Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry

Subject: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: KingBrilliant
Date: 26 Jan 00 - 08:55 AM

I'll be going to the Gosport & Fareham folk festival at easter (UK). When I told my dad about it he started to sing the following (to the tune of yankee-doodle)

Be I Berkshire? Be I Buggery! I do come from Fareham. My old wife's got 17 children, She knows how to rear 'em.

That's all he knows - does anyone know this one, & is there any more to it? It just begs to be sung at Fareham!!

Kris

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: Snuffy
Date: 26 Jan 00 - 09:16 AM

It's a parody of Buttercup Joe, which is in the DT database

All I know of this version is

Be I Berkshire? Be I Buggery! I comes up from Fareham.
I got a gal with calico drawers, and I knows how to tear 'em.

Hope you find more of this

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: Snuffy
Date: 26 Jan 00 - 09:17 AM

p.s. I think I've also heard it sung to the Yankee Doodle tune.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: Micca
Date: 26 Jan 00 - 09:33 AM

I seem to remember a chorus not to the yankee doodle tune along the lines of and we'll all go back to Oggy land
to Oggy land
to Oggy land
and we'll all go back to Oggy land
Where they can't tell sugar from
tissue paper, tissue paper, marmalade or jam.
and we'll all go back to Oggy land

I heard both of the verses above sung as successive verses

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 26 Jan 00 - 09:39 AM

I live in Berkshire but I'm from Brummagem and I deny any knowledge of buggery, and know bugger all about this song, sorry!
:o)
RtS

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: The Shambles
Date: 26 Jan 00 - 10:18 AM

Last time i heard this song was on Fair Isle, of all places. This may be of interest too. Bawdy Song

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: Bert
Date: 26 Jan 00 - 10:24 AM

I first heard it as

Eye tie tiddle-um, eye tie tiddle-um
I comes up from Sarum,
I gotta girl, wears calico drawers
and I knows how to tear um, riiiip (make the best ripping noise you can here)

Bert

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: Dave (the ancient mariner)
Date: 26 Jan 00 - 10:25 AM

Be I Hampshire Be I buggery I comes up from Fareham
My old mans got nineteen kids and he knows how to rear um
The Oggie song is a different song altogether...Cor bugger Jagger..

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 27 Jan 00 - 04:47 AM

So this seem to spread over most mid/south counties, although Dorset has not yet had a mention. Sarum is the old name for Salisbury, Wilts, in case anyone was wondering. Bit like the saying ......... born .........bred, strong in the arm and thick in the head, inserting a county name on the dots, I've heard it for Dorset, Yorkshire (with contractions, thick in t'head), Somerset and Brummegen. Yes, I know Brummegen isn't a county, they have delusions of grandeur!

LTS

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: GUEST,KingBrilliantabroad
Date: 27 Jan 00 - 01:53 PM

Thanks guys. My dad will be well chuffed - I think mum thought he was just making it all up.....

Cheers

Kris

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: The Shambles
Date: 27 Jan 00 - 02:26 PM

Liz

If you have a look at the link, you will see that Dorset (Wareham)was in fact mentioned first. Which is as it should be of course.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: roopoo
Date: 28 Jan 00 - 02:36 AM

By the way, Liz, the stong in the arm, thick in the head bit is well documented as Derbyshire, where I hail from. "Derbyshire born, Derbyshire bred, Strong in th'arm and wick (quick!!!) in th'ead". But yes, you could apply it to anywhere. And yes, I have heard of the "Be I Berkshire" song, but couldn't begin to put verses to it. I always think of Wareham when I run it through my head, but that could just be my memory at fault.

mouldy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 28 Jan 00 - 03:33 AM

Talking of Sarum ...

There was a young curate of Salisbury
Whose antics were quite halisbury-scalisbury:
He ran around Hampshire
Without any pampshire,
Till his bishop said he must walisbury!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: GUEST,micca
Date: 28 Jan 00 - 05:04 AM

For the Trans-ponders Salisbury is contracted to Sarum and Hampshire is commonly abbreviated to Hants

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 28 Jan 00 - 08:23 AM

Shambles, do you mean, perchance Fareham? As mentioned in the first posting to this thread? Cos that ain't in Darzet! It's Hants!

And how do you know Wareham?

