrect this thread to see if DT 2009 can succeed in coming up with it.

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shut the Door (They're Coming through...)
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 22 Mar 09 - 02:59 PM

Subject: RE: Shut the door they're coming through the window
From: Steve Parkes - PM
Date: 09 Dec 04 - 09:51 AM

Yes, AB sang with the band, but he was also the leading trumpeter


Just for the record, I have established definitively, through correspondence with his daughter Olivia, that Alan Breeze did NOT play the trumpet. Ever.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shut the Door (They're Coming through...)
From: GUEST,Mark
Date: 30 Apr 09 - 04:49 AM

I remember we had an old 78 of this song. When I was a kid (late 50's/early 60's) we used to play it on a wind up gramaphone. Sadly the 78 is long gone, but a lot of the words and tune stick in my mind. Other favourites included 'The Laughing Policeman' which was about the same era.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shut the Door (They're Coming through...)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 01 May 09 - 12:48 PM

WorldCat.org lists a musical score described thus:

THE SERGEANT MAJOR'S SERENADE: SHUT THE DOOR IT'S COMING THROUGH THE WINDOW
Written and composed by Reg Morgan, Charles Chester & Desmond O'Connor.
New Zealand: Charles Begg, ©1943.
Published by arrangement with the Victory Music Publishing Co., London.

However, other sources give the title as SHUT THE DOOR (THEY'RE COMING THROUGH THE WINDOW), and say the song was written by Billy Mann, Wally Ives, Dick Howard & Jimmy Kern. The Library of congress Catalog of Copyright Entries gives a copyright date of 1934.

78-rpm records:

Macey and Smalle, SHUT THE DOOR (THEY'RE COMING THROUGH THE WINDOW), Champion 15849, Gennett 7001, Supertone 9548; 1929.

The Happy Gang, SHUT THE DOOR! (THEY'RE COMIN' THROUGH THE WINDOW) Bluebird [19--]

Billy Murray & Walter Scanlan, SHUT THE DOOR (THEY'RE COMING THROUGH THE WINDOW) Brunswick 4611, 1929.

LPs:

Red Fox and his Ding Dong Daddies, "Red Fox and his Ding Dong Daddies," C.P. MacGregor, 194-.

Ames Brothers, "The Ames Brothers Sing Knees Up Mother Brown and Other Funny Songs" Epic, 1963.

Buffalo Bills, "Shut the Door! They're Coming through the Window" RCA Victor, 1965.

Lula Belle and Scotty, "Tender memories recalled. Vol. III, Comedy songs of Lula Belle and Scotty" Mar-Lu Records, 1990.

CDs:

Various artists, "Fasten Your Seatbelts! For More Than 60 Years of Vintage Canadian Audio" CBC Audio, 2003.

Billy Cotton, "Silly Songs (1922 to 1934)," ABC CD #836169, 1992.

Sam McGee, "Greats of Classic Country, Vol. 1," Grand Avenue CD #7004, 1999.

Sam & Kirk McGee, "Sam & Kirk McGee Live, 1955-1967: Outstanding in Their Field" Spring Fed Records #103, 2008.

(Amazon.com has the last 3.)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shut the Door (They're Coming through...)
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Jul 09 - 09:21 PM

Chaz has it right as I remember it from the 50's; except the sound was more like a loud hiccup, repeated twice. Maybe that's the goo-goo doll sound someone mentioned. Thanks- I only remembered bits and pieces, and I'd been wishing I had the complete lyrics for years.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shut the Door (They're Coming through...)
From: banjoman
Date: 13 Jul 09 - 11:23 AM

I mremember going to see the Billy Cotton Band Show at the Empire in Liverpool in either the late fifties or early sixties? A great show which ended with a snowball fight between the band and the audience - paper balls provided - and I seem to recall that Alan Breeze played rythm banjo in the band - but als time dims the memory and I could be wrong

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shut the Door (They're Coming through...)
From: goatfell
Date: 14 Jul 09 - 04:51 AM

it was also recored by a group called the stargazers over here in BRITIAN.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shut the Door (They're Coming through...)
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 09 Aug 09 - 09:38 PM

Wow! What a trip down memory lane. I remember the song, but none of the background some of you have filled in. I like looking back and ocmparing today's music to the time we're discussing "when lyrics had meaning!" Like "ouu-ee-ouu-ah-ah, ting, tang, walla walla bing bang!"
There were others I thought great at the time, like "Manyana" and "Does your chewing gum lose it's flavor on the bedpost overnight?" Arthur Godfrey used to play htis one on his morning radio show. I don't know if this was the title of it, but the pyrics started: "Lay that pistol down, Ma, Lay that pistol down..." And who can forget "There was an old woman who swallowed a fly!"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shut the Door (They're Coming through...)
From: Snuffy
Date: 10 Aug 09 - 03:44 AM

Ah yes, Pistol Packin' Mama. But do you remember Rowntrees hi-jacking it for an advert for their Fruit Pastilles and turning it into Pastille Pickin' Mama?

