Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?

Subject: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Ewan McVicar
Date: 28 Jun 99 - 12:20 PM

Here's another one I believe to be pretty exclusively Scottish, but I'd be content to be proved wrong. For a start, Ken Dodd sang it the other night on TV, clearly expecting his Scouser audience to know the next - rude line.
I have collected many variants.
Most usual first line is
Aunty Mary had a canary, up the leg of her drawers
But older versions have
Aunty Mary had a canary, whistled the Cock of the North
or even
Barnum and Bailey had a canary
The tune I've almost invariably found used is indeed The Cock of the North.
After the first line things go many ways. In older versions the Canary wins the Victoria Cross for noble or rude deeds. Santa Claus sometimes falls into the act. Peeing and farting abounds in versions I have.
What I now seek is - if you are not Scots, what version do you have of the song, and when and where did you hear it? Has it travelled to the USA? (I have one version from Australia, from Scots emigres.)
Please help me.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Doctor John
Date: 28 Jun 99 - 03:32 PM

Yes I heard the "Aunty Mary had a canary up the leg of her drawers, when she f...etc" on the streets forty years ago in South Lancashire. It began:

"We keep hens in our back yard we feed 'em on Indian corn,
One's a bugger for raggin' the other and that's how they were born."

We used to dance to the tune at the village hall and sing the words after too much Tetleys.
DrJohn

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 28 Jun 99 - 06:36 PM

G'day Ewan,

Here in Australia, I seem to have always known (and therefore probably learned from my ex-Lancashire Grandfather, who was in the Australian Army in both World Wars) a version that ran:

Aunty Mary had a canary,
Up the leg of her drawers.
For 'oors and 'oors, it cursed the Boers
And won the Victoria Cross.

When we we putting together a set of dance tunes for the Bush Music Club (in the 1970s) a Scouser lass, married to a local fiddler, was helping and she half-remembered another variant. This was probably:

Aunty Mary had a canary,
Up the leg of her drawers.
When it came down, it's beak was brown
And it said "I'm the Cock of the North".

but she didn't remember the last line and none of us could remember the name of the the tune we used at a certain point - so it was published as "Aunty Mary" ... which is now a common Australian synonym for Cock of the North.

Incidentally, this song must be slightly related to one (obviously to Comin' Thro' the Rye) that ended up in the first Australian Scout Songbook, which my father worked on.

Sister Mary bought a canary
From the butcher boy
Sister Mary bought a canary
It was her pride and joy
But the bird would never whistle
And she wondered why;
'Till she saw the sparrow's feathers
Comin' thro' the dye

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Murray on Salt Spring
Date: 29 Jun 99 - 03:01 AM

Rwan, you'll have seen the version in Barke's essay on "pornography & Bawdry in Literature and Society" [a very pompous title, that!] in the Smith-Barke-Ferguson edition of The Merry Muses of Caledonia (1959 etc.), which is the same as Bob's above. The "Barnum & Bailey" version is in Nicht at Eenie (1932), 33, with music, whence Montgomerie, Scottish Nursery Rhymes (1946), 95.[This has no mention of unmentionables.] Nicht at Eenie has another, ibid., which may be the original of that one, namely

"Sister Mary had a canary
Whustled "The Cock o' the North."
It whustled for hoors & frightened the Booers,
And won the Victoria Cross.

A long time since I heard just a fragment of what may be another version,:-

"Auntie Mary had a canary
Up the leg o' her breeks"
[Leslie, Fife, circa 1940 maybe].

But I don't see what the ensuing rhyme would be.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Ewan McVicar
Date: 29 Jun 99 - 05:22 AM

I am developing a theory that the most efficient way of collecting folklore is to use the Net.

First three responses are all gold dust.

Doctor John – you and Bob Bolton both locate versions in Lancashire, suggesting a drift south from Scotland. Plus, is 'oor' for hour Lancashire pronunciation? [I assume it is, but know not. If so, how much further south would such a pronunciation run, think you?]

Was your (great) quoted verse to the first strain of the tune, or to the same strain as Aunty Mary? (I had by the way an initial image of dancehall teabag abuse, then recollected other brown liquids.)

Bob – thank you for two new variant lines – 'cursed' instead of 'frightened', and the "When it came down" line. Incidentally, which version of the song known is maybe a fair indication in some areas of when the pronunciation shift from Boer (boor) to Boer (bore) happened. Maybe.

Your Sister Mary song is brilliant as a possible source [or indicator of shared origin] for the fist line of Aunty Mary.

Murray – I know the Nicht at Eeenie and Montgomerie sources, [since music in both is by the same hand, I wonder if the Montgomeries had a hand in Nicht at Eenie?] but not the Barke one – thanks for that. Aunty Mary is in JRR Ritchie, but I've not found her in the Opies or Frank Shaw's You Know Me Aunty Nellie? She turns up in Scottish single person recollections a lot.

I'd assumed from Nicht at Eeenie's version that Sister Mary was a nurse in the Boer War, but as always in this game the more information I get the less I know for sure.

Most likely rhyme for breeks that occurs to me, because of the double meaning, is 'leeks', as in say

Aunty Mary had a canary,
Up the leg o' her breeks
It whistled for oors among the floors,
And piddled among the leeks.

There was a Mudcat thread at the end of May on 'Nonsense songs to dance tunes' which produced a possible source for the entry of the drawers to what can be polite enough:

To the tune of Cock of The North:

Chase me Charlie, Chase me Charlie,
Lost the leg of my drawers
Chase me Charlie, Chase me Charlie,
please will you lend me yours?

