Kemo Kimo info

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: GUEST
Date: 05 May 10 - 12:08 PM

Here's another from a Scout song page.

Keemo Kyemo

       There was an old frog band he lived ina spring,
       Sing-song kitty catch-ee kye-nne-oh.
       He was so hoarse he couldn't sing,
       Sing-song kitty catch-ee kye-nne-oh.

      Chorus:

       Keemo kyemo dellway Hiho Rumpetee rump
       Periwinkle soap Linkhorn nip cat
       Hit'em with a brickbat,
       Sing-song kitty catch-ee kye-nne-oh.

       Cheese in thye springhouse nine days old,
       Sing-song kitty catch-ee kye-nne-oh.
       Rats and skippers qwful bold,
       Sing-song kitty catch-ee kye-nne-oh.

      Chorus:

       There was a man and he was rich,
       Sing-song kitty catch-ee kye-nne-oh.
       He got a rash and began to ictch,
       Sing-song kitty catch-ee kye-nne-oh.

      Chorus:

      Rose are red, violets are blue,
       Sing-song kitty catch-ee kye-nne-oh.
       Sugar si sweet and so are you,
       Sing-song kitty catch-ee kye-nne-oh.

      Chorus:

       I se England, I see France,
       Sing-song kitty catch-ee kye-nne-oh.
       I see Mary's polka-dot pants,
       Sing-song kitty catch-ee kye-nne-oh.

      Chorus:

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: GUEST,a.e. mawhinney south carolina
Date: 09 Apr 11 - 12:40 PM

the way i heard the song was.   kemo kimo kimo dray hit cat sit cat pritty little kitty won't you carry home and the chickens they roost with there feet hanging out. i forgot the rest.

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: mayomick
Date: 09 Apr 11 - 02:15 PM

Lyrically related to the Bagum songs surely?

Old Bang'em would a-hunting ride,
[Dillem, down, dillem]
Old Bang'em would a-hunting ride
[Dillem down]
Old Bang'em would a-hunting ride,
Sword and pistol by his side
[Cubby, ki, cuddle down
Killi, Quo, Quam]

There is a wild boar in this wood
Will eat your meat and suck your blood

Oh how shall I this wild boar see?
Blow a blast and he'll come to thee

Old Bang'em blew both load and shrill
The wild boar heard on Temple Hill

The wild boar came with such a rush
He tore down hickory, oak and ash

Old Bang'em drew his wooden knife
And swore that he would take his life

Old Bang'em did you win or lose
He swore that he had won the shoes

thread.cfm?threadid=50640

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: GUEST,Liz
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 06:53 PM

I've had this stupid song stuck in my head since 2nd grade probably. I was wondering its history and if anyone else knew it as well.

I remember going something like this

Way down yonder on Beaver creek
Sing song kitty cancha kimeo
Boys grow up to be six feet
Sing song kitty cantcha kimeo
kimo kimo de ro art me heemy himey hum drum penny tinkle
tit tat pitty pat, blue eyed pussy cat
sing song kitty cancha kimeo!

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 20 Mar 12 - 07:23 PM

The long keemo kimo chorus was well known in 18th century songs and it actually had a sensible meaning at one time. I posted it on one of the other threads.

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 21 Mar 12 - 02:38 PM

Some 24 threads linked, and possibly more. Very time-consuming to check them. They should be organized to separate the wheat from the chaff, but a job for someone with a lot of time on their hands.

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: GUEST,Ty
Date: 11 May 12 - 02:40 PM

Tow/"toe"/to... tobacco.

Cover the ground all over with smoke.

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 11 May 12 - 05:22 PM

Q
Couldn't find it myself on any of the above threads so I'll repost it here. It certainly proves the long tongue twister chorus is a lot older than the 19thc, and was widely known and utilised in 18thc England. The likelihood is that is where it originated, but we can't say this for definite of course.

The earliest usage I have found so far is on The Camp Garland, printed by John Thornton c1722. My copy comes from the ECCO compilation of 18thc stall copies. These are from various sources, BL, NLS etc and my copy didn't indicate the sources. The tune is given as 'Gameorum' and here is the verse and chorus.

Milkmaid going out of late,
With a rigdum for a little Game.
To see the camp it was her fate,
With a rigdum for a little game.
    Gameorum wildum gorum, game wildum game,
    Can you net a Flumerum, a Rigdum Bolleram
    Rigdum for a little game.

And I've just remembered where I posted it. It was on a thread discussing the meaning of 'Rigdum'. I seem to remember the terms in the chorus here are all cant terms of the period and have something to do with girls ensnaring the soldiers with their 'game'

Of course the rhythm and form could be based on something earlier.

By 1780 the nonsense chorus form was being used in musicals which is probably where that variant of 'froggy' picked it up. Here's the first verse of 'The Old English Baron' from the musical comedy 'The Baron' of which I have several 18thc copies; one not necessarily the earliest is dated 1781.

