Lyr Req: Mares Eat Oats? / Mairzy Doats

Subject: Lyrics: Mares Eat Oats. Little lambs eat Ivy.
From:
Date: 28 May 98 - 01:56 AM

Does anyone have any lyrics for: Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy?

Please send them to me via this site or email me on:

[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Lyrics: Mares Eat Oats. Little lambs eat Ivy.
From: Barbara
Date: 28 May 98 - 02:46 AM

Hi Brad, I assume you can also get back here to read mail. See the little box upper right? If you enter [turkey in the straw] like that in it, it will pull up a bunch of verses for you.

Humsodever, it didn't pull up Mairsy doats or [mares eat oats] for me,
so:
Mairsy doats and dosey doats and liddle lamsy divy.
Kiddley divy do, wouldn't you, wouldn'nt you?

If the words sound queer and funny to your ear,
A little bit jumpy jivey, sing:
Mares eat oats and does eat oats, and
Little lambs eat i-ivy, oh...

Mairsy doats and dosey doats and liddle lamsy divy.
Kiddley divy do, wouldn't you, wouldn'nt you?

Hope that helps, Barbara

Subject: Lyr Add: MAIRZY DOATS
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 May 98 - 04:07 AM

Here's lyrics I harvested somewhere - the first part is from a Hal Leonard songbook, so it should be pretty close to the original
-Joe Offer-

MAIRZY DOATS by Milton Drake, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston
Copyright © 1943 (Renewed) by Al Hoffman Songs

I know a ditty, nutty as a fruitcake,
Goofy as a goon and silly as a loon.
Some call it pretty, others call It crazy,
But they all sing this tune:
Mairzy doats and dozy doats,
And liddle lamzy divey,
A kiddley divey too,
Wouldn't you?
Well if the words sound queer,
And funny to your ear,
A little bit jumbled and jivey,
Sing, "Mares eat oats
And does eat oats,
And little lambs eat ivy!"
Oh! Mairzy doats and dozy doats,
And liddle lamzy divey,
A kiddley divey too,
Wouldn't you-oo-oo-hoo?
A kiddley divey too,
Wouldn't you?

….and some additional verses….

Whailzy deals and sealzy deals
And baby fishy doysters,
A squiddley doysters too,
Wouldn't you?
Well if the words sound queer,
And funny to your ear,
All of you girlsters and boysters,
Say, " Whales eat eels
And seals eat eels,
And baby fish eat oysters!"
Whales eat eels and seals eat eels
And baby fish eat oysters,
A squid will eat oysters too,
Wouldn't you?

A whale will eat oysters too,
A squid will eat oysters too,
A kid will eat ivy too,

Wouldn't you?

Cowzy day and goatzy day
And little pigzy donuts;
A kiddely donuts, too, wouldn't you?
(Repeat)
Now if the words sound queer,
And funny to your ear,
You think you're gonna go nuts,
Say cows eat hay, and goats eat hay,
And little pigs eat donuts.
(ETC.)

This kid would much rather eat a donut than ivy, or oysters, for that matter.

Speaking of centipedes:
A centipede was happy, quite, until a frog in fun,
Said, "Pray, which leg comes after which?"
This threw her mind in such a pitch
She lay distracted in a ditch,
Considering how to run.

Subject: RE: Lyrics: Mares Eat Oats. Little lambs eat Ivy.
From: JB3
Date: 29 May 98 - 02:25 AM

We also sang the verse:

Oh, cowzy tweet and sowzy tweet
and little bearzy tunny
A pupply tunnytoo, wouldn't you?
(repeat)

now if the words sound queer
and funny to your ear
a little bit fumbled and funny,
say: cows eat wheat and sows eat wheat
and little bears eat honey.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mairzy Doats / Mares Eat Oats
From: GUEST,Ali
Date: 29 Sep 08 - 03:36 PM

A kiddley divey too WOODEN SHOE!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mairzy Doats / Mares Eat Oats
From: Zany Mouse
Date: 29 Sep 08 - 04:28 PM

Shouldn't that line be: kiddies eat ivy too, wouldn't you?

Rhiannon

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mairzy Doats / Mares Eat Oats
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 29 Sep 08 - 05:49 PM

The copyright lines-
...liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?
and
...little lambs eat ivy
---------------------------
(A kid'll eat ivy too, wouldn't you?)