Prince Charles' party piece, learned from his Scots granny I expect, is

Aunty Mary had a canary,
whistled the Cock of the North
It whistled for hours, and frightened The Boers,
and won the Victoria Cross.

One other point in what is rather long for a posting – the final line of Sister Mary is shared by another squib which begins "Jean McPherson is a person with bonny yellow hair".

Thanks again.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Den
Date: 29 Jun 99 - 06:36 PM

Ewan we had a version in N. Ireland that went

Auntie Mary had a canary
Up the leg of her drawers.
When she was sleeping we were peeping
Up the leg of her drawers.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Bob Landry
Date: 29 Jun 99 - 06:49 PM

Before this thread, the only times I ever heard "Auntie Mary Had a Canary" was from Newfoundland singers. Great Big Sea incorporated part of this tune in one of their instrumentals which receives a lot of airplay in Canada. I don't know the name of the tune or of the CD.

My father played Cock of the North as I grew up in Nova Scotia while, at the same time, my buddy Garry learned it in 3000 miles away in Alberta. Based on this, I would guess it's played all over North America.

Bob

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Captain Swing
Date: 29 Jun 99 - 06:59 PM

My Mum used to sing

We had three chickens in our back yard,
We fed them on Indian corn,
We had three chickens in our back yard,
Now we've got none at all.
Chase me Charley, round the barley,
I've lost the leg of me drawers.
Chase me Charley, round the barley,
will you lend me yours?

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Ewan McVicar
Date: 30 Jun 99 - 04:19 AM

Den - got that one - but you're my first Northern Ireland report so far [which is astonishing considering the interaction between the North and Scotland).
Bob - you might know it would be Newfies - I was telling stories at a festival in Prince Edward Island last Sept and met a few.
Captain Swing - where where where did your mum come from, and when did you hear the song from her? [I need to try to establish chronologies as best I can.]
If it was sung to the Cock of The North tune it seems undoubtedly a source for the drawers element. Even if not it fits the bill so neatly. (It could be the other way, but the neat nature of your verses maeks that very unlikely.)
All contributors - I should have explained before now that at the age of 57 years I'm working on a doctorate on Scottish Children's Song, the working title of which is Auntie Mary Had A Canary. I'm working over my first chapter, using this song as an exemplar on how such songs are so often cut-and-paste remakes and reassemblies.
Thanks again for help.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Doctor John
Date: 30 Jun 99 - 04:53 PM

Ewan, The first verse I gave was to the first part of the tune. Dr John

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: gargoyle
Date: 01 Jul 99 - 07:39 AM

By any chance, do you folk know of a site which has the tune "Cock of the North." To all of you it appears to be a standard. In the States I am not familar with it by that name.

Thanks

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Bert
Date: 01 Jul 99 - 09:56 AM

Here 'tiz

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/music/Info/RRTuneBk/RRtunes1/01/00000100.html

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Captain Swing
Date: 01 Jul 99 - 02:49 PM

Ewan, my mum was born and brought up in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, UK. She sang those words to me when I first started playing the mandolin around 1971/72. The 'Cock of the North " was one of the first tunes I learned and she heared me practising it. I guess she picked it up at school between 1925 and 1935.

Captain Swing

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From:
Date: 01 Jul 99 - 05:37 PM

If I am not mistaken there is also a song called Cock of the North which is not to the same tune. I think that was discussed here or on the Scots Music list some time back. The tune to Auntie Mary is the fiddle tune known as Cock of the North.

Figgy Duff from Newfoundland recorded the version Bob mentions, and I suspect GBS got it from their recording. Figgy Duff called it Auntie Mary, not Cock of the North.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 02 Jul 99 - 03:11 AM

I seem to recall (v-e-r-y slowly!) that the "Auntie Mary" tune was called "The dashing white sergeant" when I were a lad - or is that just the dance?

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Ewan McVicar
Date: 02 Jul 99 - 05:09 AM

To thicken the plot, I've just found the statement in Emmerson's Rantin' Pipe and Tremblin String that "The jig Cock o' the North became the Irish Auntie Mary or the English Joan's Placket." Emmmerson transcribes Jaon's Placket, published 1817. On another Mudcat thread I learned that Irish fiddler Denis Murphy called the tune Chase Me Charlie.
Can any Irish tune person help re Auntie Mary as a tune? It is not in O'Neill's 1001 Irish Tunes.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Ian
Date: 02 Jul 99 - 07:36 AM

More info in an earlier thread - here

Nonsense songs to dance tunes

Auntie Mary is probably chasing Charlie!

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 02 Jul 99 - 07:40 AM

There was a show or music hall song "Chase me Charlie" which was not unlike AMHC in the opening bar or two:
Chase me Charlie, chase me Charlie,
Over the garden wall!"
is all I can remember.

Steve

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 05 Jul 99 - 03:08 AM

G'day Ewan,

Since you are using the information on Aunty Mary's peripatetic canary in an academic context, I should caution against putting too much trust in the regional origins of my grandfather's songs. Although he was born in Lancashire, at Haslingden, in 1897, he went away to Grammar School in 1908 and would have had two or three years of Grammar Schooling before his father died and his mother migrated to Australia with the two boys.

In Australia, he served an appenticeship as a carpenter, in a country district and, as soon as his apprenticeship was complete (and his mother allowed him) he enlisted in the Australian Army to fight in World War I. He fought in Europe with the Artillery and was demobbed under the description of "driver" - presumably of horse-drawn artillery. He met my grandmother in the south (Titchfield) in this period.

