Lyr Req: Jake the Peg (Rolf Harris)

Subject: Jake the Peg
From: mm
Date: 20 May 99 - 05:26 PM

Has anyone the words of this classic? I've started humming it, but apart from the verse

"And also I got popular ven came the time for cricket They used to roll my trousers up and use me for a wicket"

I can't remember a word of it. Who sang it?

And did anyone ever come up with the words to "I'm a rustical farmer"?

Subject: RE: Jake the Peg
From: Penny S.
Date: 20 May 99 - 05:28 PM

It was Rolf Harris, with a false leg in his pocket.

Subject: RE: Jake the Peg
From: Helen
Date: 23 May 99 - 08:40 AM

mm,

I only remember a bit of this song.

I'm Jake the Peg, (deedle-deedle-deedle dum) with my extra leg (deedle-deedle-deedle dum) Wherever I go through rain and snow The people always let me know He's Jake the Peg, (deedle-deedle-deedle dum) with his extra leg

I tried an internet search but I couldn't find the lyrics.

As a matter of fact it's a bit of an embarrassment to us in Oz-land to know that our country was known mainly for Rolf Harris for a very long time starting in the 60's. I recognise that he was very talented and he wrote some good songs, but still ...

Helen

Subject: Lyr Add: JAKE THE PEG (Rolf Harris, Frank Roosen)
From: Helen
Date: 23 May 99 - 08:52 AM

OK, I had a more lateral look (searched for Rolf Harris, found his own site and found the lyrics to his songs there)

Helen

http://www.rolfharris.com/lyrics/jake.html

I'm Jake the Peg, deedle eedle eedle um,
With my extra leg, deedle eedle eedle um.
Wherever I go through rain and snow,
The people always let me know:
There's Jake the Peg, deedle eedle eedle um,
With his extra leg, deedle eedle eedle um.

The day that I was born, oh boy, my father nearly died.
He couldn't get my nappies on, no matter how he tried,
'Cause I was born with an extra leg, and since that day begun,
I had to learn to stand on my own three feet,
Believe me that's no fun.

I'm Jake the peg, deedle eedle eedle um,
With my extra leg, deedle eedle eedle um,
Wherever I go through rain and snow,
The people always let me know:
There's Jake the Peg, deedle eedle eedle um,
With his extra leg, deedle eedle eedle um.

I had a dreadful childhood, really,
I s'pose I shouldn't moan,
Each time they had a three legged race,
I won it on my own.
And also I got popular,
When came the time for cricket,
They used to roll my trousers up,
And use me for the wicket.

I'm jake the peg, deedle eedle eedle um,
With my extra leg, deedle eedle eedle um.
Wherever I go through rain and snow,
The people always let me know:
There's Jake the Peg, deedle eedle eedle um,
With his extra leg, deedle eedle eedle um.

I was a dreadful scholar,
I found all the lessons hard,
The only thing I knew for sure was three feet make a yard.
To count to ten I used my fingers,
If I needed more,
By getting my shoes and socks of,
I could count to twenty-four.
(Pause...count: 1 2 3 4 5....) To twenty-five!

I'm jake the peg, deedle eedle eedle um,
With my extra leg, deedle eedle eedle um.
Whatever I did they said was false,
They said 'Quick march,' I did a quick waltz.
Then they shouted at me 'Put your best foot forward.'
'But which foot?' I said.
'It's very fine for you, you only got a choice of two, but me!

I'm jake the peg, deedle eedle eedle um,
With my extra leg, deedle eedle eedle um.

Song Info: Written and copyrighted by Rolf Harris and Frank Roosen, 1965. It is currently for sale as part of the "Definitive Rolf Harris" album which can be bought in our shop, or as part of the "Rolf Rules OK" album.

Subject: RE: Jake the Peg
From: Alex
Date: 23 May 99 - 10:34 PM

Rolf had a BBC tv show in the late 60s/early 70s and I remember his performance of "Jake". He wore a raincoat and the third leg was on his right controlled by the hand he stuck in the raincoat pocket. It was pretty funny and he is a talented fellow. He would also take a couple of buckets of paint and a very large canvass (20' tall by 30' wide) and create a very realistic backdrop (e.g an Australian desert scene) in about a minute. He would sling paint every whichway but it every one of them was great. Then he'd sing a serious Aussie song that fitted the theme. Helen, you don't have to be embarassed - he was a fine ambassador, talented entertainer and really showed the Aussie sense of humor. If not for Rolf, The Seekers and Olivia, we'd never have known what was happening in Australia, 'Course it took a Scotsman, Eric Bogle, to really make some serious statements on Australian culture.