LTS

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: The Shambles
Date: 28 Jan 00 - 04:35 PM

Liz

If you look in my first posting to this thread you will see a link called Bawdy Song, which contains an earlier query on this song.

I know Wareham because I live in Dorset and I know i'm not lost.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 28 Jan 00 - 07:08 PM

Ah, another Darzet dumplin to swap stories of the old homestead with.... How is the weather, has Portland beach made it up to Fortuneswell recently?

I suspect that the Wareham was a misprint on a copy somewhere, because I've been familiar (!) with this song for what feels like centuries, but never heard of a Dorset connection. Still, nice to know we have a claim to it as well..

LTS

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: wildlone
Date: 28 Jan 00 - 07:22 PM

Be I Darzet be I buggery I comes up vrom Wareham.
this is how I've heard the start t'was a long time ago though.
dave, yet another Dorset dumpling.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: roopoo
Date: 29 Jan 00 - 03:37 AM

A propos of nothing, I lived in Blandford Forum for a year and started school there in 1957, but I don't suppose the song would have imprinted on a 5 year old, especially in the 50s!

mouldy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From:
Date: 12 Feb 05 - 06:25 PM

I recall this ditty from my misspent youth- also a friend who lived in the Southhampton area recalls the same words..

Be I Hampshire? Be I buggery,
I comes up from Wareham,
I know a girl with calico drawers,
and I knows 'ow to tear 'em.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: greg stephens
Date: 12 Feb 05 - 06:30 PM

I reckon this must be a great claim to unique fame: I recorded Robert Graves singing this song, c1964.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: Tradsinger
Date: 13 Feb 05 - 04:24 AM

Here's what they sing around here (Gloucestershire)

I know where there's a blackbird's nest
And I know where he be
He be up yon wurzul tree
And I be a're 'ee
'e sees I,I sees 'ee
And he calls I a bugger and a liar
When I reach that blackbird's net
I'll set the bugger on fire
Working on the farm, four and twenty years
You can't take a rise out of I
For there byunt no birds on this yere farm
Can hide their nests from I
I wish I was back home in Gloucester
Where all they birds do flock round I
I'd clap may hands and laugh like buggery
Just to see they blackbird fly
Be I Gloucestershire, be I buggery
I comes up from Wareham
My old girl has 14 kids and she knows how to rare 'em
And they calls I Buttercup Joe.

Whereas in Hampshire, they sing:

Be I Hampshire, be I buggery
I comes up from Fareham
Where all the girls wear calico drawers
And I knows how to tear 'em
Where be blackybird, where be 'ee?
He be up yon wurzle tree
And I be a'er 'ee
Now 'ee sees I and I sees 'ee
With a bloody girt stick I'm a'er 'ee
Blackybird, I love 'ee
Gor, bugger me.

(There's also a Hampshire version in one of Bob Copper's books)

But also the Cornish claim it. Their version starts
Where be that blackbird to? etc then it goes into a verse about making fast the dinghy and ends up with the Oggy version.

It's one that Sharp and Child missed.

Enjoy

Gwilym

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: GUEST,Joe_F
Date: 13 Feb 05 - 01:31 PM

Heard in St Andrews, Scotland, ca. 1959:

Be I Berkshire, be I buggery,

I comes up from Pusey.

Yesterday I had a cow --

Buggers can't be choosy.

The stanza about the prolific lady, there, had "bear 'em" instead of "rear 'em".

--- Joe Fineman    [e-mail]

||: Dress for success: wear a white penis. :||

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: GUEST,andy
Date: 13 Feb 05 - 02:13 PM

A version (part) of the song that I used to hear around the Sheffield clubs in the 60's goes,

Be I Somerset, be I buggery
I comes up from Wareham
My girl her wears Calico drawers
And i knows how to tear 'em

Ch.
The fly, the fly, the fly be on me termits (turnips?)
It be all, but I, fer I, ter try
Ter keep fly off me termits

Oh come into the garden Maude
And don't be so perticlar
We tried it horizontal, now
Let's try it perpendiclar

The fly etc etc

Thats all I recall,

Regards    Andy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: GUEST,Barrie Roberts
Date: 13 Feb 05 - 09:43 PM

Born & bred in Hampshire, I learned the version known as 'The Fly Be On The Turmut' (Turnip). A few more verses:

I wish I was a ring
Upon a young girl's hand,
Then every time she scratched herself
I'd see the Promised Land.