He returned to Australia and worked as a carpenter until the great depression, when he spent a period on the 'Susso' - sustenance employment on government projects around the countryside - before he got a job as a carpenter on the Sydney Harbour Bridge construction and then work in building, as the economy picked up.

When the Second World War broke out, he re-enlisted and spent the early part of the war in training, then the latter part, as a Warrant Officer One (Regimental Sergeant Major), in charge of guards at Hay Prison Camp.

The point to all this is; Grandfather had a reasonably good start to his education and then was widely-travelled ... and spent a good decade, in two slices, in the army. He was a good singer and my memory is of a taste for 'parlour' songs and the repertoire of singers like Peter Dawson. It is possible that he could have learnt songs from many places and people (or printed sources) and it is not safe to assign a definite regional provenance to any of his songs ... but he did have a fondness for the Lancashire he was torn from as a lad.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: the plumber
Date: 23 Jan 00 - 12:44 PM

Aunty Mary had a canary
Up the leg of her drawers
It widnae come doon for half a croon
It was caught on the leg of her drawers.

This is the version we sang in Glasgow as children
--The Plumber

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 23 Jan 00 - 04:31 PM

"Joan's Placket Is Torn", 1685, is given as an ABC, B248 on my website.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Mary G
Date: 23 Jan 00 - 04:44 PM

I heard another verse...maybe in Newfoundland along with Auntie Mary..

Uncle Charlie had some barley
Up the leg of his drawers.
If you don't believe you can feel me
Up the leg of my drawers.

mg

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Jo Taylor
Date: 23 Jan 00 - 07:21 PM

Steve
Different tunes, different dances -
Dashing White Sergeant
Cock o' the North

Jo

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Stewie
Date: 23 Jan 00 - 07:54 PM

Here in Australia, there was a children's rhyme that went along the lines of:

Aunt Mary had a canary
She also had a duck
She took it behind the kitchen door
And taught it how to
Fry the eggs and bacon
Leave it alone and play with your own
And paddle your own canoe

There may have been another line after 'fry the eggs and bacon'. I think the ditty may have been included in Ian Turner's collection of Australian children's rhymes: 'Cinderella Dressed in Yella', but I have not seen that book in years.

Stewie.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 05:32 PM

we came from an irish/scottish family and had an auntie mary to whom we as children would sing;

auntie mary had a canary
up the leg o' her drawers
she pulled a string
and made it sing
and it whistled the cock o' the north

Don't know which the side of the family we learnt this from but our auntie mary was irish.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: akenaton
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 05:58 PM

Believe it or not this was used as a childrens play song in the West of Scotland,in my byhood (when our parents wern't around).
Iv since discovered a dark side,as the third line refers to prostitution,andthe last to menstruation

Aunty Mary had a canary, up the leg o her drawers.
It widna come doon for half a croon ,
but doon came Santa Clause...Ake

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: ard mhacha
Date: 13 Jan 04 - 11:41 AM

Captain Swing the last time I was in Grimsby it was in Lincoln, just over the River Humber from Hull.
And Den`s version of this lovely melody is the same in all other parts of the North.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 13 Jan 04 - 12:02 PM

I've always sung (to the "A" part of Cock of the North) -

Aunty Mary had a canary
Up the leg of her draws,
First it farted, then it departed
To a round of applause.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 13 Jan 04 - 02:35 PM

Dave

I think the version I heard was similar, but "When she farted it departed" - which would be understandable in the circs...

Kitty

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: RoyH (Burl)
Date: 13 Jan 04 - 03:02 PM

Growing up in Nottingham through the 1930s and 40s I learned from my parents,

'We've got chickens in our backyard
We feed 'em on Indian corn,
Some lay eggs and some lay pegs
And some lay nothing at all.
Chase me Charlie, Chase me Charlie,
Lost the leg of me drawers.
If you find it, never mind it,
Stitch it on to yours'.

They also sang,

'I wish I was a bobby,
Dressed in bobby's clothes.
With a big top hat, and a bellyful of fat,
And a pancake on my nose'.

And,

'We've got a baby, we've got a baby.
The neighbours know it's true.
In the middle of the night,
We have to strike a light,
And smack its little bottom 'til it's blue'.

(Sung to the tune of an old pop song called 'We're in the Navy', not to be confused with the Village People song.)

Other gems from the family repertoire include 'I like Pickled Onions', May the moon shine bright on Charlie Chaplin', 'I'm looking for the Ogo Pogo'. 'You are my sunshine, My double Woodbine'. And several more that I can't quite remember just now.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: gary213
Date: 13 Jan 04 - 04:17 PM

This is the version i know

Auntie mary had a canary up the leg o' her dra'ers
she pulled a string, Her bra went ping
and doon came santa claus

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Purtisha fae Glesca
Date: 06 Jul 04 - 03:48 AM

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Purtisha, fae Glesga
Date: 06 Jul 04 - 04:09 AM

Oops! Lost my message. The gist of it was that my grandmother's maid taught my father and uncles a relatively innocuous version, but still considered very rude by my grandmother's standards, and it went like this:

          Auntie Mary had a canary
          Up the leg o' her drawers,
          And when it came down,
          It danced on its crown
          And won the Victoria Cross.

My, what strange stuff one comes across in the middle of the night!

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 06 Jul 04 - 04:22 AM

To pick up on the thread drift on the words to the tune of Coming through the Rye. Alex Campbell used to sing these words.

Jean MacPherson is a person
Wi lang yella herr
We went thegither doon the watter
Last Glesca Ferr
The rain cam poorin oot the sky
Her herr she couldnae keep dry
And oh the day the streaks o' grey
Kept comin through the dye.

