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euphemistic for sex? folk songs?
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Subject: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: crooner in Chico CA Date: 27 Aug 99 - 03:41 AM C'mon, y'all, let's get this thang goin'! I want to hear about songs that talk sly about sex without really sayin' it, if you know what I mean! You just add 'em here! I'll give you a few examples! (Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it's just my overworked imagination! I don't know!) Hokey Pokey. You put your left foot in, you put your left foot out...and then you shake it all about... Now what kind a fool would do that? A second grader maybe; but what was the true inspiration for that song...that's what it's all about, what makes the world go round. Isn't it beautiful? How about THIS OLD MAN? Have you ever thought about what that dirty old man was doin? This old man, he played two (I forget what he did on ONE), he played knick knack (knick knack? what the hell is that, li'l girl?) on my shoe, with a knick knack paddy WACK give a dog a BONE (!), this old man CAME... ROLLING HOME. OK, maybe it's just a coincidence! three, on my knee (getting closer!) four, on my door (puh-lease!) Or am I mixing this up with another song/rhyme for kiddies? It doesn't matter. There are some silly lyrics out there, to be sure, and some of them I'm quite sure are just silly nonsense...uh huh. Let's hear about it, c'mon! How about POLLY WOLLY DOODLE? something about being behind a barn, down on my knees, and "I thought I heard a chicken/someone sneeze"? SNEEZE? More than that, right? At least this song is a little more obvious, but... Most people don't give it a second thought... So what I'd like, is for people to list songs that they think fit these examples. I don't know what it all means. I'm only following what seems to me to be an underanalyzed aspect of folk music, not just the double entendre per se but the disparate analogies to sex, with songs that are so much in the popular culture, sung to children, but whose inspiration would not sit well in teh pews of a Victorian church if you know what I mean. Yet those same victorians sing these songs! Get it? Pardon my style of writing and attitude. If you think this topic should be left discrete, then be discrete. Peace. |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: alison Date: 27 Aug 99 - 04:05 AM Hi if you're looking for sex...... go to the purple/blue box at the top of the page and type in @sex or @bawdy... you'll get heaps.. failing that look up anything with cuckoos, clock winders or lock fitters, (you've got a lock I've got a key etc) have fun slainte alison |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Roger in Baltimore Date: 27 Aug 99 - 06:23 AM Could it be you just have raging hormones? I guess sex is where you find it. Lots of blues songs allude to sex without quite discussing: "squeeze my lemon 'til the juice runs down my leg" is only the least discrete example. There was an entire style of blues called "hokum" based entirely on double entendre: "Don't put no more baking powder in your bread you see, your biscuits are big enough for me." Lightnin' Hopkins saying "Some like the Cadillac, some like the T-model Ford; Ford got the chassis but it can't haul no heavy load" was not talking just about cars. Enjoy your exploration. Do follow Alison's advice and add @blues. Roger in Baltimore |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Steve Parkes Date: 27 Aug 99 - 07:56 AM I don't think the Hokey P/Cokey counts: you only put in things you have two of ... or do you mean - no, that'd be silly, wouldn't it? Gosh Alison, you remind of the lady who complained to Dr Johnson that there were naughty words in his dictionary ... he said she'd have had to look 'em up to know that. British Music Hall comic Harry Champion ("Henery the Eighth", "Any old iron") wrote a load of songs that sound as though they ought to be about sex, but aren't: "You don't want to keep on showing it, Mary", "Put a bit of treacle on my pudding, Mary-Ann", "Cover it over quick, Jemima", "Of Timothy, let's have a look at it" ... I'm not sure about "Boiled beef and carrots"; if he'd called it "Meat and two veg" ... Then there's Max Miller: I love the girls who say they do, I love the girls who don't; I hate a girl who says she will And then she says she won't. But the kind of girl I like the best - And I think you'll say I'm right - Is the kind of girl who says she won't, But look as though -- Here!!" Steve |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Margo Date: 27 Aug 99 - 12:49 PM Don't forget sea shantys. They are the greatest when it comes to double and triple entendre. Titles that come to mind are "The Fire Ship" , "Blow the Man Down" , "Yeller Girls". Margarita |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: SandyBob Date: 27 Aug 99 - 01:20 PM My alltime favorite is Koko Taylor's Wang Dang Doodle...all night long. Saw her do the song a month ago...still a knockout. btw, I heard somewhere that the origin of the word jazz was early slang for sex. Where is John Ciardi when you need him...anybody know if this is true? sandy bob |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: RWilhelm Date: 27 Aug 99 - 02:24 PM Then there's Bo Carter, the master of single entendre with songs like "Banana In Your Fruit Basket," "Pin In Your Pin Cushion, " and "Please Warm My Weiner." |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: bob schwarer Date: 27 Aug 99 - 02:43 PM "He Died With His Ding-Dong In His Hand". Don't remember who did it. Bob S. |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: emily rain Date: 27 Aug 99 - 03:35 PM in a different direction, i like the songs that fool you:
