Lyr: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts

Subject: Lyr Add: GREAT, GREEN GOBS OF GREASY, GRIMY GOPHER
From: Gene Graham
Date: 22 May 97 - 08:09 PM

Hey, Ya'll - let's mix some of this with the WORMS and make a pot of WITCHES' BREW!

GREAT, GREEN GOBS OF GREASY, GRIMY GOPHER GUTS
(Words and music by Tom Glazer)

Refrain:
Great, Green Gobs of Greasy, Grimy, Gopher Guts
Mutilated Monkey Meat, Itty Bitty Birdie Feet
Great, Green Gobs of Greasy, Grimy, Gopher Guts
And me without a spoon.

Some people eat hamburger meat;
While others like potatoes
And some must chew their Irish stew;
Along with ripe tomatoes
I can't understand why in ev'ry land;
They serve such peculiar dishes
For wherever I go - they always say No!;
When I tell them what my wish is
... I scream for:
Refrain:

I can pay my way in a French Cafe;
Which is big and quite expensive
Where the diners dine and the wine is fine;
But I'm always apprehensive
When the menu comes - I twiddle my thumbs;
At the list of fancy dishes
Caviar and steaks - champagne and cake;
Is never what my wish is
... I beg for:
Refrain:

In the life to come - I intend to hum;
This hymn to old Saint Peter
I won't need much - when my harp I touch;
And become a heavenly eater
I won't ask for money or milk and honey;
And my voice will never falter
While the trumpets blare on the Golden Stair;
As I stand at the Shining Altar
... I yell for:
Refrain:

TAG: And me without a spoon! .. YUK!

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 May 97 - 02:33 AM

Wow! This was one of my favorites when I was in third grade, but I didn't know it had verses. Is there a recording available? -Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: cleod
Date: 24 May 97 - 09:12 AM

I remember this from a book I had when I was a kid, something 'bout a kid who got sent to summer camp; I always wondered what this sounded like...

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From:
Date: 24 May 97 - 12:21 PM

YEP! Got the album - LONG ago for the Grandkids..

Still trying to restore My WAV maker/audio program from the BIG CRASH OF '97....

Can email an attachment when I get it working again..email me privately, if interested.

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From:
Date: 24 May 97 - 01:55 PM

I believe there is a book in print of disgusting songs for children. I have seen a copy recently and will hunt it out.The version of this song I remember had two different lines, and a missing word that has bothered me. The lines were: "Mutilated monkey meat, concentrated dirty feet, one whole pound of all-purpose porpoise pus, swimming in _____oil." I forget what the oil was - saturated? (seems a little bland). Anyone? Yours, Peter

Subject: Lyr Add: BLACK, WHITE, YELLOW AND GREEN
From: rich r
Date: 25 May 97 - 12:40 AM

This song needs a side dish. I heard Roy Harris do this years ago on the radio.

BLACK, WHITE, YELLOW AND GREEN

There was an old woman she kept fat hogs
She made plum puddings they poisoned the dogs
They were black, white yellow and green
Black white yellow and green
the rarest plum puddings you ever have seen
They were black, white, yellow and green.

She took them and dropped them into a pot
And she boiled them until they were blazing hot
They were....

She baked them until they were blazing red,
One was like leather, the other like lead
They were...

She took up a pin and pricked the skin
The gravy ran out and the maggots ran in
They were....

She took them and put them down on the floor
They each in turn ran out of the door
They were...

She took them and put them up on a shelf
If you want any more you can help yourself
They were....

rich r

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 May 97 - 01:27 AM

Here's what's in the Prairie Home Companion Folk Song Book (Marcia & Jon Pankake):

Great big gobs of
Greasy grimy gopher guts
Jubilated monkey's feet
Concentrated birdies' feet
A great big jar of
All-purpose porpoise pus
And me without a spoon!
(I love it so)

tune: "the Old Grey mare," with a "Good Evening, Friends" ending)

Well, in third grade in Detroit, it was

Great green gobs of
Greasy grimy gopher guts
Greasy grimy gopher guts
Greasy grimy gopher guts

Great green gobs of
Greasy grimy gopher guts
And me without a spoon.

None of that fancy stuff if you want the Motown sound.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: H. Burhans
Date: 25 May 97 - 04:56 PM

I learned this in 2nd grade in Karachi, Pakistan in 1960 -

great green globs of greasy grimy gopher guts
mutilated monkey meat
dirty little birdie's feet
one-half pound of all-purpose-porpoise pus
floating in the pink lemonade

The other song that springs to mind in this vein is the good old" "Did you ever see a black car go by" Ah, those were the days! HB

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: Peter Timmerman
Date: 26 May 97 - 09:31 AM

Dear HB, By george I think you may be right! I somehow got oil on the brain. Pink lemonade. The dactylics tell the tale! Now where is that spoon. Yours, Peter

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: ron k
Date: 28 May 97 - 09:30 PM

At the summer camp I went to we sang it this way...