I also remember a snatch of another set of nonsense words, and that was to the tune Blaze Away. That started off,

When all of a sudden a great mealie pudden
Cam fleein' through the air

Giok

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Billy the Bus
Date: 06 Jul 04 - 05:15 AM

G'day Ewan (if you are still with us),

Going backi to your original post from a half-decade back...

"Aunty Mary" was sung by kids in New Zealand in the 1950s, with verses much like those above - especially those from Bob Bolton. Some verses were NEVER sung in front of our parents, Akenaton!!! Despite having learned the Vowdlerised version from Mum and Dad.

Gary213 - Thanks for reviving the thread, I haven't thought of the song in a half-century. I haven't caught it before.

Burl - your contri from a half-year back mentioned a song about the moon and Charlie Chaplin, that was in your family song-fest...

That's taken me back to the 50s too (with a different tune to Aunty Mary and her Canary) - but with similar sentiments. The chorus went something like....


Oh, the sun shone down on Mrs Porter,
And on her daughter, who was a snorter,
Yes, the sun shone down on Mrs Porter [and on her daughter]
And it threw their shadows on the sh*t-house door


Or somesuch...

Can't remember any more at the moment. Must follow it up and start a new Fred....

Cheers - Sam

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Snuffy
Date: 06 Jul 04 - 09:12 AM

Sounds like that was the Redwing tune, Billy

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 06 Jul 04 - 09:48 AM

I marriesd a bonny wee Yorkshire lass
She wore a utility frock
the only thing that she could say
is
Stop your tick-e-ling Jock
I tickled her here
I tickled her there
I tickled her ev'rywhere
I tickled her here
I tickled her there
I tickled her ev'rywhere

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Flash Company
Date: 06 Jul 04 - 10:28 AM

Blaze Away always came out as:-
Aint it a pity she's only one t---y
To feed the baby on!

FC

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 06 Jul 04 - 10:50 AM

Stewie posted several years ago from Australia:

Aunt Mary had a canary
She also had a duck
She took it behind the kitchen door
And taught it how to
Fry the eggs and bacon
Leave it alone and play with your own
And paddle your own canoe

This reminds me of Essex singer, dancer and box player extraorinaire Simon Ritchie's repertoire of cock-a-doodle-doo songs ("Me cock's me own so leave it alone, sing cock-a-doodle-doo").

A children's skipping song from North-East England:

One two three o'leary
I saw my Auntie Mary
Sitting on the lavatory
Eating chocolate dainties.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Billy Suggers
Date: 06 Jul 04 - 10:58 AM

.. in a cage indoors
it whistled & sang
and went off "bang"
and blew the leg off her drawers

(E Suffolk .. 1950s)

goes with

There was a bonny scotsman
at the battle of Waterloo
the wind blew up his petticoat
and shew his kangaroo

His kangaroo was dirty
so he showed it to the queen
who gave to him some Sunlight soap
to wash the bugger clean

(Lowestoft .. 1930s or before as me mum-in-law sang it as a girl)

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Big Jim from Jackson
Date: 06 Jul 04 - 11:21 AM

On one of Gary and Vera Aspey's recordings Gary sing a quick verse (pretty much already covered in the comments)of "Aunti Mary". Of course, they are both Lankeys, clean to the bone!

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Jim McLean
Date: 06 Jul 04 - 03:19 PM

One, two three O'leary,
I saw Wallace Beery,
Sittin' on his bumbleerie,
Kissin' Shirley Temple
(showing my age now!)

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Brooke
Date: 20 Aug 04 - 02:47 AM

I'm from Australia and the version I know is:

Aunty Mary had a canary; she also had a duck.
She took them behind the kitchen door to teach them how to...
Fry eggs for dinner, fry eggs for tea.
The more you eat, the more you drink, the more you want to...
Peter had a boat; the boat began to rock.
Up jumped Jaws and bit off his...
Cocktails, ginger ales, 40 cents a glass.
If you don't like it, shove it up your...
Ask no questions; tell no lies.
I saw a copper doing up his...
Flies are bad; mosquitoes are worse.
This is the end of a clean country verse.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: The Walrus
Date: 20 Aug 04 - 05:32 AM

Returning to 'Aunty Mary'

The version I grew up wth as a child was similar to Dave Bryant's:

My Aunty Mary had a canery
Up the leg of her drawers
When she farted, down it darted
Out the leg of her drawers.


as for 'One, two, three o'leary', one that lurks in the memory is:

One, two, three o'leary
My ball's gone down the airy
Please give it back to Mary
Not to Charlie Chaplin.

The 'airy' was the 'area', the 'light well' in front of a basement, where the dustbins are kept and which gives access to the coal celler.

Thinking back, I must have picked this up from friends and/or family in the early 1960s - but as, by then we were living on a suburban estate with never the breath of an 'airy' for miles...
(we moved out of Battersea in about 1962, during the great clearance/rebuild, before that there were airies a-plenty, as I recall).

Walrus

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: RoyH (Burl)
Date: 20 Aug 04 - 01:18 PM

Yes, my tune, (and everybody elses I think), to 'Charlie Chaplin' was 'Pretty Redwing'.    We also had 'One, Two, Three Alaira, I saw my Auntie Sara, Sitting on a German aira, Eating chocolate biscuits. My wife used to skip to that one. Burl.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Ewan McVicar
Date: 22 Aug 04 - 07:26 AM

This thread continues to produce great versions of Aunty Mary!
Re 'Down the airy' I've heard that from someone recalling it in London in the 1940s.
The Scots version of 1 2 3 aleary links back to the poem Piers Plowman!!

