Origins: My Gal's a Corker/...Girl's a New Yorker

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/...Girl's a New Yorker
From: GUEST,Sandy F
Date: 31 Jul 23 - 10:42 PM

My Uncle Del taught us this version. He may have learned it at Wartburg Seminary.

My gal's a corker, she's a New Yorker.
I buy her everything to keep her in style.
She drives a cadillac, I ride the railroad tracks;
That's where my money goes...Boy-oy-oy!

Subject: ADD: Vassar Hygiene Song
From: Joe_F
Date: 06 Sep 21 - 09:07 PM

VASSAR HYGIENE SONG

Oh, we never used to bathe till we heard the Doctor rave
In the lectures that she gave how to behave;
Now we take our daily bath even though we miss our math.
How in the world do you know that? She told us so.
When we grow older, then we'll be bolder,
We'll take it colder, up to the shoulder.
This we must do every day, even though we pass away.
How in the world do you know that? She told us so.

Oh, we always used to weep when we heard the chickens peep
In the boiled eggs that we eat every old week,
Now we eat them every day; pepper takes the taste away.
How in the world do you know that? She told us so.
When we grow bolder, we'll take them older,
Hotter or colder, what if they moulder?
Nothing but the egg is lacking; still we have the sawdust packing.
How in the world do you know that? She told us so.

Oh, we always used to hate to be told to sit up straight;
Now our posture's simply great, early and late.
Keep your head up and your waist in, don't forget about your chin.
How in the world do you know that? She told us so.
When we grow older, we won't be told to
Keep a straight shoulder---it'll come natural.
When you bend up like a bow, where do all your organs go?
All of this you ought to know; she told us so.

Let us pause in admiration of the racial obligation,
And amoeba's propagation of his generation,
'Twas an epoch-making spasm, rent in twain his protoplasm.
How in the world do you know that? She told us so.
As he grew older, the sea grew colder,
Making him strong to linger no longer.
He developed respiration, then maternal abnegation,
Hence the present generation; she told us so.

Let us sing in dulcet tones all about the new hormones
That have taught our little rabbits scientific mating habits,
In each sexless little cell, bashful bunnies do quite well.
How in the world do you know that? She told us so.
As they grow older, they will grow bolder,
No more sterility, only fertility,
They will never be frustrate, but will only propagate,
And maintain that high birth rate; she told us so!

She goes to Vassar, none can surpass her,
She is the stroke of the varsity crew.

    And in my future life, she's gonna be my wife.
    How in the world do you know that? She told me so.

My girl's from Thmith, thhe talkth like thith,
Thhe taught me how to kith. I love her tho....

My girl's from Holyoke, she taught me how to smoke,
She knows a dirty joke, now I know one too....

My girl's from Radcliffe, she is a big stiff,
And she gets sore at me when I tell her so....

My girl's from Wheaton, she takes a beatin',
And when she's feeling good, I take one too....

My girl's from Skidmore, she is an awful bore,
She never knows the score, boy don't I know!...

My girl's from Middlebury, she is extraordinary,
She's built just like a fairy, three hundred pounds or so....

My girl's from Wellesley, she always tells me
I'm bats in the belfry, but I love her anyhow....

My girl's from MIT, she is a travesty,
Girls who go for engineering are not so hot appearing....

My girl's from Alpha Xi, says her only drink is tea,
But she isn't fooling me, I've seen her sip a brew or two....

My girl's from PJC, I taught her how to ski,
Now she's sitting in a tree, two hundred feet below....

My girl's from Connecticut, she knows her etiquette,
She taught me how to pet, now I do it too....

(falsetto:)
My man's from DOC, he taught me how to ski,
He wrapped me 'round a tree, and now won't even look at me....
And in my future life I'm gonna be his wife.
How in the world does he know that? I told him so.

My man's from Yale, he lands in jail,
From drinking too much gin---ger ale....


The above version is from The New Song Fest.

Also see https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=54727

Subject: Lyr Add: MY GIRL'S A CORKER (Jerome/Queen, 1895)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 May 17 - 11:56 PM

From the sheet music at University of Wisconsin-Madison:


MY GIRL'S A "CORKER," or "THE RACE TRACK GIRL
Words by William Jerome; music by John Queen. ©1895.