Sherry, she had big ones
And I make my bed -Lyle Lovett hey, does anyone know the words to "stan long", the touching ballad of a man with two penises? it was a yearly standard at the minnesota science fiction convention's song-circles. |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: bseed(charleskratz) Date: 27 Aug 99 - 03:57 PM Dr. Demento had a few not-so-subtle classics: You let me play with your yo-yo, I'll let you play with mine, You let me play with your yo-yo, I'll let you play with mine. You got a wiener, I got a bun, We can put the two together, boy, and have some fun, You let me play with your yo-yo, I'll let you play with mine. --this is to the same tune as "Alice's Restaurant" I don't remember the verses at all, but there was also "My Girl's Pussy," purportedly about a cat, but obviously not. --seed |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Sandy Paton Date: 27 Aug 99 - 04:06 PM Well, there's been a lot of "rolling in the dew" going on in folksong for a few centuries. I once suggested to the folks who were recording the song for me that "One Man Shall Mow My Meadow" might have some less obvious meaning and they were shocked by the idea. Although Gershon Legman doesn't agree, a few people have suggested that keeping the lass from "the foggy dew" suggests something other than atmospheric conditions. Sandy |
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Subject: Lyr Add: MY DING-A-LING (from Chuck Berry)^^ From: emily rain Date: 27 Aug 99 - 04:06 PM oh, yeah, and then there's "my ding-a-ling" by (?) chuck barry:
when i was a little bitty boy
chorus:
once i was swimming 'cross turtle creek
then mama took me to grammar school |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Charlie Baum Date: 27 Aug 99 - 04:54 PM Okay, so it's form the word of folk-pop, but "I've got a brand new pair of roller skates; you've got a brand new key; I think we should get together and try them out, you see." qualifies. And I sometimes sing:
I could have hmmmm all night which just goes to show the power of censorship--when correctly censored, anything can be turned into a song about sex. |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Frank Hamilton Date: 27 Aug 99 - 05:28 PM I guess my preceding post on this thread never made it. Here's some tradition: Eadie got a blind eye way above her knee. Keep on truckin' Mama, truckin' my blues away. (Part of this goes like) What's that smells like fish, Mama, tell ya' if ya' really wanna' know. Honey let me be your salty dog. Let me be your candy man. Tell me what diddy wah diddy means. Everybody's talkin' 'bout a new way of walkin' Lemon Jefferson's "Black snake moan" is evocative. Alan Lomax has stated that he thinks John Henry is a tale of sexual euphemisms. Alan was called the Darwin of folk music but we sometimes referred to him as the Freud of folk. Frank Hamilton |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Llanfair Date: 27 Aug 99 - 06:32 PM I didn't think it was roller skates, Charlie, it was a combine harvester, and who says size doesnt matter!!!! I like the more subtle double entendres. The Spotted Cow, Going into the bushes to catch a small bird or two, and beware of anyone with a fiddle!!!! Hwyl, Bron. |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Chet W. Date: 27 Aug 99 - 09:40 PM Excuse me, but I thought that pretty much every song had some sexual connotation in variously veiled degrees. Is it just me? Chet |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Bill D Date: 27 Aug 99 - 10:12 PM for a PRIME example, try 'The Game of All Fours'...listed in the database as The GAME OF CARDS |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Alan of Australia Date: 28 Aug 99 - 10:53 PM The keeper would a shooting go And under his cloak he carried a bow
Cheers, |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Bill D Date: 29 Aug 99 - 10:27 AM "When properly viewed, everything's lewd" Ogden Nash? |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Barbara Date: 29 Aug 99 - 11:13 AM "Anything longer than it is wide is a phallic symbol." "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Date: 29 Aug 99 - 11:28 AM How about "say so oh play mate" -- with all that talk of "come out and play with me", being "jolly friends", "sliding down rainbows" into "cellar doors"? It's actually gotten so I cringe when my kids sing that song. |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: WyoWoman Date: 29 Aug 99 - 01:15 PM If I can't sell it Gonna keep sittin' on it I ain't gonna *give* it away (ostensibly, we're talking about an EASY chair... These are great lyrics, which I think we talked about in a previous thread? What was that one? "bawdy lyrics?" something like that...) ww |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: bob schwarer Date: 29 Aug 99 - 02:05 PM "------a good cigar is a smoke" M. Twain |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: j0_77 Date: 29 Aug 99 - 02:17 PM Californication Blues :)
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Tony Burns Date: 30 Aug 99 - 07:38 AM Remember what Tom Lehrer had to say on this topic. |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Nathan in Texas Date: 30 Aug 99 - 10:46 AM The Nightingale Song (in numerous variations} has the soldier & the lady sitting down by the stream to "hear the nightingales sing."