Great big gobs of greasy, grimy gopher guts
Mutilated monkey meat, itty-bitty birdie feet
French-fried eyeballs swimming in a pool of blood
And I forgot my spoon

Great song, I would love to get a copy of that wav file when it comes available.

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From:
Date: 04 Jun 97 - 08:11 PM

or ....thirty turdy birdie feet....

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: catfeet
Date: 04 Jun 97 - 11:37 PM

or even ...turdy dirty birdie feet swimmin in a great big bowl of blood... What a great thread! I seem to remember that there were infinite variations depending on how badly you wanted to gross out the other kids you were playing with. We did this until somebody unanomously won the gross-out award.

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: Tamara
Date: 06 Jun 97 - 07:34 PM

Naturally, I must throw in:

...chopped up baby parakeet
[alt: turkey throw-up in the street]
French fried eye-balls
Rolling down the dusty street
And I forgot my spoon.


We always added, with a rag-time drawl:

But I brought my straw --


Tamara

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From:
Date: 07 Jun 97 - 02:37 PM

When I was a boy in Bolton, England, we had a gross out that went like this...

Coody, coody custard, green snot pie, all mixed together with a dead dogs' eye, slap it on a buttie (sandwich), nice and thick, and wash it down with a bottle of sick.

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: Peter Timmerman
Date: 08 Jun 97 - 10:20 AM

This sounds like a seminal influence on "semolina pilchard" in the Beatles' I Am The Walrus. i wonder if anyone has noticed. Yours, Peter

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: annie
Date: 10 Jun 97 - 11:45 PM

great big globs of poison ivy pimple pus......

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: Peter Timmerman
Date: 13 Jun 97 - 03:31 PM

From: Ian MacDonald, 1994. Revolution in the Head: The Beatles Records and the Sixties (London: Fourth Estate), p. 214.

"Reminiscing, Lennon and his Liverpool friend Pete Shotton recalled a typical playground nonsense chant: " Yellow matter custard, green slop pie/ all mixed together with a dead dog's eye"." (On the writing of "I Am The Walrus").

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: Tanya A.
Date: 12 Jan 00 - 01:10 AM

You are WONDERFUL! THANK YOU THANK YOU!

I have been looking for the extra lyrics to "Great Green Gobs" for at least 15 years. I kept stopping right at "Irish Stew", but I KNEW I had it right, even though most people haven't heard the whole thing. If this is ever available as a .wav or on an album, I want it! I honestly cannot thank you enough..my search has ended and now I can sing it, at the top of my lungs, to my own children!!

-Tanya

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: Barbara
Date: 12 Jan 00 - 01:26 AM

And this NYs, at Joe's camp song workshop someone followed it with "Come up, come up, come up my dinner, come up, come up...." followed by appropriate sounds. (Tune: chorus of My Bonny lies Over the Ocean).
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: Owlkat
Date: 12 Jan 00 - 05:55 AM

Morning all,
There is indeed a book with the title "Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts". I know because I took it out of the Whitehorse Library last year,and if I can get it out of a library in the Yukon, surely it can be found in the world down south, as we say up here.
Anyway, the book is full of rhymes and songs created by kids from grown up songs and things. It's hysterical.
Cheers for now
Owl/Mart

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: T in Oklahoma (Okiemockbird)
Date: 12 Jan 00 - 09:26 AM

There is also a book titled, Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts: The Subversive Folklore of Childhood. Click here for information.

T.

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: Gorgeous Gary
Date: 12 Jan 00 - 10:52 PM

T: I actually appear in that book, though under an older nickname, "Electro" and mistakenly transplanted to New Jersey. The entry I could find is on P.116, parodying my elementary school to the Marine Corps hymn.

I know both the instigators (science-fiction authors and editors Josepha Sherman and Toni Weisskopf) and was present in the on-line forum on the now-deceased GEnie online service where the book idea was launched

-- Gary

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: reeebop
Date: 13 Jan 00 - 01:16 AM

of course, when we sang it(and it still alive and breeding at girlscout camps everywhere)

after "and i forgot my spoon"

we'd always add BUT I GOT A STRAW!!!! and start making slurppin sounds....

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: MarkS
Date: 14 Jan 00 - 12:13 AM

The other use of this song was to tease some poor unfortunate. Make the last line: "(insert name of victim here) ain't ya glad you brought a spoon."

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: open mike
Date: 14 Mar 03 - 04:09 AM

In NEBR our menu was Oh So much more refined..