Subject: RE: Jake the Peg
From: The_one_and_only_Dai
Date: 24 May 99 - 05:41 AM

He also invented the Stylophone - I once saw a guy busking in Covent Garden with one, playing it with his feet, behind his head, etc. etc. he didn't have a beard, though, nor did he do Stairway to Heaven.

Subject: RE: Jake the Peg
From: Sapper_RE
Date: 24 May 99 - 04:43 PM

He did'nt invent the stylophone, he just tried to make the ******* thing popular. Not one of his greatest achievments in my opinion, though I suppose someone will disagree with me. I must agree though, he is still a good entertainer! Bob

Subject: RE: Jake the Peg
From: Les B
Date: 24 May 99 - 11:27 PM

So what is (was ?) a stylophone ?

Subject: RE: Jake the Peg
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Nov 04 - 01:41 PM

Greetings,all: Can anyone send me the CHORDS to Rolf's 'Jake the Peg'?? Many thanks!! :-)

Subject: RE: Jake the Peg
From: NH Dave
Date: 29 Nov 04 - 04:00 PM

While in the beginning his art, singing, and songs were the main thing, as time went on, and I suppose as he became more well off, if you can ever use this term to describe a musician, he became best known for his work with kids. Sick kids, disabled kids, kids with terminal illness, and others not expected to get better. AFAIK, these efforts were what got him knighted to Sir Rolf, just proving that for all the antics, his heart was really in the right place.

Most of us forget that he originally came to England as a commercial artist, and began his singing career busking and/or singing around in gatherings of ex-pat and lonely young folks from Oz and New Zealand, where his songs brought a bit of home to them. I seem to remember Tie me Kangaroo Down as making it big in the US in the late 50's-early 60's, and it was great when I got to England and found him doing TV shows that were being broadcast in the south east part of England. I think they originated somewhere's in the Midlands, and were shot in what seemed to be an ex-auto showroom with its large set of windows opening onto the street level. As I recall, they were closed off with drapes, but Rolf would frequently open them and gallon cans of paint in one hand and a house painter's brush in the other, caricature great hordes of passersby looking into the studio at the show, from the back of the stage.

Dave

Subject: RE: Jake the Peg
From: NH Dave
Date: 29 Nov 04 - 04:17 PM

The URL for his site is now:

http://www.rolfharris.com/music/lyrics1.htm

DAve

Subject: RE: Jake the Peg
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 29 Nov 04 - 07:03 PM

Once many years ago he was doing a summer show in Lowestoft in Norfolk. He came to Holkham beach one Sunday and was mobbed by loads of kids, including myself, but he was friendly, and very patient.

I saw him many years later in pantomime at the Birmingham Hippodrome playing Baron Hardup in Dick Whittingdon. He was great, we had taken my son Ross to see the panto.

Nice guy with a personality.

Subject: RE: Jake the Peg
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 29 Nov 04 - 10:47 PM

I'm not sure chords really come into it - just the extra leg. Get the leg right and I don't think people will notice. Is there anywhere we can see this?

You can't help feeling Jake deserves his own morris team.

Subject: RE: Jake the Peg
From: GUEST,milk monitor
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 11:58 AM

I like Rolf and have fond memories of his shows in the 70's. It was great to see him wield a brush. Remember the Jake the Peg dance too well.

For some reason he was at a sponsored swim for The British Heart Foundation, that I took part in as a kid, at Crystal Palace Baths.He and Derek Guyler ( Potter from Please sir!) were the celebs at the swim, and he stood for an eternity signing our certificates and did a caricature of himself on each one. I think I'll whip it out for posterity reasons.

'Two Little Boys' made me cry though.

Subject: RE: Jake the Peg
From: Schantieman
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 12:45 PM

I have MET the man himself!

I was about ten at the time and my mother was working as a Production Assistant on his ITV show. I have his signature and a little cartoon he drew in my autugraph bokk. Maybe it'll be worth something one day?

Two Little Boys makes me cry too! I have been known to sing Jake as well. Maybe at the Christmas party....?


Steve

Subject: RE: Jake the Peg
From: webfolk
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 12:48 PM

two little boys makes me cry, such an awful song!

www.webfolk.net

Subject: RE: Jake the Peg
From: Greyeyes
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 03:00 PM

Milk Monitor, Rolf did a lot of swimming promotions. I believe he had been an international swimmer at schoolboy level, pretty impressive given the standard of swimming in Oz.

Subject: RE: Jake the Peg
From: GUEST,milk monitor
Date: 30 Nov 04 - 03:46 PM

Thanks greyeyes that explains it! Only took 28 years to find out why....there's always an answer.

Go on Schantieman, do it for Rolf! He does seem a genuinely nice guy. I kind of half remember a documentary about him a few years back, when he and his wife lived in a gorgeous house by the Thames. Unpretentious and homely.It may have since been flooded? She is an artist and they have been together forever.