1. Oh, talk about your sweethearts fair,
And girls of high degree;
Your Bow'ry Pearls, and English girls
From far across the sea;
But I can't see where they come in,
They never were in line,
For up to date ideas, with
This racetrack girl of mine.

CHORUS: My girl's a "corker!"
She's a New Yorker;
She plays the races,
She gets the "dough!"
She loves me dearly,
And so sincerely!
Tell me how you found that out?
She told me so!

2. At Sheepshead Bay, in summer time,
She's simply "out of sight!"
She bets her "stuff" like Pittsburgh Phil
And always gets them right.
The "touts" they all take off their hats
And stand right in a line,
And look for information from
This racetrack girl of mine.

3. And when the racing season's o'er,
She goes across the "pond;"
I've heard some tales that dear old Wales,*
Of her, is very fond.
In Paris, on the Boulevard,
She never fails to shine;
For ev'ry day is Sunday with
This racetrack girl of mine.

[* In 1895, the Prince of Wales would have been Albert Edward, son of Queen Victoria, later to become Edward VII.]

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/...Girl's a New Yorker
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Apr 17 - 11:52 PM

My aunt a former US Army WAC, sang this ditty to me
When I was young. My gals a corker she's a New Yorker I buy her every thing. Yay boys that's where my money goes.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/...Girl's a New Yorker
From: Lighter
Date: 16 May 15 - 09:00 AM

To be a "corker" in the U.S. (not a word that used much anymore), something or someone needs only to be very remarkable, even surprising or mildly disconcerting, in some way.

To say "My girl's a corker" doesn't tell us much. In my experience it is more usually applied to actions than to looks.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/...Girl's a New Yorker
From: GUEST,Jim the Frog
Date: 15 May 15 - 06:35 PM

This was a fascinating thread (which I found searching for "She wears my BVDs, I stand outside and freeze, Yes boys that's where my money goes", which my dad sang for me in the 60's).

It's pretty clear that there are four different songs here. (Not that hard to tell if you check scansion and lyrics and do some YouTube searches)

1) "My Gal's a Corker" - waltz, written by John Stromberg in the late 1800's

2) "My Gal's a Corker" - rag, possibly written by Ray Valdes in 1941; perhaps filking an existing tune. This is a completely different song than #1, with different lyrics and meter, but shares the same title. It had traveled to Scotland by the mid 1950's to be recorded by Alan Lomax (http://www.allmusic.com/album/singing-in-the-streets-scottish-childrens-songs-mw0000655458)

3) "Vassar Hygiene Song" - shares a few lyrics with #2, but clearly a different song.

4) "Nobody's business what i do" - blues song that has a similar meter to #2 but different tune.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/...Girl's a New Yorker
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 17 Mar 14 - 05:26 AM

World English Dictionary
corker (ˈkɔːkə)
— n
1.         slang
        a. something or somebody striking or outstanding: 'that was a corker of a joke' ···
.,,.,.
That's what I thought it meant; because that is what it does mean here: in "my girl"'s case, it would be her looks and attractiveness which were 'striking & outstanding'. There may, I suppose, just about be an element of the Irish ['from Co Cork'] derivation in the interpretation; but that sounds more to me suspiciously like one of those irritating post-hoc folk etymologies that keep cropping up.

~M~

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/...Girl's a New Yorker
From: GUEST,What the hek
Date: 16 Mar 14 - 07:40 PM

Hey, this may make the Guinness Book of Records for the longest trivial pursuit.

As you all know, the Irish immigrated and many landed in New York. A Corker is a person from County Cork.

What did you think corker meant?

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/...Girl's a New Yorker
From: GUEST,bold Reynard
Date: 06 Nov 11 - 11:43 PM

There's a good version collected by Alan Lomax on Singing in the Streets: Scottish Children's Songs. With the Oom pa pa chorus.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/...Girl's a New Yorker
From: GUEST,Memories in Song
Date: 06 Nov 11 - 10:36 PM

Always heard this song from my dad after he had a couple.
Here's line nobody will understand in a few more years

She's got a pair of boobs,
just like two picture tubes...

Ah mam...memories.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/...Girl's a New Yorker
From: LadyJean
Date: 10 Sep 11 - 12:26 AM

Another of my mother's classics:

My girl's from Vassar
None can surpass her.
She is the stroke on the
Varisty team. (rowing crew)
And in my future life
she's going to be my wife.
How in the heck did I find that out!
She told me so.