Subject: Lyr Add: CLOSE THE DOOR (Ebb, Klein)
From: SINSULL
Date: 10 Oct 09 - 01:28 PM

CLOSE THE DOOR
(Written by Ebb / Klein)
The Stargazers - 1955


NV = Novelty Voice
SV = Solo Voice
GR = Group Voices

NV: Bah-dah-bah-dah-bah-dah
SV: Look out!
NV: Bah-dah-bah-dah-bah-dah
GR: Close the door, they're comin' through the window
Close the door, they're runnin' up the stairs
Close the door, They're hangin' off the ceiling
Those (NV: Bah-dah-bah-dah-bah-dah) are everywhere

GR: He was watering the flowers by the window sill
And then he saw them comin' over yonder hill
SV: Why, there must have been a million of every shape and size
And so I yelled to everyone, "You'd better get inside"

GR: Close the door, they're comin' through the window
Close the door, they're runnin' up the stairs
Close the door, They're hangin' off the ceiling
Those (NV: Bah-dah-bah-dah-bah-dah) are everywhere

GR: He ran into the playroom, grabbed a cricket bat
And every time he met one, he gave him this and that
SV: That's how it drove me crazy and had me mystified
The more and more I knocked 'em down, the more they multiplied

GR: Close the door, they're comin' through the window
Close the door, they're runnin' up the stairs
Close the door, They're hangin' off the ceiling
Those (NV: Bah-dah-bah-dah-bah-dah) are everywhere

GR: They got into the kitchen, they got into the sink
They went into the cellar and poured themselves a drink
SV: They got on the piano, ran up and down the keys
And soon I was a-standin' in 'em right up to me knees

GR: Close the door, they're comin' through the window
Close the door, they're runnin' up the stairs
Close the door, They're hangin' off the ceiling
Those (NV: Bah-dah-bah-dah-bah-dah) are everywhere

GR: Now that all the fuss is over, I sink into my chair
This house is all a shambles, but really I don't care
SV: I'm going to take it easy, try not to think of them
(NV: Bah-dah-bah-dah-bah-dah-bah-dah) Here they come again!

GR: Close the door, they're comin' through the window
Close the door, they're runnin' up the stairs
Close the door, They're hangin' off the ceiling
Those (NV: Bah-dah-bah-dah-bah-dah) are everywhere

GR: Close the door, close the door
Those (NV: Bah-dah-bah-dah-bah-dah) are everywhere
(NV: Bah-dah)
Source(s):
http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/…

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shut the Door (They're Coming through...)
From: CapriUni
Date: 21 Jan 10 - 06:32 PM

Just stumbled onto this thread yesterday... I remember this song from an old 45 when I was a wee thing. (But it was the American version, with Baseball Bat instead of Cricket Bat. Other than that, it was just like Sinsull's version (and the site in her sources link seems to be down).

Anyway, I was wondering:

For those of you who remember the song, what do/did you imagine "They" look like?

...As a kid, I always imagined that they looked a bit like the Shmoo, of L'il Abner, but fuzzy, and brightly colored, like a Muppet.

... I also wonder if they were the inspiration for the Tribble of Star Trek.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shut the Door (They're Coming through
From: Charley Noble
Date: 21 Jan 10 - 09:56 PM

They were incredibly hideous and fierce!

And after hearing the song I didn't appear from under my blankets for over a week.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shut the Door (They're Coming through...)
From: CapriUni
Date: 22 Jan 10 - 03:36 PM

(Sending this into a second page)

Charlie Noble --

I wonder if the kind of "novelty sound effect" used for "Them" influenced the way people visualize the beasties.

Do "Dried peas, rattled in a can," for example, make "Them" seem fiercer than a honking bicycle horn, or a human voice making a silly sound?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shut the Door (They're Coming through...)
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Jan 14 - 05:35 AM

from Laurence joseph
I was 6 when I first heard shut the door Dad had a wind up gramophone and used to put on comedy 78s inc A Railroad runs through the middle of the house, My September love sung by the famous Eccles (Goon shows) Col Bloodknocks Rock and Rollcall Band. Dad had Flanders and Swan records, American comic Bob Newheart, Woody Allen, Bernard Cribbins, songs. inc; Gossip Callipso, Get Your Hair Cut, Right said Fred, Hole in the Ground,ect. the lyrics to shut the door as far as I can remember on dads version are as follows.