Rich folk uses Vaseline,
Poor folk uses lard,
My old man just spits on it
And rams it in real hard.

Happy turmut-hoeing!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: GUEST,Elfcall
Date: 14 Feb 05 - 05:00 AM

Just a thought but could the 'Be I Berkshire' part be rhyming slang?

Elfcall

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: Bob Hitchcock
Date: 14 Feb 05 - 11:35 AM

My dad used to sing this, and had 2 versions:

a) Be I Berkshire be I buggery I came up from Fareham,
   Where all the girls wear calico drawers,
   And I know how to tear 'em.

or

b) Be I Berkshire be I buggery I came up from Fareham,
   I bought my wife one pair of drawers,
   But she never has time to wear 'em.

He never sang the second one when my Mother was around.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: Tradsinger
Date: 14 Feb 05 - 02:50 PM

I find this a very interesting thread from the academic point of view (All right, so I'm a folk anorak!) Clearly there is a vehicle there for bringing in bits of all sorts of songs in what I call the mock rustic tradition, such as Buttercup Joe, The Turmut Hoer, Dinah show us your leg, and so on. Clearly also people put in their own local county as the venue. I wonder if there's a common origin of this ditty. It's not one that collectors until recently would have wanted to note, but on the other hand it is obviously living tradition. Crude, certainly, but if you study surgery you don't leave out the body parts you don't fancy and similarly if you study folklore you don't ignore a song just because it doesn't appeal to you or fit into preconceived ideas of what folksong is.

So can anyone point to an earliest version, either of the Blackbird bit or the Be I ....shire bit. Interesting to know.

Gwilym

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: GUEST,Fred
Date: 31 Dec 06 - 10:10 AM

I heard this in the fifties at the Rack and Manger near Upper Somborne:

Definitely

Be oi ampsher, be oi buggery.
Oi be up from Fareham
Where all the girls had silken drawers
But none do ever wear em

Upper class version?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: MBSLynne
Date: 31 Dec 06 - 12:05 PM

Alan White says it on Dorset Night in the Anchor Middle Bar at Sidmouth every year. His version is:

"Be I Dorset?
Be I buggery!
I come up from Wareham,
Where all the girls wear calico drawers
And I knows 'ow to tear 'em!"

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: Fliss
Date: 31 Dec 06 - 01:27 PM

Ive heard ' Be I Bristol.. etc and Wareham at College in the late 60s at the Rugby Club.

Also

Where be yon black bird
I no where ee be
Ee be in yon wurzel bush
An I be after ee
Ee sees I an I sees Ee
An Ee nos I be after ee
With a ruddy great stick Ill hammer ee
Blackbird Ill have ee

hugs
fxx

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: GUEST,beachcomber
Date: 01 Jan 07 - 10:07 AM

C----t, I've been laughing my a--e off. Trying versions of this old ditty, with attempts at various accents. It 's great, and picked me up no-end after a short hospitalisation.
I also remember one or two clubmates in the old GWR Football Pavilion at Castlebar Park, near West Ealing, bringing it up , for a laugh at a colleague , from Reading. Back around 1962/4 it would have been.
I wonder, now, how young men of about twenty years of age, who had no interest in folk music that I ever discerned, could have known of it ?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: BB
Date: 01 Jan 07 - 10:10 AM

Our local version, which used to be sung around fair time, is:

Be us down, sir? Be us buggery!
Us be up to Barum,
Where all the whores wear calico,
And we knows how to tear 'em!

Barum is the local name for Barnstaple (N. Devon)

Barbara

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 02 Jan 07 - 06:16 AM

Upon reaching a certain point on the M5 motorway it's traditional for me to sing: "Be oi Bristol, be oi buggery, oi comes up from Wareham, where all the gals wear calico drawers and oi knows how to tear 'em"

The origins of this tradition are lost in the midsts of time and I rather wish that I could stop singing it as it is not very edifying. Mercifully, it only happens about once every couple of years (when I take a trip down to the South West) and I am usually alone in the car at the time!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: BB
Date: 02 Jan 07 - 02:10 PM

Can't think why you only visit the South West every couple of years, Shimrod! 'Tis the best place in the whole country.:)

Barbara

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 02 Jan 07 - 05:32 PM

Yes, 'BB', the South West is very nice (don't know about "the best place in the whole country"!). Trouble is that I live in the North and there are a lot of Northern bits which are also very nice - and a lot closer!

