euphemistic for sex? folk songs?

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

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*

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!

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.

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

Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs?
From: Joe_F
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 10:14 PM

Sheath and Knife (Child 16)

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!

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

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!'

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.

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.

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)

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.

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!

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

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.

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.

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.

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"

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.

Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs?
From: GUEST,big al whittle
Date: 11 Feb 20 - 07:06 PM

'strumming on me pink ukulele'

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.

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?

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

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!

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).

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

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...

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

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.

Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs?
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 30 May 23 - 08:51 AM

The Tailor's Britches sung by John Greaves on The Yorkshire Garland. http://yorkshirefolksong.net/song.cfm?songID=49

Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs?
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 30 May 23 - 04:10 PM

Hi Geoff, what are you thinking is euphemistic about the Tailor's Britches? It does mention briefly the 'cuckoo's nest' but almost as a throwaway, more a cliche than a euphemism. The song is certainly not based around euphemism. I'd say it was quite explicit.

Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs?
From: haiqu
Date: 30 May 23 - 10:09 PM

The Wurzels - My Threshing Machine

[Verse 1]
Now I farmed in Congresbury when I were a boy
A-courting of Rose, she were my pride and joy
Now Rosie was pretty and just seventeen
When I showed her the works of me threshing machine
Threshing machine, threshing machine
I showed her the works of my threshing machine

[Verse 2]
She told me that she were a much-travelled girl
Seen faces, been places all over the world
But there was one sight that her eyes never seen
A vertical piston-drive threshing machine
Threshing machine, threshing machine
A vertical piston-drive threshing machine

[Verse 3]
We went to the barn and I took her inside
And said, "If you're good I might give 'ee a ride"
It stood there all sparkling and shiny and clean
She said, "That's what I call a threshing machine"
Threshing machine, threshing machine
"That's what I call a threshing machine"

[Verse 4]
She asked me to demonstrate how the thing worked
So I let out the clutch: the machine went berserk
You couldn't see nought for the smoke and the steam
When I started revving me threshing machine
Threshing machine, threshing machine
When I started revving my threshing machine

[Verse 5]
When I said Rose could drive it, for better or worse
The whole dang contraption went into reverse
The camshaft seized up, well, you know what I mean
And that was the end of me threshing machine
Threshing machine, threshing machine
And that was the end of my threshing machine

Subject: Lyr Add: THE PHOTOGRAPHERS (Grit Laskin)
From: haiqu
Date: 30 May 23 - 10:12 PM

THE PHOTOGRAPHERS
(Grit Laskin)
As recorded by Grit Laskin on "Unabashedly Folk: Songs and Tunes 1979-1985" (2000)

Early Saturday morning, while strolling in the wood,
I chanced upon a lady who by the wayside stood.
"And what, pray tell, would such a lass as you be doing here?"
"I've come to take some photographs," she said as she drew near.

Says me to her, "I do declare, this is a fateful day,
For I had come to photograph, the same as you did say."
So I pulled out my Nikon-F and placed it in her hand.
She said, "That's quite a camera you've got at your command."

Well, my camera so delighted her, that with no more delay
She let me see her camera case, wherein her accessories lay.
"I'm sure," says I, "you've got most everything that can be bought.
Just help me stretch my tripod before I take some shots."

Well, we photographed from haylofts, and up against the wall.
If you've not photographed on a Saturday night, you've not photographed at all..
She had her shutter open wide, for daylight was all gone.
Likewise my naked camera lens, it had its filter on.

Well, this lady had experience with cameras, yes, indeed,
And I thought her exposures the best I ever see'd.
Although she seemed to tire not as on and on we went,
Says I, "We'll have to finish now; my film supply is spent."

Said she, "I've had Minoltas, Yashicas and Rolleis,
Hasselblad and Pentax, likewise a Polaroid;
Miranda, Leica, Nikkormat, a Kodak and the rest,
But now I've had your Nikon-F, and surely it's the best."

Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs?
From: Joe_F
Date: 31 May 23 - 05:58 PM

The line "He courted me my life away", meaning "he got me pregnant", appears in many songs.

Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs?
From: Monique
Date: 01 Jun 23 - 03:02 AM

LA PHOTOGRAPHIE -sung by Pauline Carton (1884-1974)

Entre ses doigts on prend l’ cliché
Et puis à l’instar de Gribouille
Pour qu’il n’entre pas trop séché
Dans son petit bain on le mouille
Ceci fait délicatement
Sans secousse avec minutie
On commence le dév’lopp’ment
Dév’lopp’ment d’ la photographie.

Le cliché baignant dans son bain
Il faut alors sans maladresse
Agiter jusqu’à ce que l’ dessin
De l’image tout à coup se dresse
C’est là la grande précaution
Il faut remuer l’effigie
Pendant toute l’opération
Pour faire un’ bonn’ photographie

Le cliché monte il se maintient
À merveill’ sur la plaqu’ sensible
Attention voilà que ça vient
Qu’ ça vient même aussi bien qu’ possible
Il n’ s’agit pas en vérité
Après autant de minutie
D’n’ avoir à la fin qu’un raté
En guise de photographie

C’est fini, faut pas s’énerver
L’opération est complète
Il n’ reste plus pour le laver
Qu’à mettr’ l’ cliché dans une cuvette
Et si l’ plaisir est sans pareil
Qu’on a pris à tout’ cett’ chimie
On recharge son appareil
Pour fair’ une autr’ photographie.

THE PHOTOGRAPH
(Very literal line-by-line translation)

You take the picture between your fingers
Then, as Gribouille* did
So that it doesn't enter too dry
You wet it in its little bath
This, delicately done,
Without shock, with care,
You start the development
Development of the photograph

The picture bathing in its bath
You must then without clumsiness
Shake until the drawing
Of the picture suddenly raises up
Here stands the big caution,
You must move the effigy
During the whole operation
To make a good photograph

The picture raises up and keeps standing
Wonderfully on the sensitive plate
Beware, it's coming
It's coming even as well as can be
You'd better not, actually
After so much care,
End with a failure
By way of photograph

It's over, no need to get mad
The process is completed
It only remains, in order to wash it,
To put the picture in a dish
And if the pleasure is yonder compare,
That you took with all this chemistry
You load your camera again
To take another photograph

*Gribouille is a character in a children's tale ("L'histoire du véritable Gribouille" by George Sand) who got into the river to avoid being wet by the rain.
The book has been translated into English as "The Mysterious Tale of Gentle Jack and Lord Bumblebee" (1988 so ©)

Recording by Pauline Carton (1884/1974) -I can't for the life of me find out who wrote the song.

Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs?
From: Monique
Date: 01 Jun 23 - 03:06 AM

Yikes! Last verse, 5th line should be "... beyond compare"

Subject: RE: euphemistic for sex? folk songs?
From: GUEST,RJM
Date: 01 Jun 23 - 05:00 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0xFuEgOd3M&t=146s TheGame of all fours