I was watering the flowers out on the window sill
when I spied them coming over yonder hill
there must have been a million of every shape and size
so I said to everyone...you'd better get in side.

chorus;
close the door they're coming through the window
close the door they're coming up the stairs
close the door they're hanging on the ceiling
those da da da da da da are everywhere

they got into the kitchen they got into the sink
they went down in the cellar and poured themselves a drink
they got up on the piano and ran up and down the keys
and soon I was a- standin' in em' right up to my knees

chorus;

I ran into the playroom and grabbed a cricket bat
and every time I saw one I gave him this and that
that's how they drove me crazy and got me mystified
the more and more I knocked them down the more they multiplied

chorus;

now that all the fuss is over I sink into my chair
the house is all a shambles but really I don't care
i'm going to take it easy, and not try to think of them...
da da da da da da da da.....here they come again

chorus;

by the way do you remember Dora Brian singing
all I want for Christmas is a Baetle
or Bernard Bresslaw song You need feet.
Petter Sellars   a record in the top twenty pops.
In the wrods of Spik Milligna the well known typing error
"well dats all folks...ITS ALL FREE "and don't forget..............
"You gotta go OW" SAY IT EVERY MORNING ,SAY IT EVERY NIGHT, SAY IT UNDER WATER, AND EVERY THINGS ALL RIGHT, YOU GOTTA GO OWWWWW ECT...ECCLES...ECT.

I hope that I have stirred up some interest in a bit of fun from the 20th comedy century greats.
Laurence Joseph (Joe)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shut the Door (They're Coming through...)
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 04 Jan 14 - 10:22 AM

My dad used to sing " ...they're creeping up the stairs..." not   "...they're coming down the stairs..." . Somehow, creeping was far more scary, and drove my sister and me to utter terror. When we refused to go to bed at night, my mum put her foot down and banned the song altogether. The funny voice going "durdle-der-der-der-der" was a bit like the voice of Pinky and Perky.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shut the Door (They're Coming through...)
From: GUEST,oldtimer
Date: 04 Jan 14 - 04:32 PM

That was why they "put the Doggie in the window ".& adds further to the untimely demise of "This old House " on which there were no "Shutters & Doors " --------on a day like to-day ---or any other day" We can wash the time away with love letters in the sand."
xxx

Subject: Lyr Add: SHUT THE DOOR (THEY'RE COMIN' THROUGH...)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 13 Aug 16 - 09:53 AM

From the sheet music at York University:


SHUT THE DOOR (THEY'RE COMIN' THROUGH THE WINDOW)
Words and music by I. Felix Austed
(New York: Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., Inc., ©1926.)

1. I know a certain feller by the name of Andy Gootch.
He went out and he drank up three quarts of home made hootch.
As he sat there on the curbstone what he said I couldn't tell.
I think it was a menagerie for I heard him loudly yell:

CHORUS: Shut the door they're comin' through the window.
Shut the window they're comin' through the door.
Shut the door they're comin' through the window.
Oh gosh, now they're comin' through the floor.

2. One night the boys were playing at a friendly game of crap,
When outside in the hallway there came a gentle rap.
In just about two seconds the place with cops was blue,
And as they hid beneath the chairs they sang this chorus through:

CHORUS, WITH LAST LINE: Oh gosh, all my money's on the floor.

3. Now Alawishus Murphy got married one fine day,
And far out in the country he went and moved away,
But ev'ry single weekend that one and only train
Would bring his wife's relations, then he'd sing this nice refrain:

CHORUS, WITH LAST LINE: Oh gosh, how I love my mother-in-law.

Subject: Lyr Add: SHUT THE DOOR, THEY'RE COMING THROUGH...
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 13 Aug 16 - 10:08 AM

The lyrics make more sense, in my opinion, when they're laid out as a dialog, thus:
(You can hear this version taken from a 78-rpm record, on YouTube.


SHUT THE DOOR, THEY'RE COMING THROUGH THE WINDOW
As recorded by Roy Fox and His Band (at the Kit-Cat Restaurant, London), 1934

[INTRO] Be careful of your conversation on the telephone,
For other people may hear things just meant for you alone.
The other night the wires were crossed, and though it sounds absurd,
Here's a little earful of the things we overheard:

[1] —Hello! Hello! Is this the sheriff's office?
—Yeah, this is the sheriff speakin'.

