Tune Req: There once was a lad called Aladdin...

Subject: Tune Req: There once was a lad called Aladdin...
From: SeaCanary
Date: 07 Feb 08 - 10:04 AM

Anyone know where I can find the melody for a song called Aladdin? I'm told it's English (probably West Country).

There once was a lad called Aladdin, who had a magic lamp;
He took it off a mat'lot who was two feet up a tramp.
He took it off a mat'lot, to see what he could get -
But he rubbed and he rubbed and he rubbed and he rubbed
And he ain't got bugger-all yet.

(Chorus 1)
Sing! Fa-la-la-la-la, fa-la-la-la-lee, sixteen annas one rupee,
Make her fast to a sycamore tree;
Cor, bugger, janner.

(Chorus 2)
You may pass, kiss my arse, make fast the dinghy.
You may pass, kiss my arse, make fast the dinghy.
And we'll all go back to Oggie-land, to Oggie-land, to Oggie-land,
Yes we'll all go back to Oggie-land,
Where they can't tell sugar from tissue-paper-tissue-paper-marmalade-or-jam.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: There once was a lad called Aladdin...
From: Snuffy
Date: 07 Feb 08 - 01:12 PM

It's been recorded by the shanty group Monkey's Orphan on their CD More Monkey Business!. The online notes say:

From the singing of an ex shipmate of Shanty Jack, G.L, in the Tugs in the 1970s. He said this version was sung in the Royal Marines, including the final shouted responses. The third verse Jack stole from another R.N. song and spliced it in to add a bit of length because he only got two verses from G.L. and every time he sang it people wanted more! Aladdin is possibly a derivative of the shanty "Pretoria" which was a South African song shanghaied by sailors. Cyril Tawney has a R.N. version in his book "Grey Funnel Lines."

Subject: RE: Tune Req: There once was a lad called Aladdin...
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 07 Feb 08 - 01:13 PM

Some lyrics were posted in this thread: CORNISH SONGS; at least 2 posts in the thread on lyrics, but no tune I think (well not quite true - there are some notes for the melody give in 2 posts by HergaKitty, but no proper notation).

Mick

Subject: RE: Tune Req: There once was a lad called Aladdin...
From: Teribus
Date: 07 Feb 08 - 02:08 PM

I know another verse to that given above:

The Sultan said to Aladdin, my palace you will paint
Aladdin like a big OD said no I effin' ain't
But he drew his one inch brush and a pot of black enamel
And he walloped it up the arsehole of the Sultan's favourite camel

Subject: RE: Tune Req: There once was a lad called Aladdin...
From: Snuffy
Date: 07 Feb 08 - 03:03 PM

That is the second verse in the Monkey's Orphan version. The third verse (which "Jack stole from another R.N. song") is the well-known "sexual drive of the camel" verse usually sung to the Eton Boating Song Tune.