In the army, some dirty rhymes were sung but I can't remember any of them.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mairzy Doats / Mares Eat Oats
From: Jim McLean
Date: 30 Sep 08 - 05:26 AM

This reminds me of when I attended a Music Convention in Miami, a long time ago. We met at night for dinner and as each person entered the room, he/she was announced to the rest of the people in the room. A producer friend of mine, Terry Oats and his wife were announced as 'Ladies and Gentlemen, Terry Oates and Maisey Oats' and we all shouted out 'and little lambs eat ivy'.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mairzy Doats / Mares Eat Oats
From: Genie
Date: 09 Dec 08 - 04:00 PM

Actually, folks, the words "wouldn't you" are never heard in the song "Mairzy Doats."
It's "kiddley divey too, wooden shoe,"
"beezelly tunny too, wooden shoe,
and
"squiddley doyster stew, wooden shoe,"

etc.

I.e., the words in the main body of each verse are all nonsense (like "mairzy doats") or at least mondegreens (like "wooden shoe" or "oyster stew").

: )

Genie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mairzy Doats / Mares Eat Oats
From: Dave Roberts
Date: 10 Dec 08 - 11:51 AM

In Liverpool the tale is told of a signboard reading:

MERSEY DOCKS AND HARBOUR BOARD

to which someone had appended:

AND LITTLE LAMBS EAT IVY.....

Just thought you ought to know.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mairzy Doats / Mares Eat Oats
From: Genie
Date: 10 Dec 08 - 01:30 PM

Wunnerful, Dave! LOL

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mairzy Doats / Mares Eat Oats
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 10 Dec 08 - 02:38 PM

I have the original sheet music in front of me and all is just about as printed above by Joe. The only major difference worth noting is after Joe's 8th line the chorus is repeated. There are no additional verses on the sheet. Stock number is F & D 21302. Come to think of it this is a British printed sheet by Francis Day & Hunter in 1943 so presumably there was an American sheet slightly before this.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mairzy Doats / Mares Eat Oats
From: Genie
Date: 10 Dec 08 - 03:07 PM

I've no doubt of that, Steve. I've usually heard it sung "wooden shoe," not "wouldn't you." The sloppy or ambiguous pronunciation is the whole point of the song.

Sheet music or liner notes are often discrepant from what's sung on the (common) recordings. Sometimes whole words are omitted or added.

The fact that your sheet music does not include additional verses that are also on the 1940s recordings is also not unusual. Sheet music sometimes omits a song's introduction and/or additional verses.   Sheet music also may or may not indicate the same instrumental arrangement that's used on the recordings.   

However, checking out some old recordings of the song, I'm hearing "wouldn't you" more often than "wooden shoe." Perhaps as the song made its way into our arsenal of "children's songs" -- which it was not, originally -- the "wooden shoe" pronunciation became more common (because it fits the theme of the mumbled-word verse). In any rate, I prefer it that way.

Mairzy Doats: The Merry Macs, 1944They sing "wouldn't you."

Spike Jones: Mairzy Doats Only one verse, repeated. Sometimes it sound like "wouldn't you," sometimes "wooden shoe," and sometimes like "wooden Jew."

Pamela Holt: Mairzy Doats She also sings "wouldn't you."

Some of the various recordings I've found not only pronounce "wouldn't you" as such but also articulate lyrics like "kid'll eat ivy" and "little lambs eat ivy" too clearly, to the point where they don't sound as "queer and funny to your ear" as they're supposed to.

I'm trying to find Kay Kyser's recording. Maybe that's the one that had the additional verses.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mairzy Doats / Mares Eat Oats
From: Genie
Date: 10 Dec 08 - 05:23 PM

It seems I'm not the only one who thinks the lyrics to Mairzy Doats are "wooden shoe" or "wouln't chew" (etc.) instead of the articulate "wouldn't you."

Wikipedia citation of Mairzy Doats lyrics as reverse mondegreens

Subject: Song History: Mairzy Doats / Mares Eat Oats
From: Genie
Date: 10 Dec 08 - 05:39 PM

This article not only cites the words as "wooden shoe" but gives the history of Mairzy Doats as a nursery rhyme, first, and then a song. It also helps explain where some of the other verses came from.

=====================
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 2008
Mairzy Doats

Mairzy Doats
by Milton Drake, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston

Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wooden shoe?
Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wooden shoe?