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,dunc
Date: 20 Jan 07 - 10:46 PM

Interesting that Billy Suggers remembers a version from Lowestoft...
I learnt it there as a kid in the 60s, and it's taken me years to remember the last line.

For us it went:
Auntie Mary had a canary
Up the leg of her drawers.
When she farted it departed
Never to sing any more.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Andyval
Date: 21 Jan 07 - 03:32 PM

Very similar to the version I remember;

Auntie Mary had a canary
Up the leg of her drawers
Whan she farted it departed
Through the patio doors

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Jim I
Date: 22 Jan 07 - 05:04 PM

Giok had
"When all of a sudden a great mealie pudden
Cam fleein' through the air"

FC had
Blaze Away always came out as:-
Aint it a pity she's only one t---y
To feed the baby on!

I seem to recall

"Mrs McVitty
had only one t**ty
To feed the baby on.
The poor little fu**er
Had only one sucker
to gnash his teeth upon.

When all of a sudden
a great mealie pudden
Cam fleein' through the air
It hit poor auld Nelly
A shot in the belly
And knocked her tae the flair."

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,meself
Date: 22 Jan 07 - 06:37 PM

A couple of summers ago, my otherwise thoroughly proper mother shocked us all - not least of all my father - by singing:

Help me, Charlie, I've got barley,
Up the leg of me drawers;
Help me, Charlie, I've got barley,
Up the leg of me drawers.


This was from her childhood on Prince Edward Island ...

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,betty swollocks
Date: 02 Jun 07 - 06:31 AM

my auntie mary had a canary up the leg of her draws
when she farted
down it darted
like a racing horse


LOL

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,hakuna mahaha
Date: 02 Jun 07 - 06:33 AM

has anyone heard this one

My uncle Billy had a 10 foot willy
And he showed it to the neighbours next door
She thought it was a snake
And hit it with a rake
And now its only 4 foot 4!

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,hakuna mahaha
Date: 02 Jun 07 - 06:34 AM

or this one

MILK
MILK
LEMONADE
ROUND THE CORNER...
...CHOCOLATES MADE

HAHAHAHAHA

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Snuffy
Date: 02 Jun 07 - 07:17 AM

Hakuna

Neither of themn have anything to do with Aunty Mary - the first one is sung to the tune of "Not For Jo(e)", while the other is not a song, but just a rhyme that we used to chant in the schoolyard over 50 years ago.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Hakuna
Date: 03 Jun 07 - 03:12 PM

Thanks for telling me that, its made my day, infact its changed my life!

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Maggie Miles
Date: 09 Jun 07 - 05:20 AM

Thanks Hakuna,

It really did change my life because my Uncle Billy actually did have a ten foot willy but wouldnt show it to the neighbour coz thats a mugs game!!!

Happy Motoring from Maggie Miles and Kelly Kilometers

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Young Buchan
Date: 26 Jun 07 - 02:29 AM

As a child about 4 I used to stay on Saturday nights with my grandmother who lived near the village hall, where my parents would go for a dance. I soon learn to recognise the tune Cock of the North, since it always heralded the return of my parents. I realise 50 years down the line that they probably finished each time with Circassian Circle. But what confused me for many years was the disapproval of my grandmother who would pout and shake her head and mutter 'I wish they wouldn't play that dirty tune!' I didn't understand then. Or for a long time afterwards, how a tune, as opposed to a song could be dirty. But I finally realized that in her mind the tune was so inextricably linked to

"Cockadoodle, cockadoodle, lost the leg of my drawers.
Cockadoodle, cockadoodle, won't you lent me yours."

that she considered the tune to be a reference to drawers even when the words were not sung. I don't recall how she coped with Colonel Bogey!

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Young Buchan
Date: 26 Jun 07 - 07:02 AM

That, incidently, for those who thought it 'almost exclusively Scottish' or 'creeping over the border', was in Suffolk.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,aly
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 06:52 AM

Aunty Mary had a canary, thought it was a duck,
Took it behind the kitchen door and taught it how to——
Fry eggs for breakfast, cook fish for tea.
The more you eat the more you drink the more you——
Peter was a fisherman who sailed the seven seas,
Along came a fish and bit off his——
Cock-a-doodle-doo! What's it got to do with you?
Leave it alone, play with your own and paddle your own canoe.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Jeannie
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 03:22 AM

This is another version of the Auntie Mary had a canary etc. Same tune.

Ooshallalla, ooshallalla, lost the leg o me drawers.
Ooshallalla, ooshallalla, won't you lend me yours.
Can't go out with the boys tonight, ain't got any to wear.
Ooshallalla, ooshallalla, won't you lend me a pair.

I'm from London, who knows where it came from, soldiers I suspect.

Here's another one.

A sol. A sol, a soldier I must be,
To fight for the old count', fight for the old count'
Fight for the old country.
Two pis', two pis', two pistols on my knee,
To fight for the old count', fight for the old count'.
Fight for the old countreeeee.

Also remember 'One two three alairy, my balls down the airy'.

Can't remember the beginning but there was a song about soccer and it went..

Where was the goalie when the ball was in the net.
Hanging from the goalpost with his trousers round his neck.
Singing....ask no questions tell no lies.
Ever seen a chinaman doing up his
flies...are dangerous, bugs are worse.
That's the end of the Chinese verse.