Great big globs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts,
mutilated monkey meat,
contaminated camel crap,
all rolled together at a dollar 98 a plate
at joe's bar and grill


and then there was the ever popular:
Granny's in the cellar,
Lordy Lordy,can't you smell her,
bakin' biscuits on her darned old dirty stove
(dirty stove)
in her eye there is some matter
that keeps drippin' in the batter
and she whistles as a (snif) runs down her nose
(down her nose), down her nose, (down her nose)
down her nose, (down her nose)
and she whistles as a (snif) runs down her nose

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 14 Mar 03 - 04:36 AM

And at Woodrow Wilson Jr. High School in Philadelphia, ca. 1964, it was:

Great green gobs of ooey gooey gopher guts
Mutilated monkey meat
Dirty birdies' smelly feet
Rats and bats and barracuda, slightly chewed
That's what goes into Wilson food!

Then there was (to the tune of the TV commercial for Beefaroni):

What are we having for lunch?
We're having shitaroni
It's made with stale baloney
Shitaroni's really neat
Tastes and smells like dirty feet
Makes you vomit in the street
Yaaay! for Shitaroni

(I think I'd better to go to sleep now...)

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: Rapparee
Date: 14 Mar 03 - 08:36 AM

From a maragrine commercial:

"If you think it's butter, but it's snot, it's Chiffon."

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: Joe_F
Date: 14 Mar 03 - 07:01 PM

"What's that on your lip, honey?"
"No, it's snot, honey."

And, for dessert:

Old Mr Kelly
Had a pimple on his belly.
His wife cut it off,
And it tasted like jelly.

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: GUEST,Former Boy Scout
Date: 11 Jun 03 - 10:18 PM

Great big gobs of greasy, grimy gopher guts
Mutilated monkey meat, Tiny peoples purple feet,
Itty-bitty birdie beak,
French-fried eyeballs swimming in a pool of snot
And I forgot my spoon....
Great big globs of poison ivy pimple pus
Turkey vomit in the street
and I forgot my spoon.
Coody, coody custard, green snot pie, all mixed together with a dead dogs' eye, slap it on a greasy pork sandwich smothered in flys and I forgot my spoon.
But I brought my strawwwww!

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 16 Jun 03 - 12:25 PM

From Lane School (later Jr. High), West Allis, Wisconsin (west 'burb of Milwaukee) c. 1958 --

Great big gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts
Mincilated monkey meat, little girls' dirty feet,
All mixed up for (victim's name here) to eat.

Linn

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: LadyJean
Date: 17 Jun 03 - 01:10 AM

The book, "Greasy Grim Gopher Guts" is the work of a delightful lady named Josepha Sherman. She is a fine writer, an eminent folklorist, and a delightful human being. Drop in on her web page, sometime. The first email I sent was to MS. Sherman. I sent her rhyme my grandmother learned when she was a child, that included the phrase ninny of your tintype.

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 17 Jun 03 - 07:43 PM

Trying to FIND her web page -- there's a fantasy/science fiction writer by the same name. All sorts of pages devoted to the book Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts, but can't quickly find her page in the pile.

Post it? (Please)

Linn

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: LadyJean
Date: 17 Jun 03 - 11:57 PM

Jo Sherman IS the Fantasy and Science Fiction author. I go to cons, when I can afford it, like a lot of us folkies, and I met her at Ad Astra, the Toronto con. We've had some nice talks on the subject of folklore. While I'm sure she likes to meet a nice, fawning fan, she is also pleased to meet another folklore enthusiast.
Oh! Her book about the Babylonian demon in New York is pretty good

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Jun 03 - 12:43 AM

OK, so now the burning question is, Is this traditional? The first post attributes the song to Tom Glazer, who has also been blamed for "On Top of Spaghetti." But did he really write these songs, or did he just codify an older children's traditional song? What do they conclude in the Sherman/Weisskopf book? Songfile.com (Harry Fox Agency) attributes both songs to Tom Glazer.
The Traditional Ballad Index has an entry on this song, but not much. It cites the Pankake/PHC lyrics that are posted above.
-Joe Offer-

---

Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts

DESCRIPTION: "Great (big) gobs of greasy, grimy gopher guts...." The singer lists a variety of available non-delicacies, and laments, "And me without a spoon."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1988
KEYWORDS: food parody
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 133, "Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts" (1 text, tune referenced)
DT, GOPHRGTS
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Old Gray Mare (I) (The Old Gray Horse; The Little Black Bull)" (tune)
NOTES: People swear this is a folk song. I haven't heard it, but I can't prove them wrong. - RBW
File: PHCFS133

---

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography

The Ballad Index Copyright 2017 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: GUEST,Lidy
Date: 18 Jun 03 - 04:41 AM

To bring in our suburban exotic cooking influence, our monkey feet were always "marinated" when we sang that song, and probably served with a light jus of buffalo fat or something equally middle-class!