Wow. Both spell-check and grammar-check on Word are lit up like a Christmas tree. Just about every word is flagged. But what the heck: it's Fun-Time Friday! ...

Today's song was a huge hit in the 1940's (more on that in a bit). It was on everyone's lips for years and, I think, still permeates our collective consciousness today. The bouncy little tune plays a perfect counterpoint to the nonsensical syllables. As the singer repeats them over and over, we begin to wonder: Did they swallow too much Pepsodent? Should they switch to Sanka? Are they speaking in tongues? But then the bridge of the song makes it all clear:

If the words sound queer and funny to your ear, a little bit jumbled and jivey,
Sing "Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy."

And, armed with that knowledge, we can figure out for ourselves that, "A kid'll eat ivy, too. Wouldn't you?"

...

The inspiration for Mairzy Doats came from an English nursery rhyme that begins, "Cowzy tweet and sowzy tweet and liddle sharksy doisters." (Isn't it amazing that, now that you know the "secret" to the song, the whole "Cowzy tweet" line becomes easily readable? Kind of like in The Matrix when those guys could see the whole big picture just by looking at those green letters and numbers.) Milton Drake's four-year old daughter came home from school one day, saying the rhyme. Mr Drake and his buddies, Messrs Hoffman and Livingston, first just set the "cowzy tweet" verse to music, but then decided to write new lyrics instead.

...

Mairzy Doats was recorded by "Al Trace and his Silly Symphonists" in 1943. Then, it went all the way to number one with a recording by the "Merry Macs" in 1944. Spike Jones, of course, could not leave well enough alone, and his band's version gilded the lily with their trademark sound effects. The song lifted the spirits of servicemen in World War II. What I find really fascinating is that phrases from the song were used as passwords in the War. Who else but a Yank (or maybe a Brit) would have any idea of the proper response?This article

...

===========

That last part, about phrases from Mairzy Doats being used as passwords by the Yanks in WWII is most interesting.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mairzy Doats / Mares Eat Oats
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 10 Dec 08 - 05:59 PM

Okay, so what's the provenance for 'Cowzy tweet'? I've never come across it. When you say 'English nursery rhyme' does this refer to England or the 'English Language'? It doesn't exist in any of the well-known anthologies by Gomme, Halliwell or the Opies or anywhere else as far as I know.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mairzy Doats / Mares Eat Oats
From: Genie
Date: 10 Dec 08 - 07:32 PM

The guy who wrote the article just says that Milton Drake's (presumably British) daughter came home one day saying the rhyme. Who knows? Maybe kids in her school made it up.
That'd be an example of the folk process in action, I'd say.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mairzy Doats / Mares Eat Oats
From: GUEST,Hooed Unnet
Date: 03 Jan 09 - 06:14 PM

Ever considered "wouldn't ewe?" per 'wooden shoe' (or wouldn't you?)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mairzy Doats / Mares Eat Oats
From: Genie
Date: 03 Jan 09 - 10:46 PM

I guess you could 'hear' it that way -- when the singer actually pronounces it that way. But the way the song was taught to me (the way I heard it originally) it sounded like "wooden shoe" or "wouldn't chew."   (Perhaps a ewe wouldn't chew her oats as well as a mare would?)

Subject: RE: History of Mairzy Doats song
From: Gene
Date: 26 Mar 09 - 02:53 AM

http://www.dennislivingston.com/jl_mairzy.htm

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mairzy Doats / Mares Eat Oats
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Dec 09 - 07:47 PM

It is Mares eat oats, and goats eat oats, and little lambs eat ivy, a kid will eat ivy too wouldn't you.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mairzy Doats / Mares Eat Oats
From: RTim
Date: 06 Dec 09 - 08:30 PM

One of the last memories I have of my father is him singing this song, to himself, as I pushed him around the garden of the hospital days before he died.
I had never heard him sing it before.

Tim Radford.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mairzy Doats / Mares Eat Oats
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 08 Dec 09 - 03:28 PM

From the column "Music in the News" by Margaret S. Wells, in Billboard Feb 12, 1944, page 65:

EIGHTH-NOTES.—A simple explanation of the meaning of the current bit of nonsense, Mairzy Doats, is given by "Kup" in his column in The Chicago Times. When Milt Drake, who wrote the song with Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston, was asked how he happened to hit on the idea, he answered: "Kideech ants ong—far the rite sit—milyink oppees old." Translated from "mairzyology" into English, that means, he explained, "Kiddy chants song—father writes it—million copies sold." . . . Idea for the song first struck Drake more than two years ago when he heard his four-year-old daughter chanting something that sounded like "cowzy tweet and sowzy tweet and liddle sharsky [sic] doisters." That brought to mind a nursery rhyme he had learned as a child. Drake then contacted his two song-writing partners and Mairzy Doats (mares eat oats) was born.