Don't write songs like that any more.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,frangipaniluva
Date: 19 Mar 08 - 08:01 AM

Here is a betta one Aunty mary had a canary, ahe also had a duck,
she took them behind the kitchen door and taught em how to......
fry a fish 4 dinna, fry a fish 4 tea,
the more you eat, the more you drink,
the more u wanna......
pater had a boat, the boat began to rock up jumped jaws and bit him on the....
cocktails, gingerales, 40 cents a glass,
if you dont like it shove it up ur......
ask no questions, tell no lies, i saw a blind man doin up his....
flies are bad, mosquitos r worse
and thats the end of my dirty lil verse.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 15 May 08 - 08:57 AM

a few months ago on a hillairius Radio 4 programme called Colnel Aurther he sang Aunti Mary had a Canary stuck up the leg of her draws, for half a crown (then breaking off after muttering thats enouhg of that )and after personally singing this little tune on many occasions driving my friends nuts as they kept asking to hear the end of the song , I am delighted to read your web page where upon i can now add several endings to a wonderful little ditty and end all my friends frustration thank you to all the contributers.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST
Date: 15 May 08 - 01:52 PM

Aunty Mary had a canary
up the leg of her drawers
it wouldnt come down fer half a crown
so she peed the leg of her drawers

mmm thats the scots one i remember as a lad along with the Santa Claus one if adults were about

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,su gumble
Date: 13 Jul 08 - 04:25 PM

SMSL

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,myrtle
Date: 17 Jul 08 - 08:30 AM

My grandmother used to sing

"we've got three chickens in our backyard, we feed them on indian corn.
One lays eggs and one lays bricks and one lays nothing at all.

Chase me charlie
chase me charlie
lost the leg of me drawers
Chase me charlie
chase me charlie
will you lend me yours

Her father was Scottish (from Sutherland) but she grew up in Norfolk.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Cassie
Date: 12 Aug 08 - 02:58 AM

Auntie Mary had a canary. She thought it was a duck.
She took it behind the kitchen door and taught it how to—
Fry eggs for breakfast. Fry eggs for tea.
The more you eat, the more you drink, the more you have to—
Peter had a boat. The boat began to rock.
Up jumped Jaws and bit off his—
Cocktail, ginger ale, 20 cents a glass.
If you don't like it, shove it up your—
Ask no questions. Tell no lies.
I saw a policeman doing up his—
Flies are bad. Mosquitoes are worse.
I saw a doctor lying in a—
Nurse those babies. nurse them well.
If you don't, then I will tell.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,fivnten
Date: 03 Sep 08 - 03:26 PM

To continue ...

the version (apart from the Santa Claus one) I heard was

Auntie Mary
Had a canary
Up the leg of her drawers
When she farted
Down it darted
Scratching her leg with its claws

!!!

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,fivnten
Date: 03 Sep 08 - 03:28 PM

Further to my previous post the Santa Claus version I know is:

Auntie Mary
Had a canary
Up the leg of her drawers
She pulled a string
To make it sing
And down came Santa Claus

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Ely
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 08:06 PM

chase me charlie,chase me charlie,
lost one leg of me drawers,
if you find them starch & iron them
give them to one of the boys

can anyone finish this off ?
i would ilke to know the rest
thank you

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Richard Woodward, South Africa
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 05:29 AM

In about 1966 in Derbyshire I learnt, from a guy from Cumberland:

Chase me Charlie, chase me Charlie,
Lost the leg o' me drawers
Chase me Charlie, chase me Charlie,
Won't you lend me yours?

We've got chickens in our back yard,
We feed 'em on Indian corn, and
One is a bugger for shaggin' the other,
He's always getting the horn.

Chorus: repeat first verse

Auntie Mary had a canary,
up the leg of her drawers,
When she farted, down it darted
out the bathroom door

Chorus: first verse again

One of the other songs referred to earlier in this thread; I got this version at the same time:

A hundred and one, never been done,
Queen of of all the fairies,
When all of a sudden
a bloody great pudden
Came flying through the air;
Oh, as swift as an arrow, as fat as a marrow
And covered in curly hair.

We used to sing these songs, along with numerous other bawdy rhymes, in the Derbyshire pubs around Chesterfield,between 1965 and 1968 and over the next few years up to 1971 around Rugby, Warwickshire.

That's my three pennorth, for what its worth and posterity!

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 12:22 PM

Ewasn,

Yes, she had a canary.

But her pussy ate it,

As is their wont!

Art

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 12:24 PM

THEN she put it in her drawer. (for safe keeping)

Art

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: strad
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 06:56 AM

My befuddled mind recalls from a childhood in Kent:

Chase me Charlie, chase me Charlie,
Lost the leg o' me drawers,
If you find them, starch and iron them
And give them me back once more.

to the tune of Cock o' the North

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,i am a sado
Date: 11 Dec 08 - 03:15 PM

RE Hakuna mahaha

Heres my rhyme

MILK MILK
LEMONADE
ROUND THE CORNER...

.....

SHOP             PMSL-Which stands for pedal myself laughing lol

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Feary....
Date: 08 Feb 09 - 03:48 AM

I remember this much of the verse i knew, cant remember in which order it went and would LOVE to find the whole verse!!!

Ask your mum for sixpence to see the big giraffe, with freckles on it's whiskers and pimples on it's aaaa....
aunty mary had a canary also had a duck, took it behind the kitchen door and taught it how to fuuuu......
fried eggs for dinner, fried eggs for tea, the more you eat the more you drink, the more you want to peeeee.....


that's all i can remember but i know it went on and on.....my ex used to say it and he was raised in Victoria if that means anything.....lol....