—Say, I live up in Wigan in a house down by the sea.
—Oh, you live up in Wigan? Well, why blame that on me?
—There are twenty crooks around the house, so, sheriff, I need you.
—Now don't you get excited and I'll tell you what to do.
—Yes. —Shut the door. —Ah, but they're coming through the window.
—Well, shut the window. —Now they're coming through the door.
—Well, shut the door. —Yes, but they're coming through the window.
Oh, the room is full; it won't hold any more.

[2] Now money's very hard to get and harder still to keep.
I had a dream, and in my dream, I won the Irish Sweep.
A million friends I never knew came crowding round my stair.
I asked my wife what I should do; she said: "Give them the air.
Shut the door." —Oh, they're coming through the window.
—Well, shut the window. —Now they're coming through the door.
—Shut the door.—Oh, they're coming through the window.
Oh, I never had so many friends before!

[In the following dialog, Mr. Gooch is showing obvious signs of impairment.]
[3] —Hello! Is this the menagerie?
—Yes.
—This is Andy Gooch.
—Did you say Gooch or Hootch?
—Say, don't get sarcasm!

My room is full of elephants; they're colored green and pink.
Also purple monkeys, and I cannot sleep a wink.
—I'd like to take them from you, but there's no room in the zoo.
—They're bringing their relations now, so what am I to do?
—Shut the door. —They're coming through the window.
—Well, shut the window. —They're coming through the door.
—Well, shut the door. —But they're coming through the window.
Look! Now they're coming right up through the floor.

[4] Is that you, Mister Jimlyboob(?)? I'm scared as I can be.
I knew this house was haunted; my ghost has company.
The place if full of ghostesses; they're creeping round about.
My ghost has thrown a party. —Well, why don't you throw them out?
And shut the door. —They're coming through the window.
—Well, shut the window. —They're coming through the door.
—Aw, shut the door. —They're coming through the window.
Ev'ry ghost, his wife and kids and ma-in-law.

Subject: Lyr Add: SHUT THE DOOR, THEY'RE COMING THROUGH,,,
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 13 Aug 16 - 07:22 PM

SHUT THE DOOR, THEY'RE COMING THROUGH THE WINDOW
As recorded by Billy Murray and Walter Scanlan, 1929.

[The intro, and first 2 verses are nearly the same as the intro and verses 1 and 3 of the Roy Fox version given above—except "Hackensack" is used instead of "Wigan." Then the following 2 verses are sung:]

[3] —Hello, Mister Newlywed? This is the doctor speaking.
—Ah, yes, yes, yes, doctor!

—I called you up to say a stork brought you a son and heir.
—Great! —Another stork brought you a girl. —Well, I don't mind a pair.
—I see more storks circling round, and think they're going to light.
—Oh, doc, do me a favor please! —I'll try with all my might.
—Say, shut the door. —Ah, but they're coming through the window.
—Well, shut the window. —Now they're coming in the door.
—Yes, but doctor, shut the door. —They're coming through the window.
Boy, you're in luck they only brought you four.

—Good night!

[4] Hello, Wall Street oh-oh-oh-oh?
—Yes, this is Takem and Skinnem, brokers.

—Say, you told me to tell all my friends to buy a certain stock.
I told 'em and they bought it, and now they're all in hock.
—Well, my advice to you, old man, is take it on the run.
—Gee, I'd like to, but they're all outside and each one has a gun.
—Well, shut the door. —Ah, but they're coming through the window.
—Yes? Well, shut the window. —Look! They're coming through the door.
—Ha! Well, shut the door. —Help! They're coming through the window.
[Both:] That's all there is; there isn't any more.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shut the Door (They're Coming through...)
From: CapriUni
Date: 17 Aug 16 - 12:31 PM

Thanks for these additions, Jim! They're great!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shut the Door (They're Coming through...)
From: Senoufou
Date: 17 Aug 16 - 01:03 PM

The Stargazers' version is on Youtube. I've just listened to it, and I reckon that's the one my father used to sing to us (until mum put a stop to it!)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Shut the Door (They're Coming through...)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 17 Aug 16 - 02:37 PM

How could I not know this song?

Subject: CLOSE THE DDOR SONG
From: GUEST,RJM
Date: 13 May 23 - 02:33 AM

was it about the cabbage white butterfly caterpillars invading our homes in the UK after eating all the green veg in the gardens. I do remember them in their millions on the Village vegetable gardens , on the cinema news reals too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDC6nHmXAuc
Jim Lowe, not Jez Lowe