[This anecdote has been repeated, more or less, in many publications. This is the oldest version I could find. I suspect the idea that the girl was repeating an existing "nursery rhyme" was an embellishment on the original story. More likely she made it up herself, or Drake made it up because he couldn't remember exactly what she said. Note the story says "something that sounded like...".]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mairzy Doats / Mares Eat Oats
From: JeffB
Date: 09 Dec 09 - 01:23 PM

Perhaps the nursery rhyme he had learned as a child was one that went into Iona and Peter Opie's collection, and which goes :-

Infir taris,
Inoak noneis,
Inmud eelsare,
Inclay noneare.
Goatseativy;
Mareseatoats.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mairzy Doats / Mares Eat Oats
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 Dec 09 - 10:39 PM

From Methods and Materials for Composition in Intermediate and Grammar Grades by Alhambra Georgia Deming (Chicago: Beckley-Cardy Company, 1921), page 214:

The following much-used selections still have a charm for the children, and greatly aid in bringing out the consonant sounds.

"Amidst the mists and coldest frosts, with barest wrists and stoutest boasts, he thrusts his fists against the posts, and still insists he sees the ghosts."

"She sells sea shells."

"Theophilus Thrustle thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb."

The following should be given rapidly, to show how difficult it is to understand some things without careful enunciation:

"Mares eat oats; does eat oats; lambs eat ivy; kids eat ivy, too."

Repeat it, enunciating with care.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mairzy Doats / Mares Eat Oats
From: GUEST,Maurice
Date: 25 Feb 10 - 01:45 PM

I have an old record of Mairzy Doats by AL Trace and his silly Symphonists. It's in a Columbia jacket and made by the Elite Record Mfgers? I assume it's a 33? Vocals by RED Maddock. I read an article that said Toni Arden sang with the group also? Does anyone know where I could sell this?
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mairzy Doats / Mares Eat Oats
From: GUEST,jmbag141'googlemail.com
Date: 04 Nov 10 - 08:05 AM

The actual words were:-
"MARES EAT OATS AND DOES EAT OATS AND LITTLE LAMBS EAT IVY A TIDLEY IVY WOULDN'T YOU" (REPEAT)THEN;-
"THOUGH THE WORDS SOUND QUEER AND FUNNY TO YOUR EAR A LITTLE BIT JUMBLED AND JIVEY SING MARES EAT OATS AND DOES EAT OATS AND LITTLE LAMBS EAT IVY. MARES EAT OATS AND DOES EAT OATS AND LITTLE LAMBS EAT IVY A TIDLEY IVY WOULDN'T YOU."

I know this because when we were "bombed out" by "Uncle Adolf we stayed with my aunt Ivy in a tiny cottage which was well away from the Liverpool docks (The target they were after when they hit our house in Bootle (north of Liverpool) I was 5 years old and still remember her singing this song as she hung out a line full of "Nappies" (she had two baby daughters at the time). I am trying to find a copy of the song to take to her on her 90th Birthday this coming Wednesday.)

Subject: RE: Lyric Mairzy Doats
From: GUEST,jmbag141'googlemail.com
Date: 04 Nov 10 - 08:18 AM

My last message somehow got a bit "jumbled"

MARES EAT OATS AND DOES EAT OATS AND LITTLE LAMBS EAT IVY A TIDLEY TIVY TOO WOULDN'T YOU. (REPEAT)THEN;-
"THOUGH THE WORDS SOUND QUEER AND FUNNY TO YOUR EAR A LITTLE BIT JUMBLED AND JIVEY, SING MARES EAT OATS AND DOES EAT OATS AND LITTLE LAMBS EAT IVY. MARES EAT OATS AND DOES EAT OATS AND LITTLE LAMBS EAT IVY A TIDLEY TIVY TOO WOULDN'T YOU, A TIDLEY TIVY TOO WOULDN'T YOU?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mares Eat Oats? / Mairzy Doats
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Jun 15 - 12:13 PM

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/onemoretime22