My girl's from Holyoke
She doesn't drink or smoke.
She knows a dirty joke,
and I do too.
and in my future life...

My girl's from Wheaton
She can't be beaten
She's great out on a date.
She takes her liquor straight.
And etc.

Mom went to what was then Wheaton College for women in Wheaton Massachusetts. Not the Wheaton College in Wheaton Illinois, where Billy Graham went. She did not take her liquor straight.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/...Girl's a New Yorker
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Sep 11 - 10:46 PM

hot dog thats where my money goes thaats the original

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/...Girl's a New Yorker
From: GUEST,Debbie in England
Date: 24 Jul 11 - 05:11 AM

In my school playground in England we also sang a version of this song in the 1970's

'My boy's a corker, he lives New Yorker
He'll give me anything to keep me in style
He's got a runny nose, just like a watering hose
That's why love my corker so, ho, ho, ho, umpa, umpa, umpa, umpa, umpa!

He's got a pair of ears, just like to Indian spears

He's got a pair of eyes just like to pork pies (very british!)

He's got a pair of legs just like to wooden peg


Good to be remembered of the song, I wonder how we got to sing it in a little English town school playground in the 70's?

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/...Girl's a New Yorker
From: GUEST,Ray Valdes
Date: 06 Jan 11 - 11:55 PM

This message is in response to: INTERESTED IN TRUTH, JIM DIXON and TAMMYWHEELER. In 1943 I was 11 years old.I have never heard of John Stromberg. I have no idea if the tune I made up resembles Mr. Stromberg's-- don't even know if my words resemble his lyrics. If any of you have his score, I would be glad to send you a CD of what I wrote for comparison. His is listed as a waltz; mine is a fast dixieland. My e-mail is: [e-mail]. Thanks

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/...Girl's a New Yorker
From: LadyJean
Date: 27 Jul 10 - 12:11 AM

My mom sang:

My girl's from Vassar
None can surpass her
She is the stroke ont he Varsity team.
And in my future life,
she's going to be my wife!
How in the heck did I find that out!
She told me so.

My gir's from Wheaton
She can't be beaten!
She's great out on a date.
She takes her liquor straight!
And in my future life etc.

(Mom went to Wheaton. That's Wheaton College for Women in Massachusetts, not the school in Indiana where Billy Graham went. Mom said the Wheaton boys visited her campus once and marched across the green staring straight ahead, rather than be corrupted by those Massachusetts radicals. Mom liked her whiskey with a little water.)

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/My Best Girl's a Co
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 26 Jul 10 - 09:44 PM

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has the sheet music, described thus in its catalog:

Author: Stromberg, John, 1853-1902.
Title: MY BEST GIRL'S A NEW YORKER : latest waltz song and chorus / sung by the Washburn Sisters in Louis Robie's Fortuna Co. ; written & composed by John Stromberg.
Published: New York : Jos. W. Stern, c1895.
First line: Singing in praise of your sweetheart.
Chorus: My best girl's a corker.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/My Best Girl's a Corker
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Jul 10 - 11:13 PM

My gals a corker she a New Yoker Id buy her anything to keep her in style.
She got a head of hair
Just like a grizzly bear
Hey boys thats where my money goes,my money goes

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/My Best Girl's a Corker
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 08 Jul 10 - 12:04 PM

Well, Guest Ray V., I think it's interesting that you believe you "wrote" a song in 1941 which was being sung already around the world & could be traced from versions actually written (even possibly recorded) in the late 1890s. Is it possible you just adapted a camp-song thingy you'd heard, & made a paper record of what you'd come up with? Tw

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/My Best Girl's a Corker
From: GUEST,JBRD
Date: 08 Jul 10 - 10:45 AM

She wears my BVDs,
I stand outside and freeze,
Yes boys, that's where my money goes!

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/My Best Girl's a Corker
From: GUEST,jerry
Date: 17 Mar 10 - 12:22 PM

My gal's a corker, she's a New Yorker
I buy her everything to keep her in style.
I bought her underwear, she showed it everywhere.
Oh man, that's where my money goes!

