Lyr Req: Rubber Dolly

Subject: RUBBER DOLLY
From:
Date: 24 Jan 97 - 03:03 PM

Hi...looking for more lyrics to RUBBER DOLLY

My mama told me if i'd be goody
That she would buy me a rubber dolly
Now don't you tell her, I caught a fellar
Or she won't buy me no rubber dolly..

One verse is all my wife and I can come up with.

Thanks: Gene

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Subject: RE: RUBBER DOLLY
From: Kevin
Date: 24 Jan 97 - 03:10 PM

My mamma told me...etc.

My sister told her

I kissed a soldier.

Now she won't buy me

A rubber dolly.

That's all I can remember,

Kevin

Subject: RE: RUBBER DOLLY
From: Gene Graham
Date: 03 Apr 97 - 05:27 AM

Still looking for additional verses to this OLD TIME song. HELP! LES! RALPH! ANYBODY!!!

Subject: RE: RUBBER DOLLY
From: Gene Graham
Date: 28 Apr 97 - 03:46 AM

Found more. ...but still looking for others....

Anybody NEW joined the group lately - that might know more verses to RUBBER DOLLY???

Now he's so handsome, his hair is curley; /And he calls me his little girlie.

Now, soon well marry, but don't tell mommie; /Or she won't buy me no rubber dollie.

Subject: RE: RUBBER DOLLY
From:
Date: 28 Apr 97 - 12:06 PM

version I learned... My mamma told me....

Then someone told her I kissed a soldier And we got married and we had a baby The baby died, Oh how I cried Oh how I needed that RUBBER DOLLY!

Subject: RE: RUBBER DOLLY
From: campfire
Date: 09 Sep 00 - 10:39 AM

refresh

I guess I just answered my own question on the other Rubber Dolly thread!

campfire

Subject: RE: RUBBER DOLLY
From: Doctor John
Date: 09 Sep 00 - 12:25 PM

My momma told me that she would buy me,
A stick of candy if I'd be good.
But don't you tell ... etc
Not great stuff but it's on the record. Dr John

Subject: RE: RUBBER DOLLY
From: GUEST,Gene
Date: 09 Sep 00 - 12:34 PM

Finally located an old recording but it ONLY has two verses...still searching for a LONGER version--

Appears like most recorded it PRIMARILY as an INSTRUMENTAL tune
You can play this one at 'ROSE THE RECORD LADY's' SITE
search for her site with:
www.google.com

Subject: RE: RUBBER DOLLY
From: GUEST,skip
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 10:44 PM

My mama told me if I"d be goody
that she would buy me a rubber dolly
but don"t you tell her , Ive got a feller
or she won"t buy me a rubber dolly

Subject: RE: RUBBER DOLLY
From: Sorcha
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 11:28 PM

When I was a kid (many long years ago!) we did a pairs thing with our hands to this--can't remember all of it, but it was sitting across from each other, holding hands, hands up and down, slap palms, touch shoulders,etc. Wish I could remember all of it. At that time I never knew it was a real song. I thought it was just a kids chant.

Subject: RE: RUBBER DOLLY
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Oct 02 - 09:52 PM

Rubber Dolly you're the one
You make bed-time so much fun.
Oh, Rubber Dolly
I'm awfully fond of you.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rubber Dolly
From: GUEST,rubber dolly
Date: 22 Mar 10 - 09:23 PM

There's another verse before these.

Three, six, nine. The goose drank wine.
The monkey chewed tobacco on the street called Vine.
The Vine broke, the monkey got choked,
And they all went to heaven on a little row boat.
Quack, Quack.

You can hear the song on Episode 10, Season 1, of the British Comedy "Skins" titled "Secret Party". But I used to sing this as a kid. I don't remember ever hearing it on the radio--only that all the kids were singing it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rubber Dolly
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 04:50 PM

The 'Quack, quack' should surely be 'Clap, clap, clap, clap' clap your hands,

I also think in lots of trad versions it's 'line' not 'vine' but the pop version might have been 'vine'

A related version of this last verse I had from the 50s in Yorkshire.
Once upon a time when dogs shit lime
And monkeys chewed tobacco,
The little piggy run with his finger up his bum,
To see what was the matter.

Have since collected lots of variants in Yorkshire as skipping and two-ball rhymes etc.

In fact the 'quack, quack, bit seems to come into a much earlier version
Once upon a time when pigs spoke rhyme
And monkeys chewed tobacco
The hens took snuff to make them tough
And the ducks went quack, quack, quack-o.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rubber Dolly
From: GUEST,Song by Shirley Ellis, based on much older s
Date: 11 Mar 25 - 07:00 PM

Often, old lyrics could be understood by immature minds as “clean”, or by more experienced minds as “dirty”. Also, many lyrics/poems camouflaged touchy subjects (like “Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday). Old Nursery rhymes & fairy tales often hid meaningful information to pass down to posterity, whether about forbidden spirituality, politics, or scandals. The Clapping song popularized in 1965 by Shirley Ellis, seemed on the surface to be a great jumprope song—fast-paced & silly, for double-Dutch jump rope. It could simply be that. It could as well easily hide deeper, darker meanings in its words. The original (?) “rubber dolly” song was sad & slow, & from the late 1800s…not so long after the Civil war in the US, & slavery & bigotry was still pretty horrific. Many would prefer to think of it as innocent; I’m not at all sure it was…much common slang from over 120 years ago, is lost.

Ellis’s version: 3-6-9, the goose drank wine (white rich folks’ profligate behaviors) The monkey chewed tobacco on the street car line (a slur on blacks trying to get along in a bigoted society) The line broke, & the monkey got choked (blacks struggling & still losing) & they all went to heaven in a little row boat. (Irony that Everyone goes to the same place in the end)

My mama told me, if I was goodie, that she would buy me a rubber dolly. (A house-mama controlling a subservient or child in a brothel, using rewards) My aunty told her, I kissed a soldier, so she won’t buy me a rubber dolly. (Another member of the brothel ratted her out, so she’s not getting rewards, innocence lost—so, verse could be code to hide brothel trade in young girls long ago.)

We don’t know what “a rubber dolly” was, in 1800s slang terms—it could have been a tasty treat, or could have referred to rubber condoms, invented in the mid-1800s. A “goodie 2-shoes” was mildly derogatory term for someone who behaved better than her station in life. “Monkey” was a common slang for a black person.

…Or…it could all just be innocent child’s play!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rubber Dolly
From: meself
Date: 11 Mar 25 - 08:43 PM

Very imaginative ............

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rubber Dolly
From: Bugsy
Date: 12 Mar 25 - 05:36 AM

My mama told me that she would buy me
a rubber dolly, if I be goody
but don't you tell her, I got a feller
O she won't buy me no rubber dolly

No rubber dolly, No rubber dolly
No she won't buy me No rubber dolly
No rubber dolly, No rubber dolly
No she won't buy me No rubber dolly

my mama told me that she would buy me
a stick of candy, if I be goody
but don't you tell her, I got a feller
O she won't buy me, no stick of candy

No stick of candy ( etc)

Woody Guthrie "Rubber Dolly"

Cheers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rubber Dolly
From: GUEST,Jerome Clark
Date: 12 Mar 25 - 11:26 AM

The "rubber dolly" words are dopey to the point of cringe-making. I'm surprised that no one so far has mentioned the source of the (far more listenable) melody: the well-known fiddle tune/instrumental "Back Up and Push."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Rubber Dolly
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 15 Mar 25 - 10:55 AM

Rubber Doly recordings with lyrics on Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rubber+dolly+song+lyrics