This seems the right moment to own up to having an album of his on vinyl...stored elsewhere at the moment, but I think there is a track about a cat that he kept trying to lose and another about a leprecaun. They just don't write them like that anymore.

And I always hankered after a stylophone, but Santa never heard me. The advert for it would be on just after the Ronco Buttonmatic. Good days.

Subject: RE: Jake the Peg (Rolf Harris)
From: GUEST,Paul Burke
Date: 01 Dec 04 - 06:32 AM

Les B asked what a stylophone was- it was one of the earlier horrors that electronics inflicted on this poor suffering world. A simple oscillator (just 2 transistors) and about a dozen resistors connected to the keyboard. When you touched a key with the stylus (which was on a wire) it completed the circuit via one of the resistors, and a horrible squarewave squawky sound was emitted, the resistor chosen giving an approximately-sort-of-somewhere-in-the-scale frequency.

Subject: RE: Jake the Peg (Rolf Harris)
From: Shanghaiceltic
Date: 01 Dec 04 - 06:40 PM

Was always nicking my dad's hardboard to make wobble boards.

Subject: RE: Jake the Peg (Rolf Harris)
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 02 Dec 04 - 08:40 AM

Real cheap kiddies electronics momophonic keyboards are similar to the Stylophone with a keyboard, the next less cheap allow you to change a couple of voices.

Robin

Subject: RE: Jake the Peg (Rolf Harris)
From: Juan P-B
Date: 02 Dec 04 - 07:21 PM

David Bowie used a stylophone on "Space Oddity" to good effect.

I have MC'd a couple of Rolf Harris's festival spots here in the south and I can tell you he is a total gentleman - As long as there are people wanting things signed he'll stay and chat (sometimes until after midnight with his showbiz pals keeping the punters entertained while they wait - There always seems to be a forest of 'old pals' come along to his gigs.

I've also watched him with kiddies and every child gets his undivided attention for as long as the chat takes - believe me when I say that there could be a hundred people in the room but for that child there is only him/her and Rolf

My daughter interviewed him for Folk On Tap magazine when she was 12 and he treated her as if she was a fully fledged journalist and gave her a fabulous interview and thanked HER for her time.

I can honestly say that with Mr H 'what you see (on the telly) is what you get (live)' - A REAL hero

Juan P-B

Subject: RE: Jake the Peg (Rolf Harris)
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 02 Dec 04 - 07:26 PM

His accordion exploded into flames once, and then he played it... in a previous thread here...

Subject: RE: Jake the Peg (Rolf Harris)
From: NH Dave
Date: 02 Dec 04 - 07:41 PM

He tells this tale on himself, when he was doing one of those shows where a guest would do a song and he'd whip out a cartoon on a huge pad of paper he'd tacked up towards the back of the set.

When it was his time to sing, he launched into Two Little Boys, but when he got aling a bit he began hearing the odd titter or chuckle, in places when there should have been only respectful silence. He gutted it out and turned round to bring the next guest forward, only to observe that one of his guests, an artist in his own right, had drawn that now-familiar cartoon showing two kids in diapers, each with the front of his diaper pulled forwards, gazing down his front at his plumbing.

    Dave

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jake the Peg (Rolf Harris)
From: GUEST,Frank Roosen
Date: 18 Mar 06 - 06:16 PM

Somebody thought that the right hand moved the third leg, but I am pretty sure it could not have been, because when Rolf was counting all his fingers and toes I am sure he had all his fingers showing.
What realy amased me was that when he came to 20, he said, and I am positive, he said 'twintig', and I think that is Dutch !

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jake the Peg (Rolf Harris)
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 19 Mar 06 - 02:40 PM

If I'm not mistaken, and I frequently am, he also was an Aussie Olympic swimmer in the 1952 or '56 Olympics.
I think he was a fine accordion player too.
One of my favorite all-time entertainers.

Seamu

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jake the Peg (Rolf Harris)
From: Rasener
Date: 19 Mar 06 - 03:13 PM

Twintig is Dutch and it means twenty (surprise surprise)
How do I know - why because I speak Dutch and my wife is Dutch - so it must be right :-)

But why did he say that?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jake the Peg (Rolf Harris)
From: GUEST,mick
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 06:47 AM

the allure of the song - what made the performance so funny at the time - was the fact that Rolf sang it in a French accent . Jake was a Frenchman -the extra leg had certain gallic phallic conotations to it . Everything funny in Britain in the sixties had to be at least a little dirty - or as Frankie Howard would say "common".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jake the Peg (Rolf Harris)
From: Schantieman
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 11:52 AM

I thought it was 'mittel-european' rather than French or Dutch.

And, yes, according to my mum, who's still in touch with him, he is a very nice man.

Steve