Then out of his knapsack, a long fiddle he drew |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Frank Hamilton Date: 30 Aug 99 - 12:17 PM I am a Tom Lehrer fan. I too am not in favor of censorship. I liked Lenny Bruce as well. But here's where Tom Lehrer and I part company. Don't want to censor it but I do not intend to endorse it. Mr. Lehrer: Stories of tortures Used by debauchers, Lurid, licentious, and vile, Make me smile. Novels that pander To my taste for candor Give me a pleasure sublime. My rejoinder, Stories of tortures Are not sexual scorchers, Sadistic, facistic and crass Are just too bad-ass. Novels that titilate, This I appreciate, If they leave Sadie Mae far behind. Frank Hamilton
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: kendall morse (don't use) Date: 30 Aug 99 - 01:03 PM I was told that "The Foggy Dew" was a gang of highwaymen in Ireland..??? Anyway, having spent much of my adult life at sea, I learned a number of songs that dont even try to hide behind double meanings. Fortunatly, I get very few requests for the real thing these days. |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: kendall morse (don't use) Date: 30 Aug 99 - 01:04 PM sorry about that, my confuser stutters |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Bert Date: 30 Aug 99 - 01:07 PM There is a story (legend) about Marie LLoyd. Seems she was called up before the watch committee for singing lewd songs. She claimed that the songs were fine, it was just the way that the audience interpreted them that was wrong. She said that the songs were no worse than popular parlour songs that everyone was singing and proceeeded to sing "Come into the garden Maud" in such a way as to leave no doubt as to what was going to happen in the garden. The story goes that the case was dismissed. Also, I have heard that early versions of The Cornish Nightingale were more explicit as to what they were doing 'in the valley below'. The art of a good bawdy song is that of being explicit without actually saying anything wrong. Bert. |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Margo Date: 30 Aug 99 - 01:26 PM I agree Bert. I find many of the sea shantys with their double and triple entendre almost quaint, compared to some of the lyrics today that leave nothing to the imagination. Charlie, your "I could have HMMMMMED all night" is hilarious. You are right. I never thought of it that way until you "censored" it! Margarita |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Marion Date: 30 Aug 99 - 05:02 PM How about that "You are my sunshine"? I briefly taught English in a tiny private school for the children of Iranian grad students at U. of Toronto. This was a very conservative crowd, with girls of 8 or 9 wearing head coverings and pictures of Ayatollah Khomeini on the walls. Anyway, I taught the kids to sing "You are my sunshine" and later got a call from one of the parents who said (quite nicely) that this kind of song was not appropriate for children. I was quite embarrassed by this - I'm just glad I taught only the chorus and not the verse with "As I lay sleeping I dreamt I held you in my arms..." Marion |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Chet W. Date: 30 Aug 99 - 06:51 PM Of course, when Tom Lehrer sang songs about poisoning pigeons in the park, the old dope peddler, and holding your disembodied hand in mine, surely no one thought that he was endorsing such behaviors. It was a joke, perhaps in bad taste, but that was part of the experience as well, that an Ivy League academic would sit at a piano in front of crowds and purvey outrageous innuendo. Then again, let's all be careful with our innuendos (another joke). Chet |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: SandyBob Date: 31 Aug 99 - 02:54 PM Kendall, I'm curious. What kinds of songs did you learn at sea? Most of us are revivalists...I'd be interested to hear what if anything is in current circulation at sea. Sandy Bob |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Date: 31 Aug 99 - 03:18 PM The original 17th century versions of "The Foggy, Foggy Dew", "The Keeper" and "The Nightingale's Song" are in the Scarce Songs 1 file at www.erols.com/olsonw Click. So are a lot of other songs with double entendre about sex. (Also some in Scarce Songs 2 file) |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Jo Taylor Date: 31 Aug 99 - 06:41 PM --seed, wanton seed? Here's a bit of it: Often hums but never purrs But I like the thoughts it stirs I love it 'cos it's hers, It's my girl's pussy. Middle eight:
What a precious thing to handle |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Barry Finn Date: 31 Aug 99 - 11:19 PM Hi Margarita, I'd have to say that some of those old quint ones, today nobody would getway singing modern ones as bold. Maid Of Amsterdam: "I put my hand upon her thatch She says young man that's my main hatch. Blow The Man Down: "Up to her quarters she piped me aboard There on her bed I cut lose with my sword Just as my cutter was forging ahead She cried my husband & jumped ot of bed" A prisoner singing to his lady friend vistor "I say little Rosie turn up your clothes May be the last time, I don't know Ol Dollar Mamie: "Ol Dollar Mamie turn her head & smile You could hear her holler for a level Mile" Barry |
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Subject: Lyr Add: PANCAKE RECIPE (John Kellermann)^^ From: John Kellermann Date: 01 Sep 99 - 03:52 AM This isn't a "folk" song. It "came to me" a few years ago one morning while I was cooking breakfast for my bride. It's about pancakes, really...