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/My Best Girl's a Co
From: GUEST,Nick ZooHowza
Date: 14 Dec 09 - 05:20 PM

My dad use to leeringly sing the last two lines thusly, if memory serves me:
"She's got a pair of (jugs? dugs? doves?)
Big as Jack Dempsey's gloves.
Hot dog! That's where my money goes!"
Since I was too young/naive to process this at the time, I'm hazy on the word that rhymed( or maybe didn't) with gloves: I could be way off. I have completely forgotten any parts of the song that preceded these lines, though I don't think they involved any corkers or New Yorkers. Would be fun to know what the words were.
But, as far as I could tell, he seemed to be singing to the tune of the "Weenie Man" song, the above words with the part that goes:
"Some day I'll be his wife,
His little weenie wife.
Hot dog! I love my weenie man!"
My mom always gave my dad the stink-eye at these kinds of outbursts. I think he probably picked this ditty up while in the U.S. Navy during WWII, which seems to resonate with a previous response above.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/My Best Girl's a Corker
From: GUEST,Ellen
Date: 07 Dec 09 - 02:03 PM

I taught this little ditty to my grandchildren this past week. I believe I learned it from my parents. My mother was born and raised in Brooklyn, my father in Pittsburgh but he moved to Brooklyn as a young man (just out of college).

I couldn't exactly remember all the lyrics ... I did remember we sang:
"She's got a pair of eyes, just like two pizza pies!" - but seem like from what I have read here, those aren't even the lyrics.   We made up some words based on body parts but now I can sing them the "original" words.

Thanks for the look back. BTW, I am 55, born and raised in Brooklyn till 1959, then Suffern NY. After college and marriage I moved to Indiana.

I also taught them the alternate lyrics to Row Row Row Your Boat and the event driven lyrics to "How dry I am..."   I felt like I was passing on an important part of my childhood - songs for every occasion :)

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/My Best Girl's a Co
From: GUEST,my.own.recollection
Date: 25 Sep 09 - 01:21 AM

I got curious about the song, so I googled "to buy my baby clothes" and wound up here.

Like others growing up in NY in the '50s, I used to hear it (learned it from my father) as "That's where my money goes/To buy my baby clothes". It didn't say she was a NY-er. But we also had a couplet in there that I don't think anyone else has mentioned; I don't fully remember it, but it was "I buy her diamond rings/ and other things"....

Country singer Dick Curless had a rather salacious truck-driving song to the same tune: "I ride the interstate/searching for trucker bait".... There were lines about hot pants and miniskirts, if I recall correctly.

Two comments based on scanning this full thread:

1. It's amazing to me that it's been going on for EIGHT YEARS!

2. I find "My girl's a vegetable" to be as hilarious as it is sick.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/My Best Girl's a Corker
From: GUEST,Interested in the truth
Date: 22 Sep 09 - 03:48 PM

It's funny that Ray Valdes claims to have written something in the 1940s that was already written by 1900. Making claims like that is not nice, especially when it's so easy to prove you wrong. It was written by John Stromberg in 1895.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/My Best Girl's a Corker
From: GUEST,pnedwards
Date: 11 Sep 09 - 10:25 AM

To deutschman3
My mother used to sing this version:
She's my one black, two black, honest to goodness shoeblack, chocolate to the bone
If you see my gal walking down the street, you better leave her alone
She's got hair like a jezebel, teeth like pearls
Oh my lawd, she's a gift to the world...
etc.
that's all I remember but funny that just last week my sister was asking me if i remembered the words. if you think of any more please post.
thanks
P

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/My Best Girl's a Corker
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Jul 09 - 10:14 PM

The corkers are a crowd of men, who loaf about the town,
Whose boarding bills are running up, and funds are running down,.....

Start of :"The Corkers," 19th c. song sheet

What? The wrong kind of corkers? Sorry.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/My Best Girl's a Corker
From: GUEST,Ray Valdes
Date: 19 Jul 09 - 09:46 PM

In June of 2006, I wrote the following:

Was I surprised to read all those letters about the origins of "My Gal's a Corker"! The reason for the surprise is because I wrote that song and lyrics in 1941. Here is the story: My parents sent me to camp Marquette in Brattleboro, Vermont for three summers. The summer of 1941 it rained for thirty out of the 40 days we were there. A friend of mine, Billy Byrnes, and I put together a few skits that we presented to the rest of the gang. My family lived in Manhattan and I had a girlfriend that attended Marymount (91st and Fifth Ave.). I went to Loyola at 83rd and Park. I wrote the song and kept it a few years. In 1948 I typed it and saved it until the computer age. At that time, I saved it to the computer. If you find it strange that I have kept something for so long, please know that I still have stuff I wrote in grammar school. And here is exactly the way I wrote it:

MY GAL'S A CORKER

My gal's a corker,
She's a New Yorker.
And I do everything to keep her in style.