Then there's East Anglia, which I am also very fond of ... and then there's foreign parts to visit ...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: GUEST,Russell Watson
Date: 24 Mar 07 - 10:00 PM

I am somewhat positive that the song originates from Barkshire.
Perhaps even Oscar Wilde would have absorbed & recited various versions during his stay in Reading Goal ..!!!! :)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: GUEST,Alan Tovey, St, Albert. Canada
Date: 30 Sep 10 - 05:45 PM

I be 'glosster' born and bed (as was my father - although I bever heard HIM sing this ditty - unless asked to.

My 'shamefull' years were spent in Coventry (Warks)where I was familiar with THIS version:

We've cum oop from Zummerzet
We've cum oop from Warehum
Where all the girls wear Calico drawers
But we know how to tear'em.

'Toveee's (or 'Tuffee's) were Bristol folk descended from a famous Viking. Any still around?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: Hrothgar
Date: 01 Oct 10 - 08:31 AM

Once upon a time, when i fell into bad company, I learned it as:

Be I Zummerzet, be I boogery,
I comes up from Sarum
Where all the girls wear calico drawers
And I knows how to tear 'em.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: GUEST,p j murphy brisbane australia
Date: 08 Oct 10 - 12:42 AM

When I was a young lad all the Merchant Seaman used to sing that song in the Northumberland Arms down at the ferry in Gosport.Be I Berkshire be I buggery I be comes from Fareham,were all the girls wear calico drawers but they don`t never wear em.where be the blackbird to I knows were he be , he in yon turnip field,now he knows I an I knows an he knows I be arter he where be the bastard to there he be sittin on the five bar gate chawin on a bit a straw.Sung with a Hampshire accent

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: GUEST,Col Boughton
Date: 03 Jul 12 - 07:42 PM

I'm working my way thru the eighties now but back when a young soldier and ditties were all the go my memory recalls,
Be I Dorset, be I buggery
I do come from Fareham
My old Ma had 40 kids
And she knew how to rear 'em
(Chorus)
Where be the blackbird to
I know where 'e be
'E be under that wurzel bush
And I be arter 'e
For 'e sees I and I sees 'e
We both sees one another
But 'e be under that wurzel bush
The dirty rotten bugger

sorry don't remember any more verses.



I

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Jul 12 - 12:12 PM

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Feb 13 - 01:06 PM

Jim from the Northant Regt. I did basic training in 1959 with a platoon of mainly Hampshire Regiment guys their version was
Be I Hampshire, be I buggery
I comes down from Fareham
And I got a girl with Calico drawers
And she knows how to wear them.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: GUEST,Ranstrop Salisbury Plain
Date: 30 Aug 17 - 04:01 PM

Our words were,
Be I up from Wiltshire buggery,
I be up from Wareham,
Where all the girls wears calico drawers,
And I knows how to tear teh

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Be I Berkshire, be I B*gg*ry
From: GUEST,jwhizzkid
Date: 04 May 25 - 04:52 AM

When I was younger we used to sing this.I (Half)remember this version
Be I Berkshire ,be I buggery.
Icomes up from Wareham
Where the girls wear calico drawers
And I knows how to tear em
Oh how happy us'll be, where we'm going down the West Country, where the oggies grows on trees
Gor bugger Jagger.
Half a pound of *****? makes a lovely ?cladder?
Something something something something
Gor bugger Jagger
Oh how happy us'll be etc
.....And we'll all go back to oggie land,to oggie land, to oggie land, we'll all go back to oggie land where you can't tell sugar from tissue paper, tissue paper marmalade or spam.
Where be yon blackbird oh well I knows where he be
He be down on worzel patch and I be after e he sees I and I sees e and knows I be after e
With a gurt big stick I'll knock e down
Blackbird where be yer
Where be you blackbird ah well I knows where he be.
He be in my goosegog bush and I be after e
E sees I and I sees e and e calls I a bugger and a liar
And if I catches up with e I'll set his arse on fire
I bin working on the farm forty odd year and you can't take the Mickey out on I
I claps my hands and laughs like hell and he buggers off across the sky!