Pancake Recipe
If your woman's always hungry, if she's really hard to please, |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: alison Date: 01 Sep 99 - 04:21 AM Nice one John..... does it have a tune? slainte alison |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Steve Parkes Date: 06 Sep 99 - 07:42 AM Ah, Marie Lloyd ... she sang "She sits among the cabbages and peas" unitl they made her change it. Then she sang "She sits among the lettuces and leeks", which was OK - the Lord Chancellor of the day obviously led a sheltered life! Oh, and it was Rudyard Kipling (good old Rud!) who wrote, "A woman is only a woman, But a good cigar is a smoke". I can't comment; I've been married twenty-three years, and I gave up the weed about fifteen years ago. Steve |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: MorwenEdhelwen1 Date: 16 Jul 11 - 04:26 AM "My Donkey Want Water", "Donkey City", and other Jamaican folk songs have sexual innuendo. The first two often have "unprintable" verses as they were work songs used by digging teams working with pickaxes. |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Tattie Bogle Date: 16 Jul 11 - 04:47 AM Bagpipes too: "he blew up his chanter" etc. "A wee bird cam tae ma apron". "Ding doorum" and "faloorum" as in "maids when you're young". And any songs that describe going "doon tae the broom". |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: MGM·Lion Date: 16 Jul 11 - 05:21 AM Just the sound of a 'knock knock-knock' ~~ And there was I with me [knock knock-knock] So a courting we fell straightway -- see 'The Farm Servant' on my You tube channel, also on forthcoming Mudcat CD set; already posted on the preview thread and lyric on current final-edit thread ... ~Michael~ |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Steve Shaw Date: 16 Jul 11 - 06:00 AM I recall Nic Jones enjoying sowing his cheapest grain in a young lady's meadow in "The Wanton Seed" on The Noah's Ark Trap. |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray Date: 16 Jul 11 - 06:28 AM Weirdly, we once had a very moral Christian chap sing Bonny Black Hare thinking it was about hunting. I think he'd only given the text a cursory glance before singing it off his iPhone, but once in the middle of his impassioned rendition the metaphorocal nature of the thing became quite clear. Metaphorical? Hell, it's almost pornographic in its explicitness. When I was sixteen I used to sing it as a chat-up line & the only attention it got me was from a folky woman of 30 who thought I was a lot older... Another story! |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Tootler Date: 16 Jul 11 - 07:14 AM Not very subtle but: Give me a girl who will wriggle and will twist At the bottom of her belly lies the cuckoo's nest |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Musket Date: 16 Jul 11 - 09:08 AM Many an old traditional song refers to "sporting and playing." |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Big Mick Date: 16 Jul 11 - 09:41 AM As I Roved Out She took my horse by the bridle and the bit and led him to the stable She took my horse by the bridle and the bit and led him to the stable Sayin' I've plenty of oats for a soldier's horse to eat if he is able, wit' Yer too rai yah fol de diddle ah di ree fol de diddle daree oh She took me by her lily white hand, led me to the table She took me by her lily white hand, led me to the table, sayin' I've plenty of wine for a soldier boy to drink if he is able, wit' Yer too rai yah fol de diddle ah di ree fol de diddle daree oh All the best, Mick |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Joe_F Date: 16 Jul 11 - 04:27 PM Elsa Lanchester is the grand mistress of the music-hall tradition of double entendre. |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Dave Earl Date: 16 Jul 11 - 04:40 PM " I've lost me spotted cow" "Butter and cheese and all" For your consieration folkies all. Dave |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: dick greenhaus Date: 16 Jul 11 - 05:10 PM this thread can include at least 50% of every folksong ever oollected |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: GUEST,DrugCrazed Date: 17 Jul 11 - 06:45 AM Only 50? 65 seems close to me. The rest are about death. Exluding that 5% which are both. *shudder* |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Artful Codger Date: 17 Jul 11 - 10:11 AM "The Furze Field", which is also unusual in that on the surface it's a sporting song from a female viewpoint (or rather, from the kind of bloodsporting, forward, lusty, independently-wealthy woman that sporting men wish were in abundance). As for the songs that sound highly suggestive, but ultimately are about something quite innocent, there's "He said Yes, I said No" which, after she caves, ends something like, "That's how I subscribed to the [whosyerwhatsit] Magazine!" DrugCrazed, hopefully, in that 5%, the sex comes before the death. Otherwise, *shudder* indeed--and we have very different listening habits! |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: GUEST,Don Wise Date: 17 Jul 11 - 02:43 PM "Strawbwrry Fair" 'The text is unsuitable and I've been constrained to re-write it. The words turn on a double-entendre that is quite lost-fortunately so-on half the old fellows who sing the song.' Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould, quoted in, and from, Folk song in England, A.L.Lloyd, page 202. Then there are always:- The Barley and the Rye, The Mower, My Husband's got no Courage in Him, The Long Peggin' Awl.....etc.etc. |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Tattie Bogle Date: 17 Jul 11 - 03:41 PM The Mill mill O, the coggin' o' Peggy's mill O |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Joe_F Date: 17 Jul 11 - 10:14 PM Sheath and Knife (Child 16) |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: quokka Date: 17 Jul 11 - 10:40 PM 'Walt Whitman's Neice' words by Woody Guthrie, music by Billy Bragg, from the album Mermaid Avenue. Very raunchy! |
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Subject: Lyr Add: THE JOLLY TINKER From: GUEST,Graham O Date: 05 May 12 - 06:51 PM The Jolly Tinker As I went down a shady lane at a door I chanced to knock Have you any pots or kettles with rusty holes to block The lady came down to the door and asked me to come in Says "you're welcome Jolly Tinker and I hope you've brought your tin." She led me through the kitchen and she led me through the hall The servants cried "The Devil! Has he come to block us all?" She took me up the stairs my boys to show me what to do Then she fell on the feather bed and I fell on it too Well she picked up a warming pan and she began to knock For to let the servants know, my boys, that I was at my work She reached into her pocket and she took out twenty pound Says "take this my jolly tinker and we'll have another round" Now I've been a jolly tinker now for twenty years or more But such a rusty hole as that I never blocked before |
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Subject: Lyr Add: THE CARMAN'S WHISTLE From: John P Date: 05 May 12 - 07:11 PM The Carman's Whistle As I abroad was walking By the breaking of the day, Into a pleasant meadow A young man took his way; And looking round about him, To mark what he could see, At length he spied a fair maid Under a myrtle tree. So comely was her countenance, And winning was her air, As tho' the goddess Venus Herself she had been there; And many a smirking smile she gave Amongst the leaves so green, Altho' she was perceived She thought she was not seen. At length she changed her countenance And sung a mournful song, Lamenting her misfortune She stay'd a maid so long; 'Sure young men are hardhearted and know not what they do, Or else they look for compliments Fair maidens for to woo.' 'Why should young virgins pine away And loose their chiefest prime, And all for want of sweethearts To cheer us up in time?' The young man heard her ditty And could no longer stay, But straight unto the damosel With speed he did away. When he had played unto her One merry note or two, Then was she so rejoiced She knew not what to do; 'Oh, God a mercy, carman, Thou art a lively lad; Thou hast as rare a whistle As ever carman had!' |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Steve Gardham Date: 06 May 12 - 05:18 AM As the above examples testify, the great majority of sexual double entendre songs involve various different trades and over the centuries scarcely a trade has escaped this treatment, the tools of the trade usually being instrumental as it were. However 50% is rather an exaggeration. Certainly more than 50% of songs involve amatory encounters of some sort, but probably less than 25% actually involve metaphors of this type. A few of the above examples are not really sexual metaphor, or at least in their earliest versions. In the earliest version of The Foggy Dew, for example, it's a 'bugaboo' or a ghost which is light heartedly frightening the girl to get into bed with him, not really a metaphor as such. Those people who read sexual metaphor into nearly everything ought to get out more. |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: GUEST,Lighter Date: 06 May 12 - 09:29 AM Vance Randolph was virtually the only major American collector to collect bawdy songs indiscriminately along with proper ones. In his edition of Randolph's bawdry, Legman estimates that about 15% of the songs R collected were "unprintable" by standards that didn't really relax until Ed Cray's "The Erotic Muse" appeared in 1969. (And he isn't talking about obscure metaphors like "nightingales," either.) Randolph collected from 1917-1954, almost exclusively in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, Kansas, and Missouri, from informants of all ages. Just how typical that 15% estimate may be of the bawdy content of traditional songs in other regions, in America and elsewhere, is apparently anyone's guess. |