She's got a mop of hair
Just like a grizzly bear---
Yes boys, that's where my money goes.

She's got a pair of eyes
Just like two lemon pies---
Yes boys, that's where my money goes.

She's got a big, long nose
Just like a fireman's hose---
Yes boys, that's where my money goes.

She's got a pair of lips
Just like potatoe chips---
Yes boys, that's where my money goes.

She's got a pair of tits
Just like two ice picks---
Yes boys, that's where my money goes.

She's got a swivel back
Just like Jaimaca track---
Yes boys, that's where my money goes.

She's got a pair of hips
Just like two battleships---
Yes boys, that's where my money goes.

She's got a pair of legs
Just like two whiskey kegs---
Yes boys, that's where my money goes.

She's got a pair of feet
Just like the Navy's fleet---
Yes boys, that's where my money goes.

My gal's a corker,
She's a New Yorker.
And I do everything to keep her in style.


Unfortunately I can't reproduce the music here but it was a fast Dixieland Rag beat (like "Toot Toot Tootsie, or "Sitting On The Levee"

Bestest, RAY

However, no one has referenced this in their messages. Would like to see comments. Thanks.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/My Best Girl's a Corker
From: GUEST,Sarah
Date: 17 Jul 09 - 03:45 PM

My Pop-Pop always sang this with his daughters and granddaughters. He and my grandmother learned it on a hay ride when the oldest of their children were little.
His version:
My gal's a corker
She's a New Yorker
I buy her everything to keep her in style
She's got a ...
*Mop of hair, just like a grizzly bear.*
Hot Dog! That's where my money goes!

*Pair of eyes, just like two custard (or pumpkin) pies.*
*Pair of lips, just like potato chips.*
*Pair of hips, just like two battleships.*
*Pair of gams, just like Virginia hams.*

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/My Best Girl's a Corker
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 16 Jul 09 - 06:49 PM

I remember the "one black ..." from Illinois, 1950s. A kids rhyme. Never heard it with the "corker" song.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Gal's a Corker/My Best Girl's a Corker
From: GUEST,girl with a heart
Date: 16 Jul 09 - 03:31 PM

Thanks for completely ruining an otherwise pleasant and polite blog read. These words deeply offensive and they refer to acts that are illegal - rightly so. Seriously, if you find associating yourself with this kind of mentality appealing you have serious issues. Seek therapy.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Girl's a Corker
From: Joe_F
Date: 02 Jul 09 - 06:27 PM

deutschman3: See my posting above (22 Aug 06).

Subject: RE: Origins: My Girl's a Corker
From: GUEST,deutschman3
Date: 01 Jul 09 - 06:45 PM

My mom and I have been trying to remember the words to this song for months now. My uncle (her brother) taught it to me (us) when I was really young.
My mom thinks a section of the goes..."she's my one black, two black, honest to goodness shoe-black, chocolate to the bone...(then some more lyrics which we can't remember)then into "she wear's my bvd's, I stand outside and freeze, hey boys, that's where my money goes".
Has anyone ever heard of that version?

Subject: RE: Origins: My Girl's a Corker
From: GUEST,RaeLyn
Date: 27 Jun 09 - 01:59 AM

I'm 23 years old and remember learning parts and pieces of this song when I was in preschool in the late 1980's and early 1990's. I was taught by "Grandpa" Schooley (not related but all the kids called him grandpa) who learned it when he served in the military and owned the daycare with his wife. They were both wonderful people. On weekends I would go to my Grandparents house and sing this song for my Grandma. As I got older I forgot about this song but occassionally my Grandma and I would talk about it and all I could ever remember was the battleship verse. I wish I had found this page before my Grandma passed away, she'd have gotten a kick out of finding lyrics. :)

Subject: RE: Origins: My Girl's a Corker
From: GUEST,teamkitty
Date: 31 Mar 09 - 11:22 PM

Both my grandfather (b. 1902) and my cousin (b. 1895) used to sing this song with some of the following stanzas:

"My gal's a corker, she's a New Yorker
I buy her everything to keep her in style."

