Lyr Req: You dirty little nipper . . .

Subject: Lyr Req: You dirty little nipper . . .
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Feb 14 - 08:00 PM

For years I have found words, melodies, chords, histories, tales, songs, origins of the aforementioned etc., for people. Now I need your help.

I always loved songs that either had a snap or a purpose. So, here is my question.

I recall a song from my youth--I grew up in a less-than-enviable district in one of the tougher cities on this planet--that went as follows:

"Oh you dirty little nipper does your mother know you're out
With your hands in your pockets and your pork sticking out . . .

It was sung by a chorus of 12-year-olds to the tune of Continental Soldier, but it was a different set of words. Most of our granddads or dads had either come back from the war (WWII) or not. Mine did--I was lucky.

Does anyone know the rest of that two-liner?

Thank you for any help you might offer.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: You dirty little nipper . . .
From: Lighter
Date: 17 Feb 14 - 08:40 PM

Try this:


http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_old_folk_song_contains_the_lyrics_Oh_you_dirty_little_devil_does_your_mother_know_you're_out

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: You dirty little nipper . . .
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Feb 14 - 10:12 AM

Thank you very much, Lighter.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: You dirty little nipper . . .
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 20 Feb 14 - 12:32 PM

I wonder which came first: the above poem/song, or the catch phrase "does your mother know you're out?"

From Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present, Volume 2 by John S. Farmer and William Ernest Henley ([London:] Printed for subscribers only, 1891), page 300:

DOES YOUR MOTHER KNOW YOU'RE OUT? phr. (streets').—A popular locution, vague as to meaning and inexact in application—an expression expressive of contempt, incredulity, sarcasm, anything you please.—See ALL MY EYE, STREET CRIES, and infra.

ENGLISH VARIANTS.—Has your mother sold her mangle? Not to-day, or it won't do, Mr. Ferguson! Sawdust and treacle! Draw it mild! And the rest! Who are you? All round my hat! Go it, ye cripples! Shoo, fly! How does the old thing work? Well, you know how it is yourself! How's your poor feet? Why, certainly! I'll have your whelk! Not to-day, baker, call to-morrow, and we'll take a crusty one! Do you see any green in my eye? Put that in your pipe and smoke it! Where are you going on Sunday? Go to Putney! Who stole the donkey: the man in the white hat! Cough, Julia! Over the bender! There you go with your eye out! etc., etc.

FRENCH VARIANTS.—Et les mois de nourrice (=and the rest!); du combustible (popular:=go it you cripples); tu t'en ferais péter le cylindre (popular:=don't you wish you may get it); chiche! (popular: a defiant refusal); chaleur! (popular: expressive of contempt, disbelief, and ironical admiration); croyez ça et buvez de l'eau (popular:=believe that and drink water); à Chaillot (=go to Bath and get your head shaved); tu t'en ferais crèver (pop.:=don't you wish you may get it); colle-toi ça dans l'cornet (pop.:=put that in your pipe and smoke it!) je la connais (pop.:=do you see any green?); j'entrave pas dans tes vannes (thieves':=you don't take me in); de la bourrache! (popular:=no go); un sale truc pour la fanfare (popular: an expression of disgust); de quoi (popular: what next? also=wealth, money, etc.); allez donc raconter cela à dache (thieves':=tell that to the marines!); des dattes! (pop.:=take a carrot!); et ta soeur (popular: indicative of refusal, contempt, and insult); faut pas m'la faire (popular: Walker!); et le pouce (pop.:=and the rest!)

1841. Punch, vol. I. p. 6, col. 2. Where are they that should protect thee In this darkling hour of doubt? Love could never thus neglect thee! DOES YOUR MOTHER KNOW YOU'RE OUT?

1864. Sun, 28 Dec. 'Review of Hotten's Slang Dictionary.' Ridiculous street cries, such as DOES YOUR MOTHER KNOW YOU'RE OUT? Or, Has you Aunt sold her mangle? or, You don't lodge here, Mr. Fergusson—whatever those sapient remarks may mean.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: You dirty little nipper . . .
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Feb 14 - 01:49 PM

And thanks also to you, Jim. Very much appreciated.

Subject: Lyr Add: DOES YOUR MOTHER KNOW YOU'RE OUT?
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 20 Feb 14 - 01:54 PM

I don't think this song was the origin of the catch phrase, but it probably reflects the fact that it was then popular enough to be annoying, and new enough to be remarkable.

From Hodgson's National Songster by Orlando Hodgson (London: Orlando Hodgson, 1832), page 49:


DOES YOUR MOTHER KNOW YOU'RE OUT?