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Subject: Lyr Add: BRAND NEW KEY (Melanie) From: Bee-dubya-ell Date: 06 May 12 - 11:36 AM Just by chance, Melanie's "Brand New Key" has been afflicting me as an earworm today. I'm far from fond of the song, but it gets my vote for the most double entendre loaded song to ever reach #1 on the US pop charts. And she claims to have been unaware of the sexual innuendo when she was writing it. Yeah, right.... "Brand New Key" I rode my bicycle past your window last night I roller skated to your door at daylight It almost seems like you're avoiding me I'm okay alone, but you got something I need (Chorus) Well, I got a brand new pair of roller skates You got a brand new key I think that we should get together and try them out you see I been looking around awhile You got something for me Oh! I got a brand new pair of roller skates You got a brand new key I ride my bike, I roller skate, don't drive no car Don't go too fast, but I go pretty far For somebody who don't drive I been all around the world Some people say, I done all right for a girl (Repeat Chorus) I asked your mother if you were at home She said, yes .. but you weren't alone Oh, sometimes I think that you're avoiding me I'm okay alone, but you've got something I need (Repeat Chorus) |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Paul Burke Date: 06 May 12 - 03:18 PM I've often wondered if this somg that's subject of an old thread, Wheel the perambulator, John, wheel it nice and slow. Don't get riled, mind the child, be careful how you go. When you turn the corner, John, when you cross the road, cock your front wheels up a bit or over goes your load! is actually an extended euphemism for coitus interruptus. |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Steve Gardham Date: 06 May 12 - 03:44 PM And folklore would be much less fun without all the wild speculation! |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: FreddyHeadey Date: 10 Feb 20 - 05:49 PM Bert mentioned a story (legend) about Marie LLoyd. Seems she was called up before the watch committee for singing lewd songs. then gave them her rendition of "Come into the garden Maude" thread.cfm?threadid=13312#109763 It's comes up in the 1990 BBC radio production Marie Lloyd, Queen of the Halls Steve Trafford's adaptation of his stage play stars Elizabeth Mansfield , who played Marie in the original one-woman show. at about 35min - 40min https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b00g46xy occasionally available on Radio4extra |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Gurney Date: 11 Feb 20 - 01:30 AM In the Irish sexual encounter song... As I lifted her petticoat easy and slow, And I tied up my sleeves for to buckle her shoe. |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: GUEST,Daniel Kelly Date: 11 Feb 20 - 04:55 AM Some shanty singers explained to me what a ‘rove’ is. Which completely changed the meaning of a bunch of Irish songs about roving. |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Mr Red Date: 11 Feb 20 - 07:44 AM buckle - has in certain eras been quite specifically used in the pudenda context. Tying up your sleeve - thus leaves little to explain. Wild Mountain Thyme & "If my lassie she'll no come, I'll surely find another to pluck" - depends on your intended outcome, can be interpreted as euphemism. Shanties were pretty much exclusively sung by men deprived of female company so the subjects were: sex, the captain, sex, the weather, sex, the equipment, sex, and sex. The problemo is that collectors had to bowdlerise because of the mores of the day, and Stan Hugill was specific in "camouflaging" as he put it in his book. Those that were at late night shanty sessions tell of the unexpurgated versions that Stan sang. But not if there were women present. At least not any he could spy, I know of one who claims to have been present, if well hidden. |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Mr Red Date: 11 Feb 20 - 08:05 AM the tale that Marie Lloyd was criticised/charged/indicted for singing "She sits among the cabbages and peas" so she changed it to "She squats among the cauliflowers and leeks" is funny, and I have heard it told by Ned Sherrin as true. But scholars more knowledgeable insist it is apocryphal. Or the evidence is just not there. I'm sure she would say such things, but in court? Another tale from the same source was when a heckler shouted "Show us yer fanny** Marie" to which she replied "Shan't now for asking". ** UK "front bottom" |
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Subject: Lyr Add: WATKINS ALE From: John P Date: 11 Feb 20 - 06:28 PM Watkins Ale 16th century That was a maid this other day And she must needs go forth to play. And as she walked, she sighed and said "I am afraid to die a maid." When that be heard a lad, what talk this maiden had, Where of he was full glad and did not spare To say "Fair maid, I pray, wither go to today?" "Good sir," then did she say, "What do you care?" "For I will, without fail, Maiden give to you Watkins ale." "Watkins ale, sir," quoth she, "What is that, I pray you tell me?" 