"She wears silk underwear, I wear my GI pair"

"She's got a pair of hips, just like two navy ships"

"She's got a head of hair, just like a grizzly bear"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Gal's a Corker
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 31 Mar 09 - 09:52 PM

I found this information at WorldCat.org:

MY GIRL'S A CORKER: OR, THE RACE TRACK GIRL
Words by William Jerome, music by John Queen
New York: T. B. Harms, ©1895.
First line: Oh, talk about your sweethearts fair.
First line of chorus: My girl's a corker.

This makes me wonder if all the versions quoted so far are parodies.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Gal's a Corker
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Mar 09 - 03:29 PM

My grandfather used to sing this to us lol
What I remember is
Hair...grizzley bear
set of feet....english fleet
legs...whiskey kegs

Subject: RE: Origins: My Girl's a Corker
From: Joe_F
Date: 21 Feb 09 - 08:37 PM

Guest: Cf.

Let me call you sweetheart -- I'm in love with your new limousine.
Let me hear you whisper that you'll buy all the gasoline.
Keep the headlights burning, and your hands upon the wheel.
Let me call you sweetheart -- I'm in love with your automobile.

Perhaps, thru links of parody, all songs are connected.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Girl's a Corker
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Feb 09 - 11:14 AM

She wears my B.v.D's
I stand outside and freeze

She drives my limousine
I buy the gasoline ... jee ma thats where my money goes

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Gal's a Corker
From: topical tom
Date: 09 Jan 09 - 04:50 AM

She wears silk underwear,
I wear my last year's pair.
Hey, babe, that's where my money goes.

She has a pair of tits just like two rocket ships
Hey, babe, that's where my money goes.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Gal's a Corker
From: GUEST,Yak Yak
Date: 08 Jan 09 - 05:53 PM

Slightly different lyrics from the medics.....

My girls got lovely eyes, just two holes full of flies....
but I would do anything, to keep her alive
My girls got rabies, no chance of babies....
but I would do anything, to keep her alive
and so on....

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Gal's a Corker
From: GUEST,Joan E-T , Ottawa,, Canada
Date: 07 Jan 09 - 09:40 PM

I learned this as a teenager during World War two, probably by the summer of 1942 or 1943. The verses I remember--sung around the campfire in the Kawartha Lakes in Ontario, Canada-- sound as if it was a version sung in the US Navy.

My Gal's a corker. She's a New Yorker. I buy her everything to keep her in style.

She's got a pair of eyes Just like two lemon pies Oh boy, that's where my money go-o-oes.

A great big NOSE, Just like a rubber hose...

A pair of LIPS, Just like potato chips...

A pair of HIPS, Just like two battleships... A pair of LEGS, Just like two whisky kegs... A pair of FEET, Just like the U.S. fleet...

Subject: RE: Origins: My Girl's a Corker
From: Joe_F
Date: 05 Jan 09 - 08:33 PM

Fragment remembered from the 1950s:

...She lets me under there --
Say, boys, that's where my money goes.

Subject: Lyr Add: MY BEST GIRL'S A NEW YORKER (J Stromberg)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 05 Jan 09 - 10:36 AM

No author is named in this book, but it must be the song mentioned above, written by John Stromberg in 1895:

The American Metropolis: From Knickerbocker Days to the Present Time: New York City Life in All its Various Phases
by Frank Moss (New York: Peter Fenelon Collier, 1897), page 309:


MY BEST GIRL'S A NEW YORKER

1. Singing in praise of your sweetheart, describing her many perfections,
Is just now consider'd a high art, so I'll tell you all about mine;
Tommy and Johnny and Danny, whose sweethearts can rival most any,
Will turn emerald-hued all from envy when they hear of my charmer divine.

CHORUS: My best girl's a corker,
Not the kind that's slow,
Born and bred New Yorker,
I would have you know;
You may sing about your Mollie,
Your Mamie or your Pearl,
They're all back numbers when compared
With my best girl!