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: GUEST,Noneofyour Beeswax
Date: 19 Jun 03 - 10:00 PM

great green globs of greasy grimy gopher guts, mutilated monkey meat, dirty,dirty birdy feet all wrapped up in my father's stinky underwear but i forgot my spoon.......but i had a strawwwwwwww

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 20 Jun 03 - 09:07 AM

I've done a reasonable amount of informal research on the subject (and other regional differences in schoolyard chants), and Milwaukee seems to be the only place using the word "mince-ilated."

Linn

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Jun 03 - 12:40 PM

...but do we have any evidence that this song is traditional???
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: GUEST,.oO0 Mike 0Oo.
Date: 11 Sep 03 - 01:29 AM

All I can add to this is that I still hear kids chanting the first line or two now and again. I am in Connecticut and am 23yrs old and God only know's where I heard it first.... I remember the line as going "..little birdies bloody feet.." I really would like to find an actual recording of any version at all of the song..

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: GUEST,JB
Date: 18 Oct 03 - 10:51 PM

I sang a part of this to my husband the other day and he thought I was nuts. I just had to do a search to prove I'm not the only one. I remember my brothers singing this around the house, at least 20 years ago. All I can remember is... Great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts, choped up frog legs, tiny little monkey brains, throw it in a frying pan.... It was certianly interesting to read all the other variations.

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: GUEST,l&m
Date: 02 Jan 04 - 09:39 PM

great big globs of greasy
grimy gopher guts
mutilated monky feet
chopped up baby parikeet

also you can say

great big globs of poisin
ivy pimple puss
chopped up baby parikeet
turky throw up in the street

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: YorkshireYankee
Date: 02 Jan 04 - 11:40 PM

Learned at Manoa Valley elementary school in Honolulu, Hawaii, 1969-70:

Great green gobs of greasy, grimy gopher guts
Mutilated monkey meat, chopped up birdies' feet
French fried eyeballs swimmin in a pool of blood
And I forgot my spoon...

So... "EARLIEST DATE: 1988" refers to what? The earliest date on a written copy? The first time one of the editors/collectors knows of the song being sung? All I can say is I'm sure it was around for years before I learned it -- which was almost 20 years before '88...

Cheers,

YY

Subject: RE: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: GUEST,Gene
Date: 03 Jan 04 - 12:42 AM

I have LP of GGGoGGG by Tom Glazer

PM me for an MP3 or RealAudio file

Subject: RE: Lyr: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: GUEST,yucky
Date: 14 Jan 04 - 05:15 PM

Ok this is what I remember from back in grade school:

great green gobbs of greemy grimy goopher guts.
Mutilatd monkey meat, chopped up parakeet.
Chopped up eardrums swimming in my peanut butter.
Oops I forgot my spoon!
So I got me a scab sandwitch right on top(?)
monkeys eyeballs, camel snot.
chopped up eardrums dipped in glue....
eat your sandwitch its good for you!

Subject: RE: Lyr: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From:
Date: 06 Apr 04 - 03:47 PM

I'd *love* to get an MP3 of this if you have it!

- Lars

Subject: RE: Lyr: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: GUEST,Jord (AKA- Bear Cub)
Date: 23 Feb 05 - 09:31 PM

I'd always heard the song being sung like this:

Great Big Globs of Greasy, Grimy, Gopher Guts,
Marmilated Monkey meat, wrapped in little piggy feet,
luke warm vomit floatin' down the avenue,
and I forgot my spoon, but I have a Strawwww!!!!!!!!

Subject: RE: Lyr: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Feb 05 - 01:03 AM

Just this evening while out driving with my children we were arguing good-naturedly and comparing verses to this song. I told them to check out Mudcat, and do a Boolean search on "Great Green Gobs" and "Monkey Meat." Now I'll just direct them to this thread. :)

SRS

Subject: RE: Lyr: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: GUEST,brit
Date: 15 Apr 06 - 06:21 PM

great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts
mutilated monkey meat
chopped up birdy's feet
french fried eyeballs rolling up and down the street
and i forgot my spoon!!

Subject: RE: Lyr: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 02:32 PM

well, this thread sure goes back a long ways.... I've got a set of lyrics I like to this song (and there are TONS of lyrics), now I'm looking for a strictly instumental version for a Cub Scout Sing-a-long.

any one have it, please email [e-mail]

thanks!

Subject: RE: Lyr: Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
From: Elettra
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 02:46 PM

We used to sing it as...
BOYS are made of greasy grimy gopher guts, etc.