'Tis sweeter far than sugar fine And pleasanter than Muscadine. And if you please fair maid to stay A little while to sport and play I will give you the same, Watkins ale called by name, Or else I were to blame, in truth fair maid. "Good sir," quoth she again, "If you will take the pain, I shall it not refrain, nor be dismayed." He took this maiden then aside And led her where she was not spied And told her many a pretty tale, And gave her well of Watkins ale. When he had done to her his will, They talked but what I shall not skill At last she said, "Spare your tale, Give me some more of Watkins ale Or else I will not stay, for I must needs away, My mother bade me play, the time is past. Therefore, good sir,", quoth she, "if you have done with me." "Nay soft, fair maid," quoth he again at last. "Let us talk a little while." With that the maiden began to smile. And said, "Good sir, full well I know, Your ale I see runs very low." This young man then, begin so blamed, Did blush as one being ashamed. He took her by the middle small, And gave her more of Watkins ale And said, "Fair maid I pray, when you go forth to play, Remember what I say, walk not alone." "Nay sir," said she again. "I thank you for your pain, For fear of further stain, I must be gone." "Farewell maiden," then quoth he; "Adieu good sir," again quoth she Thus they parted then at last, Till thrice three months were gone and passed. This maiden then fell very sick. Her maidenhead began to kick. Her color waxed wan and pale, With taking much of Watkins ale. I wish all maidens coy, that hear this pretty toy, Wherein most women's joy, how they do sport. For surely Watkins ale, and if it be not stale, Will bring them to some bale, as hath report. New ale will make their bellies bowne, As trial by this same has shown. This proverb hath been taught in schools, It is no jesting with edged tools. Good maids and wives, I pardon crave, And lack not that which you would have. To blush it is a woman's grace, And well becometh a maiden's face. For women will refuse the thing that they would choose, So men should them excuse of thinking ill. Cat will after kind, all winkers are not blind, You maidens know my mind, say what you will. When you drink ale, beware the toast, For therein lies the danger most. If any here offended be, Then blame the author, blame not me. |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: GUEST,big al whittle Date: 11 Feb 20 - 07:06 PM 'strumming on me pink ukulele' |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: mayomick Date: 11 Feb 20 - 07:10 PM The Groves of Blarney -about Blarney Castle in Cork - by Richard Alfred Millikin has this verse 'Tis lady Jeffris that owns this station Like Alexander or Queen Helen fair; There's no commander through the nation, For emulation can with her compare. Such walls surround her that no nine pounder Should dare to plunder her place of strength; But Oliver Cromwell he did her pummel, And made a breach in her battlement. |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: mayomick Date: 11 Feb 20 - 07:14 PM What's the name of that Scots song with the lines about bestiality? |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Jim Carroll Date: 12 Feb 20 - 03:17 AM From Irish Traveller, Bill Bryan; recorded in London in 1973 It can be heard on the Musical Traditions CD, 'From Puck to Appleby (available for download) Jim Carroll 8 - Marie (Maureen) from Gippursland (Roud 7269) Bill Bryan Oh the first come up was a blacksmith With a hammer and anvil in his hand, He said he'd hammer a new foundation In Maureen from Gippursland. He hammered her, he hammered her Until his sides was sick and sore, And after all his labour she leaked In the place where she leaked before. Oh the next come up was a saddler With a needle and thread all in his hand, He said he'd sew a new foundation In Maureen from Gippursland. He awled her, he sewed her Until his sides was sick and sore, And after all his labour she leaked In the place where she leaked before. Oh the next come up was a baker With the flour and soda in his hand, He said he'd bake a new foundation In Marie from Gippursland. He baked her, he roasted her Until his sides was sick and sore, And after all his labour she leaked In the place where she leaked before. Oh the next come up was a tailor With the cloth and scissors in his hand, He said he'd cut a new foundation In Marie from Gippursland. He scissored her, he sewed her Until his sides was sick and sore, And after all his labour she leaked In the place where she leaked before. And the next come up was a big ploughman With a horse and plough all in his hands, He said he'd plough a new foundation In Marie from Gippursland. He ploughed her, he harrowed her Until his sides was sick and sore, And after all his labour she leaked In the place where she leaked before. Oh the next come up was a timberman With the axe all in his hand, He said he'd axe a new foundation Into Marie from Gippursland. He chopped her, he sawed her Until his sides was sick and sore, And after all his labour she leaked In the place where she leaked before. Ah, but now the next come up was a big tinkerman With a soldering iron in his hand, He said he'd solder a new foundation In Marie from Gippursland. He rosined her, he soldered her Until his sides were sick and sore, But after all his labour she never leaked In the place where she leaked before. The