2. If you could see what she writes me when I'm away from the fireside,
You plainly could tell that she likes me, this dear young charmer of mine;
Mamma has faithfully taught her to be a most dutiful daughter,
And that's why I love her and court her, this girl that I think so divine.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Gal's a Corker
From: Joe_F
Date: 03 Jan 09 - 08:42 PM

I believe that the one in _The New Song Fest_ goes by the name of the Vassar Hygiene Song.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Girl's a Corker
From: Azizi
Date: 02 Jan 09 - 10:26 PM

I meant to post the comment above on this thread thread.cfm?threadid=54687&messages=10
Lyr Req: My Gal's a Corker

But as a link has been provided to each thread in both of these threads, I suppose the fact that my comment doesn't shed any light on the origin of the song will be forgiven.

Subject: RE: Origins: My Girl's a Corker
From: Azizi
Date: 02 Jan 09 - 10:20 PM

My junior high school music teacher, Mr. Sobrola, {New Jersey, 1960} taught this song in music class. I'm sure he didn't use the title "My Girl's A Corker" and he didn't teach the parody-like verses. Instead, the words to what I call "That's Where My Money Goes", are very much like those posted above by GUEST,Guest on 09 Mar 07 - 09:01 AM. Here's the words we learned:

That's where my money goes, to buy my baby clothes.
I buy her everything, to keep her in style.
She's worth her weight in gold.
My lovely la-a-dy.
Hey, boys, that's where my money goes.

-snip-

I remember that we would sing the chorus of "The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi" right before we sang "That's Where My Money Goes". I used to think that these two were just one song. As you can see by the words to that chorus, the two songs fit each other very well:

"The girl of my dreams is the sweetest girl
of all the girls I know.
Each sweet coed, like a rainbow trail,
fades in the afterglow.
The blue of her eyes and the gold of her hair
are a blend of the western sky,
And the moonlight beams on the girl of my dreams.
She's the Sweetheart of Sigma Chi.

-snip-

A link to a Mudcat thread about that Sigma Chi song is here.

**

I always wondered where that "Money's Worth" song came from. When I found out that there was really a song called "Sweetheart of Sigma Chi",I thought "That's Where My Money Goes" was just a verse of that song. But now I know that my music teacher was being creative by blending those two songs together. When i think back, I'm thankful for that teacher, and I better appreciate other examples of his creativity such as a Christmas musical that he wrote. I took this for granted when I was younger, but having met some-shall we say-uninspiring public school music teachers since then, I'm thankful that I had the opportunity to learn from that really nice teacher.

It's interesting to read the different versions of "My Girl's A Corker" and to learn that some children sung verses of that song while jumping rope.

I like those memories and I like mine too.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Gal's a Corker
From: GUEST,David W Solomon
Date: 02 Jan 09 - 09:26 PM

My girl's a corker. She's a New Yorker.
I buy her everything to keep her in style.
She's got a pair of legs just like two whiskey kegs.
Hot dog! that's where my money go-oe-oes.

Oompa oompa oompa pa pa,
Oompa oompa oompa pa pa,
Oompa oompa oompa pa pa,
Oompa oompa oompa pa pa.

My girl's a corker. She's a New Yorker.
I buy her everything to keep her in style.
She's got a head of hair just like a grizzly bear.
Hot dog! That's where my money go-oe-oes.

Oompa oompa oompa pa pa,
Oompa oompa oompa pa pa,
Oompa oompa oompa pa pa!

(N.B.) My Dad is 77, and that's how he used to sing it to me as a lad to go to sleep. Now it is my ring tone on my phone!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Gal's a Corker
From: GUEST,T.D.Foster
Date: 01 Nov 08 - 07:14 PM

I first heard this song,song by the sailors,when I went to sea back in 1952.Naturally,there were also obscene versions of her physical attributes.Does anybody know how old this song really is?

Subject: RE: Origins: My Girl's a Corker
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 31 Jan 08 - 11:49 AM

Have been unable to find the author of the lyrics to match the 1898 recording date.
Any ideas of where to look? Still have some of google to go through.

R. Frank Butts, in addition to a couple of comic songs, recorded many "Gospel" songs, especially "old time." In an archived article "Children in the Revival," in NY Times- "Like many of the other principal evangelists concerned in the great spiritual renaissancce in Brooklyn, R. Frank Butts, the moving and delightful Gospel singer, comes from Lima, Ohio." (Article found through google, pdf. I tried printing it, but got pages with headings only).

Subject: RE: Origins: My Girl's a Corker
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 30 Jan 08 - 05:47 PM

Directly to the article on the Kansas City TMC- sorry, but I was using my old bookmarks-
www.gracyk.com/kansas.shtml

Kansas City TMC