I am the laughing stock of all.
    No rest nor peace have I.
The young, the old, the great and small,
    All at me have a shy.
I thinks it wery, wery hard,
    And so vould you, no doubt,
If they cried, vhene'er you valked abroad,
    "Does your mother know you're out?"

My station is respectable.
    There's nothing about me
In the slightest vay detectable,
    Of the apeing wain cockney.
I keeps my os; I dresses vell;
    But as I rides about,
The cry is—"Ho! my precious svell!
    Does your mother know you're out?"

Then if I ever fishing go,
    Folks vill not let me be.
Vot's mirth to them to me is voe,
    Although, p'rhaps but a spree.
Intently ven I sometimes try,
    Fly-fishing, to catch trout,
Some willain vill come up and cry—
    "Does your mother know you're out?"

It's really quite a misery,
    To be so much annoyed.
In fearing this wile quizzery,
    Friend and foe I alike awoid.
From post to pillar I am chased,
    And driven like a scout.
One to ask at ev'ry corner's placed—
    "Does your mother know you're out?"

I vonce the nuisance to escape,
    Vos forced a cab to call,
But the fellers out of spite did gape,
    And vouldn't hear me bawl;
Then my pursuers tipt the vink.
    The cads set up a shout—
(I felt so queer you cannot think)—
    "Does your mother know you're out?"

For my part, nothing can I see
    About my person flaring,
Vy they should push their fun at me,
    And saucily be staring.
'Tis shameful, and vith rage I burn
    That ev'ry stupid lout
Should cry, vhichever vay I turn—
    "Does your mother know you're out?"

To a ball last night I vent,
    And happy might have been,
A pleasant ev'ning there have spent,
    Vith a damsel—beauty's queen!
But as a valtz ve tvisted,
    She vith an artful pout,
Asked, as not to be resisted,
    "Does your mother know you're out?"

My mind's made up; I vill not stay
    In town, to be derided,
But to some silent glen avay,
    Vere my grief can be subsided.
I'll seek some shelt'ring peaceful nook,
    Vere none can come and rout,
Or question me, vith fiendish look—
    "Does your mother know you're out?"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: You dirty little nipper . . .
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 20 Feb 14 - 02:33 PM

Here's the oldest version I can find, of the rhyme quoted in the original request:

The Iron Puddler: My Life in the Rolling Mills and What Came of It by James John Davis (1922?)

The first time I went to Sunday-school, I met Babe Durgon. He set up the cry:
"Little boy, little boy, Does your mother know you're out;
With your breeches put on backward, And the seams all inside out!"

[Here are various other versions I found in other books:]

Why you dirty little beggar! Does your mother know you're out?
With your hands in your pockets and your shirttail out?

You dirty little bugger, does your mother know you're out?
With your hands in your pockets and your shirttail out.

Oh, you dirty little devil, does your mother know you're out
With your pants unzipped and your diddle hanging out?

Oh, you dirty little devil, does your mother know you're out,
With your pants wide open and your pecker hanging out?

[I don't think there was ever more than those 2 lines, although it could easily be combined with other "floaters" and used as a jump-rope rhyme.]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: You dirty little nipper . . .
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Feb 14 - 03:47 PM

Awesome. Thank you. I can easily hear my grandfather singing that with a friend of his. They got two sheets to the wind back about 1955 or so, and the two lines I gave were the two they did unless my memory is going. I thought there was more, but knowing him he may have made it up for the occasion. Years later I was able to work a cleaned-up version into a short story I wrote about him and one of several visits we took to the botanical gardens in Montreal. I am certainly thankful to you for the time you've put into this. Merci beaucoup :-)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: You dirty little nipper . . .
From: Lighter
Date: 20 Feb 14 - 07:12 PM

BTW, what is the "tune of Continental Soldier"?

That's a new song on me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: You dirty little nipper . . .
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Feb 14 - 10:56 PM

Do your ears hang low?

The lyrics to Continental Soldier are a bit different. If you want to hear the melody, go to YouTube and search

Continental Soldier song

:-)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: You dirty little nipper . . .
From: Lighter
Date: 21 Feb 14 - 12:04 PM

The "Continental Soldier" tunes on YouTube are "Turkey in the Straw" - as it used to be known.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: You dirty little nipper . . .
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 22 Feb 14 - 10:56 AM

We used to have an old 78 that went:

Does your mother know you're out, Cecelia?
......
How about a little kiss, Cecelia?
Just a kiss, you'd never miss, Cecelia...

I always thought the male singer sounded nasty and smarmy. I wouldn't trust him an inch.