only other full text of this song recorded from a traditional singer seems to have been a macaronic one (Irish and English) found in Co Mayo in 1936 entitled Mairín Ní Ghiobhalaín, which begins Bhí mise lá ag baint mónach (I was cutting turn one day). A version entitled The Jolly Weaver, described as an old Ulster weaving song, is to be found in The Journal of The Irish Folk Song Society of 1906 as follows: In comes the jolly weaver to weave the orange and the blue, To weave a sink on Morney’s loom his shuttles went so quim And merrily flew from hand to hand, his jacks they were all a trimlin’ Why don’t you shift your temples man. Ti-de-i-e-do-e-dan said old Morney Gibberland Next came in a sailor who often ploughed the raging main; To take a trip with Morney, he thought it neither sin nor shame. He viewed his compass clearly, and feared neither rock nor sand, He steered him to the harbour with old Morney Gibberland There next came in a mason, with hammer, trowel, in his hand To lay a strong foundation for old Morney Gibberland, The mortar it was soft, the stones they wouldn’t steady stand. ‘Clap your plumb-line to the gable,’ said old Morney Gibberland. Next came in a ploughman, with two ploughshares in his hand, To plough a furr for Morney, for old Morney Gibberland Collector’s note: ‘The word ‘quim’ in the first verse means quickly. I have also heard the same word used in conversation in the Co Monaghan’. This is a collation of verses ‘from natives of Belfast, Newtonards (sic) and Downpatrick’, all in the Co Down. They were collected by Edith Wheeler with the music taken down by Mrs C Milligan Fox. The words in italics are hand loom terms. Either the writer was unaware of the erotic nature of the song, or the social restrictions of the time prevented her from referring to it. The word quim in the first verse is a slang term usually referring to the female pudendum! There is also a fragment entitled Mairins Gibberlan, described as ‘decidedly objectionable’, included in the Greig Duncan Collection. Bill Bryan got the song from his father, Martin. Ref: The Journal of The Irish Folk Song Society, 1906; The Greig Duncan Folk Song Collection, vol 7, Mercat Press, 1997 |
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Subject: Lyr Add: FURZE FIELD From: Jim Carroll Date: 12 Feb 20 - 03:21 AM And one from MacColl' nd Seeger's 'Wanton Muse' Jim Carroll FURZE FIELD I have got a furze field, my own dearest jewel, Where all my fine pheasants do fly. And if you comes a-shooting when shooting's in season I'll tell you, love, how to proceed. You bring your dog with you, your gun in your hand, All loaded and primed all at your command, When the pheasants take fright, you must take sight, You shoot the next moment, you're sure to be right. I have got a fishpond, my own dearest jewel, Where all my fine fishes do play. And if you comes s-fishing when fishing's in season, I'll tell you, love, how to proceed. YOU bring your nets with you, your rod in your hand, Your hooks and your angles all at your command. When you throws in all, the fishes will play, It's down to the bottom and that's the right way. I have got a warren, my own dearest jewel, Where all my fine rabbits, do play. And if you comes a-ferretting when ferretin's in season I'll tell you, love, how to proceed. You bring your dog with you, your ferret in your hand, Your spade and your nets all at your command;, And the ferret will bolt and the rabbits will play, For it's down to the bottom, and that's the right way. I have got a park, my own dearest jewel, Where all my fine deers I do keep. And if you comes a-hunting when hunting's in season, I'll tell you love, how to proceed. Your bring your dog with you, your nag in your hand, All saddled, and bridled all at your command. When the deers they will run and the dogs they will It's then "Gee up, Dobbin!" and back they will fall. O some do like hunting and some do like game And shooting a pheasant is a gentleman's game, But fishing in a fishpond is all my delight, Go down to the bottom, you're sure to be right! |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Gordon Jackson Date: 12 Feb 20 - 06:21 AM The Hokey Cokey is about sex? Blimey, I've been doing it wrong all these years (I don't mean the dance - I don't dance). |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: GUEST Date: 12 Feb 20 - 07:48 AM ..until the saucy fiddler he chanced to pass my way And he stole away my bonny bunch of thyme. Tradsinger |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: GUEST,big al whittle Date: 12 Feb 20 - 08:54 AM well that's saucy fiddling for you... |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: GUEST,RJM Date: 25 May 23 - 11:02 AM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfNZwCAhGJE FURZE FIELD |
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Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs? From: Greum Date: 26 May 23 - 03:31 PM Thomas Durfey wrote many songs about sex without mentioning it. The Trooper and his Horse is the only one that comes readily to mind though. |
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