In days of yore, as I've been told,
With a humdrum woundy length of line-o,
There liv'd a Baron bluff and bold,
With a strim-stram very little coin-o;
    Means I grant ye
    Rather scanty,
But great store of line-o;
Strim-stram, pamma diddle, lara bona, ring tang,
    ring tang, very little coin-o.

In the 'Modern Syren' printed in 1791 by S Hodgson of Newcastle at p181 is a medley containing the following bit of 'Froggy'

There was a frog liv'd in a well
    With a rigdum boni cimi,
    rigdum boni, boni rigdum,
    rigdum boni cimi;
There was a frog liv'd in a well
    With a rigdum boni cimi.

All this really demonstrates is that the tune and form were being recycled all through the 18th and 19th centuries, pretty similar to 'The Keeper' which has a very distinct form, tune and chorus which were constantly recycled in the same way, although we have even earlier versions of this.

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Jul 12 - 08:07 PM

"tow" is short for tobacco. What else would the be growing in South Carolina?

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 23 Jul 12 - 09:19 PM

"Plant de tow"-

Bad guess, guest.

Tow is a fiber, in the 19th c. usually hemp, flax or jute.

Nowadays, tow is generally a synthetic or carbon fiber, but before the synthetics, tow was a natural fiber used to stuff upholstery, or as a staple fiber.

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: Snuffy
Date: 24 Jul 12 - 09:22 AM

Is it what they made towropes out of?

I'll get me coat .....

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: GUEST,Nick
Date: 17 Oct 12 - 11:10 PM

So how does this song relate to frog went a courtin

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 18 Oct 12 - 01:44 PM

Nick,
If you look at Liz's post above you'll see that this very popular minstrel song of 1850s has taken the form, tune, and some of the nonsense chorus from the earlier stream of British songs and some of this has become attached to the 'Frog went a courtin' text. It's easy to see how this could happen. Any song written in couplets with lines of that length could be adapted to any number of tune/chorus/formats available in oral tradition.

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 19 Oct 12 - 01:39 PM

Just to muddy the waters, Tow (the fiber) rhymes with cow, not with toe.

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: GUEST,rubitzal
Date: 03 Jan 13 - 12:55 PM

When I was a small kid in the 1930's I remember my father singing the following words: Kemo kimo cairo where,timmy I timmy o timmy rough stuff ?????? I've forgotten the rest. It may have been a sporting
"fight" song he learned at Wyoming Seminary in Pennsylvania. But my contact at WS can find no record of it in the WS archives.

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: GUEST,Richie
Date: 17 Oct 15 - 10:52 AM

After the crash in '29 Pop went on the bum, returning periodically from his sojourns through the southern jungles for bedtime songfests on his lap. He's his version (as phonetically as I can manage).

Way down south where I was born,
Sing some Polly watcha kimeo.
Feed your horse on injun corn,
Sing some Polly watcha kimeo.

(chorus)
Guymill dee, guymill doe, Oh, my heart!
With a rum chicka bum chicka chew tabacca soda cracker firecracker, KI...ME...OH.

Next comes two girls dressed in white,
Sing some Polly watcha kimeo.
How'd you like to go to heaven on the tail of a kite,
Sing some Polly watcha kimeo.

(Chorus)

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: GUEST,Susan B
Date: 03 Apr 16 - 06:49 PM

Hi, dear Mudcatters . . . can anyone help with a children's singing game called "Our Old Sow"? It borrows the Kimo Keemo refrain. I am thinking surely it's a fragment, but I can't find it.

Our old sow is getting very fat.
Kimo Komo Keemo,
Three foot two across the back
Kimo Komo Keemo.

Maybe it's improvised text, but it's a fun game . . . I'd like to find a good source, though.

Many thanks in advance!

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: GUEST,Terry asher
Date: 20 Oct 16 - 07:40 PM

Rum sticka fum a diddle ox stuck a pennywinkle in come a knick knack johnny get your boot jack sing sing kitty won't you ki meo

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: keberoxu
Date: 20 Oct 16 - 08:17 PM

First recording I ever heard of "sing song kitty etc etc" was Bob Gibson, accompanying himself on banjo.

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: keberoxu
Date: 23 Oct 16 - 03:52 PM

Found Bob Gibson's version. It's from the Folk Songs of Ohio Stinson label release.
The title is
"Down in Sky Town."

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: GUEST,A stranger
Date: 14 May 19 - 11:26 AM

I thought plant the to was plant the tobacco

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: Mrrzy
Date: 14 May 19 - 07:14 PM

CHEESE in the springhouse 9 days old? I always heard it as SHE'S in the springhouse, rats and the mice are a-getting mighty bold. I thought they'd eat the baby.

Grew up with this by Ed McCurdy.

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: GUEST,Hutchy
Date: 16 Dec 19 - 12:16 AM

Can anyone give links to the tunes? All I've been able to find have been pretty far off base for what I heard as a child. Thank you.

Old cow died in the middle of the lot.
Sing-a-song Kitty won't you ki-mee-o
Believe to my soul that she's going to rot.
Sing-s-song Kitty, won't you ki-mee-o.
Caro-kiro-daro boys, a hame, a home a hime.
Bomasicka, lamasicka 'long come knick-knack
Sing-a-song Kitty won't you ki-mee-o?