As smart mothers would say, "Never go alone into a room with him."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: You dirty little nipper . . .
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Aug 14 - 02:01 AM

Sorry to bump an old thread but my grandfather always used to sing:

"Oh you dirty little devil, does your mother know you're out,
running around the corner with your shirt tail out?
Oh you better tuck it in before your mother finds out,
you dirty little devil with your shirt tail out."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: You dirty little nipper . . .
From: Lighter
Date: 31 Aug 14 - 08:38 AM

There is no "sorry" in Mudcat.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: You dirty little nipper . . .
From: Joe_F
Date: 31 Aug 14 - 09:23 PM

Wikipedia et al. nonwithstanding, I have never heard "Do your ears hang low" ("Continental Soldier") sung to a tune anything like "Turkey in the Straw". In my experience it has always been sung ttto "Sailor's Hornpipe".

Another naughty verse to it begins:

Tiddlywinks, young man, get a woman if you can.
If you can't get a woman, get a clean old man....

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: You dirty little nipper . . .
From: Lighter
Date: 01 Sep 14 - 08:50 AM

Oscar Brand sang those lines to the tune of ...

"Turkey in the Straw."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: You dirty little nipper . . .
From: Joe_F
Date: 01 Sep 14 - 10:40 PM

At any rate, a person of my age & sex must welcome the propagation of such sound advice.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: You dirty little nipper . . .
From: GUEST,Phyllis
Date: 24 Oct 14 - 10:57 AM

My Irish grandmother and great grandmother (both born in the 1800s in Ireland)
sang the following:

Oh ye dirty little beggar, does your mother know you're out?
With a hole in your pants and your shirt stickin out.
Well, I'll lock ye in a box, and I'll throw away the key.
Fer all the dirty tricks that you pulled on me.
Keep the ol' boy rollin, rolliln down the hill.
And if I don't play it on my ol' banjo.

Tune was Turkey in the Straw ;-)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: You dirty little nipper . . .
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 24 Oct 14 - 02:34 PM

It would be interesting to see the comparative prevalence and distribution of the 2 tunes, Turkey in the Straw' and 'Sailor's Hornpipe'

Joe, I'm with you on both accounts and I live in Hull, on the Humber.
For most of my life I have known amongst my bawdy ditties:

Do your balls hang low?
Can you swing 'em to and fro?
Can you tie em in a knot, can you tie em in a bow?
Do you get a funny feeling when you bang em on the ceiling
Do you get a funny feeling when your balls hang low?

and
Tiddleywinks old man shag a woman if you can,
If you can't shag a woman shag an old tin can....(there may have been more)

Both have the tune 'Sailor's/College Hornpipe'

Only in the last couple of years have I heard 'Do your ears hang low' to 'Turkey in the Straw', on CDs of songs for children, and played on a cuddly toy mechanical Elephant, both American voices.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: You dirty little nipper . . .
From: GUEST,Bradlee
Date: 15 Jun 16 - 04:50 PM

My dad would sing a song similar and it went like..

Hey little dirty devil with the hole in your pants
Does your mama know you're out with your (blank/Quick silence)
Hanging out!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: You dirty little nipper . . .
From: GUEST,Loui M
Date: 09 Aug 17 - 08:17 PM

You're a naughty little boy
Does your mother know you're out
with your pants unbuttoned
and your shirt sticking out
Did you ever go a 'fishin
on a sunny sunny day
sitting on the dock
And the dock rolled away

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: You dirty little nipper . . .
From: GUEST,GUEST
Date: 14 Jun 20 - 01:03 AM

IT'S A LONG TIME SINCE THE QUESTION WAS RAISED, BUT I STUMBLED ONTO THIS AND CAN REPORT THAT BOTH PAIRS OF MY GRANDPARENTS WERE BORN IN THE 1870'S in West Ireland. They all used to sing the same lyrics:
"O, ya darty little divil, does yer mother know yer out,
   With a hole in yer stockin' and yer toes peepin' out?
   Ya'd better get yer boots on 'fore yer mama finds out,
   Ya darty little divil with yer toes peepin' out!"

I think my grandparents' birthdates and origins add authenticity to these lyrics, with an added touch from the use of the word "peeping", which was (and still is) common in Ireland and England for our "peeking."
I can remember the jaunty tune clearly, but can't think of any equivalent. It most certainly was NOT "Turkey in the Straw."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: You dirty little nipper . . .
From: GUEST,Starship
Date: 14 Jun 20 - 04:41 PM

The melody to the first three lines is very muck like the tune used with 'Continental Soldier' (Do your balls hang low, etc.). or so I remember. See if that rings any bells, GUEST,GUEST. However, considering it took me close to four hours to think of it, and since it's my memory, don't make book on it.