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST
Date: 25 May 09 - 03:03 AM

guest feary

I remember this much of the verse i knew, cant remember in which order it went and would LOVE to find the whole verse!!!

Ask your mum for sixpence to see the big giraffe, with freckles on it's whiskers and pimples on it's aaaa....
aunty mary had a canary also had a duck, took it behind the kitchen door and taught it how to fuuuu......
fried eggs for dinner, fried eggs for tea, the more you eat the more you drink, the more you want to peeeee.....

The whole poem or as much as I know

God made the world, he made it out of glass, along came a billygoat and slipped upon his aaaa.....
Ask your mother for a sixpence to see the tall giraffe, with hairs on it pimples, and pimples on it's aaaaaa.....
Aunty Mary had a canary, thought it was a duck, she took it behind the kitchen door and taught it how to fffff.....
Fry some eggs breakfast, fry some eggs for tea, the more you eat, the more you drink, the more you want to pppppp....
Peter had a boat, the boat began to sink, along came a shark and bit of his cockadoodledoo! leave it alone its got nothing to do with you, go away, play with your own and paddle your own canoe!


There are a few slight variations in the 'lyrics' but you get the general picture. Hope this helps

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: BobKnight
Date: 25 May 09 - 04:09 AM

Re: Ewan McVicar '99.

"Oor" is the typical way of pronouncing "hour" in Scots. "The Cock O' The North" is a pipe tune and regimental march of the now amalgamated Gordon Highlanders. It was also the nickname for the chief of clan Gordon, based at Huntly in Aberdeenshire.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Tug the Cox
Date: 25 May 09 - 07:35 AM

Jeannie, aug o7, just seen that, we used to sing, in London in the 50's or 60's

My old man's a dustman, he wears a dustmans hat
he took me round the corner, to see a football match.
The ball was in the centre, the rusty whistle blew,
Fatty passed to skinny, and down the wing he flew.
Skinny passed to fatty, fatty passed it back,
Skinny took a flying shot and Knocked the goalie flat.
Where was the goalie when the ball was in the net
half way up the goalpost with his trousers round his neck
They laid him on a stretcher, they laid him on a bed,
They rubbed his belly with cast iron jelly and this is what he said
Rule Britania, three monkeys up a stick
One fell down and hurt his..
Dickie was a bulldog, sitting on the grass, along came a bumblebee and stung him on the...
Ask no questions tell no lies, have you ever seen a chinaman doing up his....
Flies are a nuisance bugs are worse, that is the end of my little..
versus Arsenal one, if you don't like it you can stick it up your...
Bumdidy bum bum, Bum Bum.

Years later I heard an old matelot dom something similar, but thre Rule Brittania line was
'Rule britannia, marmalade and jam
five chinese crackers up your arsehole bang bang bang bang bang'

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Bryn Pugh
Date: 26 May 09 - 05:35 AM

Me Auntie Mary had a canary
Up the side of her drawers.
And whn she farted, down it darted
To a roar of applause.

Down our street was a copper
Eating an apple pie.
I asked him for a skinny bit,
He hit me in the eye.

I went and told me mother,
She said "No, bugger off fast!"
So I took the red hot poker
And shoved it up the copper's arse.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Cathy
Date: 23 Sep 09 - 08:11 PM

I haven't heard this since my mum passed away. If memory serves me her version was

Aunt Mary had a canary
up the leg of me drawers
If you don't believe
you can feel me
up the leg of me drawers

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Dabuel
Date: 29 Sep 09 - 12:08 AM

Im from Australia and here is the version i know:

Aunty Mary had a canary
she also had a duck
she took them behind the drawers
and taught them how to
fry eggs for breakfast
fry egg for tea
the more you eat
the more you drink
the more you want to
Peter had a boat
the boat began to rock
up jumped jaws and bit him on the
cocktails ginger ale
40 cents a glass
if you dont like it
you can shove it up your
ask no questions
tell no lies
i saw a chinaman
doing up his
flys are bad
mosquitos are worse
that is the end
to my dirty little verse.

Enjoy.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: mikesamwild
Date: 16 Dec 09 - 08:09 AM

We sang it in Manchester in the 40s. One verse started 'We had a .... in our front room' can't just remember what it was though at the mo.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Peerie Me
Date: 05 Jan 10 - 02:39 PM

When we were young we sang
Aunty Mary had a canary up the leg o her drawers,
It widna cum doon for haaf a croon,
So she kicked it up the arse


I also remember other people singing the version about pulling a string that made him ping and down came santa claus

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Ian Manning, South Australia.
Date: 20 Mar 10 - 09:32 PM

For what it's worth,I can remember my late Grandfather(born 1876) singing the below to the tune of the song "Coming through the rye":

Aunt Mary bought a canary from the butcher's boy.
She kept it in the dairy, where it was a joy.
Strange to say it never whistled, never seemed to try.
Seem to see cock-sparrow's bristles coming through the dye.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Mouldylocks, London
Date: 30 Mar 10 - 11:08 PM

Remembered from East London in the 50's:

Chase me Charlie, Chase me Charlie,
Chase the leg of me drawers
Chase me Charlie, Chase me Charlie,
What's the size a yours?

(Two balls rhyme)One two three o'lairy,
My ball's up in the airey,
Don't forget to give it to Mary,
NOT to Charlie Chaplin

I never got to hear any more of the 'Auntie Mary had a canary up the leg of her drawers', as the adults muttered the rest when the kids were around.
Strangely, they didn't mind singing:
'You ought to see my granny by the fire - toasting her crumpet.
All day long she sits by the fire, toasting her crumpet.
And as she sits she sews, and as she sews she sits,
You ought to see my granny by the fire, toasting her crumpet.

another kid's nonsense rhyme I remember:
My name is ell-i, ell-i, chickal-i, chickal-i, ompompiley, ompompiley, willie willie whiskers, willie willie whiskers,
cowboys and indians, BIG CHIEF (said with two fingers in a V sign, knuckles to forehead.)