Big cat, little cat, sitting on a wall.
Refrain
Big cat squeal, little cat squall
Refrain
etc.

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 16 Dec 19 - 03:48 AM

Probable source of all the American and some British folk versions is the Minstrel song Keemo Kimo which is available on sheet music from about 1854. There are lots of editions at the Lester Levy Sheet Music site. I'm not good at blue clickies but if you can't find it let me have your email address and I'll send you scans of some I have. Mine is gardhams # hotmaildotcom. There are plenty of oral versions in the American State Collections, Maritime Folksongs, Gainer, Eddy, Sharp/Campbell etc. The Minstrel version was popular on both sides of the pond and it wasn't original, just adapted, as this chorus can be found in 18th century English songs.

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Feb 20 - 07:35 AM

Here are the lyrics I know - learned it in College over 40 years ago!

Keemo, Kimo, dero-war
Me hi, me low,
Hum drum penny whistle
Tit tat, pity pat, pussy kat
Hey kitty won't ya kimeeo!

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: GUEST,#
Date: 28 May 21 - 03:36 PM

Chubby Parker & His Old Time Banjo - King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7NBD40v5sE

Subject: Up stump flummadiddle
From: GUEST,Richard Bernard
Date: 21 Feb 22 - 01:36 PM

Does this ring any bells. Does my interpretation make sense?

My grandfather sang to his children, including this nameless tune beginning with, “up stump,” a cricket term signaling the end of play. “Flummadiddle” meant silly or delusive nonsense. A “rig” is a hand drum of the tambourine family, and a “dum” is a stroke on that drum with the right index finger. Ireland may have been the source of the song which has an Irish sound to it. Kerry is a SE County in the Irish Republic, and William Patton’s mother’s family included ancestors from Derry, which is a shortened form of the city of Londonderry, in Ulster.


“Up stump flummadiddle,
Rig dum bully bimmy, Cormy
Cormy Kerry; dandy Derry;
Cormy, cormy Kerry –
Up stump flummadiddle
Rig dum bully bimmy, Cormy.”

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 21 Feb 22 - 03:31 PM

On another thread, possibly titled 'rigdum' there is information showing this chorus dates back in Britain to at least the middle of the 18th century, before it's addition to Froggy went courting. At least some of the words in the early versions had meanings. A camp song if I remember rightly had what must have been an early version if compared with 19th century versions.

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: GUEST,RA
Date: 21 Feb 22 - 04:27 PM

Interesting to read from GUEST,Richard Bernard that 'Derry' is a shortened form of 'Londonderry' - I always thought that 'Londonderry' was a lengthened form of 'Derry'!

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: Mrrzy
Date: 21 Feb 22 - 08:37 PM

Meantime, I had completely forgotten it was cheese.

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: GUEST,Hutchy
Date: 21 Oct 23 - 05:06 PM

I've come across something interesting. Following the clue that the original is of Scottish origin and plugging the nonsense words into the Dictionary of the Scots Language, I found that "kie" means "key" and that there was (maybe still is) a tradition where Scottish children would hold up a hand to indicate that the "key" was in the "lock" to request a recess during a game. IF that is the origin, then the "won't you kie me, o" would mean "I need a break!"

Kie - 2. In pl.: a state of, or call for, truce in a children's game (Fif.17, w. and sm.Sc. 1959). Cf. Barley. Also in dim. forms keysie, keysies (keysie ne.Sc. 1990s; keysies Edb. 1960s).
Gsw. 1900–38 per Fif.17:
A call for a truce in a game added to the gesture of holding up the hand with the fingers crossed or with the thumb sticking out between the first and second fingers. Also called Key's locked!
https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/key

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 22 Oct 23 - 10:34 AM

Hi Hutchy
If you look back through the thread at the evolution of the word in the chorus you'll see that this is highly unlikely, but interesting all the same.

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: GUEST,Hutchy
Date: 21 Oct 23 - 05:06 PM

I've come across something interesting. Following the clue that the original is of Scottish origin and plugging the nonsense words into the Dictionary of the Scots Language, I found that "kie" means "key" and that there was (maybe still is) a tradition where Scottish children would hold up a hand to indicate that the "key" was in the "lock" to request a recess during a game. IF that is the origin, then the "won't you kie me, o" would mean "I need a break!"

Kie - 2. In pl.: a state of, or call for, truce in a children's game (Fif.17, w. and sm.Sc. 1959). Cf. Barley. Also in dim. forms keysie, keysies (keysie ne.Sc. 1990s; keysies Edb. 1960s).
Gsw. 1900–38 per Fif.17:
A call for a truce in a game added to the gesture of holding up the hand with the fingers crossed or with the thumb sticking out between the first and second fingers. Also called Key's locked!
https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/key

Subject: RE: Kemo Kimo info
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 22 Oct 23 - 10:34 AM

Hi Hutchy
If you look back through the thread at the evolution of the word in the chorus you'll see that this is highly unlikely, but interesting all the same.