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Sue I
Date: 20 Jul 10 - 01:43 PM

When I was a kid in the 60's in the East End "Auntie Mary" was cockney rhyming slang for Big & Hairy........

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: catspaw49
Date: 20 Jul 10 - 02:09 PM

Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?

In her vagina.....It is said she was a "cheep" lay...............


Spaw

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Gill
Date: 09 Oct 10 - 02:58 PM

I remember my mother singing short rhymes to me as a child in the late 50's early 60's, her version seems different to any of the above probably learnt from my grandmother born mid 1800's in Birmingham

Uncle Jimmy I've lost my shimmy and half a leg of my drawers
Aunty Mary Aunty Mary lend me half of yours

We've some hens in our back yard we feed them on Indian corn
some lay eggs n some lay pegs and some lay nothing at all

Gill

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,annie
Date: 25 Jan 11 - 04:30 PM

I'm from Edinburgh and the version we all sang came from my mother and I haven't sen it mentioned yet.

It was:

My Auntie Mary
Had a Canary
Up the leg of her drawers
She sat on the gas
and burned her ass
and down came Santa Clause

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,guest lesley
Date: 18 Mar 11 - 01:31 PM

We used to sing it as a round

Auntie Mary had a canary
Up the leg of her drawers
She pulled a string to make it sing
But all that it said was
"Auntie Mary had a canary etc

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,George
Date: 14 Jun 11 - 10:34 PM

My dad who grew up in Providence Rhode Island used to sing the chicken song to us on Saturday mornings when we would invade our parents bedroom before breakfast. His version was

I have to chickens in my back yard,
I feed them on Indian corn.
And one is a bugger for fighting the other
When they get up in the morn.

Based on the posts I have read, I suspect he learned it from his dad who was born in Glasgow.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Chris, OTLEY
Date: 24 Sep 11 - 11:21 AM

Is that you Jim the Mech. ?

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Oct 11 - 03:18 PM

Back when I was a kid growing up in Birmingham in the 60's my grandad would simg

I have a foul in our backyard
We feed it on indian corn
Some lay eggs & some lay bricks
and some lay nothing at all

He had Irish in his family but no Scottish as far as i know.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Plattsburgh, NY via Broughty Ferry, Scotland
Date: 26 Dec 11 - 04:58 PM

My father taught me this in the early 1950s

Chase me Charlie
Chase me Charlie
Lost the leg of me drawers

Chase me Charlie
Chase me Charlie
Please will you lend me yours

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 26 Dec 11 - 06:14 PM

Sounds like the one about Lottie Collins, the 19th century risqué dancer: Lottie Collins lost her drawers; Won't you kindly lend her yours?

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,bee.sting
Date: 10 Jan 12 - 05:29 PM

I haven't been all through this thread, so I am not 100% certain I am adding anything original, but the variant I was taught by my Grandad in Lancashire in the late 1960's is as follows:

I went into the barber's shop
and what do you think I got?
Two black eyes and a bleeding nose
and a little bit off the top

Chase me Charlie, chase me Charlie,
Lost the leg o' me draws
Weary willie, weary Willie
Will you lend me yours.

Sorry - not a canary in sight - but it was to the tune Cock o' the North

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Geoff
Date: 07 Dec 12 - 01:32 AM

Hi,

I am from australia and the version I know is similar to Brookes of August 2004. I learnt this as a child in the 1960's from my grandmother who was born in Australia in the 1890's:

Ask your mum for sixpence to see the big giraffe
Pimples on his whiskers and pimples on his aarr....
....auntie Mary had a canary thought it was a duck
took it behind the kitchen door and taught it how to f-f-f.....
....fried eggs for dinner, fried eggs for tea
the more you eat, the more you drink, the more you want to ppee...
....peter had a boat, the boat begaan to rock
along came a shark and bit off his c-c-c...
cock - a - doodle do that's all i have for you

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Keith. Bristol, uk
Date: 03 Feb 19 - 03:44 AM

My Mum used to sing it to me and my brothers and sister in the 1960s,her version was, we keep chickens in our back yard, we feed um on Indian corn, some lays eggs, and some lays straw, and some lays nothing at all. Oh, cockadoodle cockadoodle, up the leg of your drawers. Auntie Mary had a canary up the leg of her drawers, when she farted down it darted and flew out the kitchen door.

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST,Miranda
Date: 05 Feb 19 - 06:18 AM

I read that this version is from the Boer war, but which Boer war I don't know. The Auntie Mary thing is clearly older however.
As far as I know, the earliest version is called "The Cock of the North", which is named after a tradition of calling the chief of the Scottish Gordon clan the same thing. It started with Alexander, Duke of Gordon (can't remember which Duke).

Sae gie tae me the lad you'll see from Russia to the Forth,
The lilt in his voice and the swing o' his kilt, man that's the Cock o' the North!

Subject: RE: Aunty Mary Had a Canary - where?
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Nov 19 - 03:46 AM

Racking my brains over what I heard as a foreign kid in Australia

Aunty is.. Mary had a canary
it put it's head between it's legs and whistled up its
country girls are pretty, country girls are nice
they like to talk to boys and wrestle with their
diction is essential, diction is...

can't remember the rest, went on for at least 6 verses