Lyr Req: Onion Songs

Subject: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: GUEST,strawdog
Date: 12 Aug 04 - 02:20 PM

I seem to have suddenly booked a two-hour gig this coming Saturday at a local onion festival, during which I must simultaniously prepare an onion dish and entertain the masses with some music. Does anyone have any silly onion songs? I am prbpbly going to make zwiebelkuchen (onion pie) but am open to recipe suggestions as well.
Breathlessly Thankful,
Strawdog

Subject: ADD: Onions
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Aug 04 - 02:37 PM

Hmmm. Greg Brown has one that goes

Onions, onions, O-U-N-I-O-N-S
Onions, onions, O-U-N-I-O-N-S
Eat 'em at home and buy 'em in the park
Feed 'em to your children so you'll find them in the dark,
Onions, onions, O-U-N-I-O-N-S

Quite profound, don't you think? I guess I must have head him sing it on Prairie Home Companion, in the Dept. of Folk Songs. Tune is "Ja-da" (Jada Jada Ching Ching Ching).

Source: The Prairie Home Companion Folk Song Book
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: Mark Clark
Date: 12 Aug 04 - 02:39 PM

Well, there's Roll The Onion On and In Onion there is Strength. <g>

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: Mark Clark
Date: 12 Aug 04 - 02:46 PM

Also, I seem to recall that chicago is originally a Native American word meaning something like: land of the stinking wild onion. so just sing a few choruses of Chicago, Chicago, that toddlin' town.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: SINSULL
Date: 12 Aug 04 - 02:59 PM

My brother wrote an Onion Song many years ago. I will see if I can unearth it...hee hee hee, a pun.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: Les from Hull
Date: 12 Aug 04 - 03:13 PM

Google gives 'The Onion Song' Marvin Gaye and Beatle Glass Onion song.

That's shallott!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: MartinRyan
Date: 12 Aug 04 - 03:14 PM

Gotta be a Child ballad about The Lady of Shallot!

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: Cool Beans
Date: 12 Aug 04 - 03:31 PM

I'M A LONELY LITTLE PETUNIA in an onion patch,
An onion patch, an onion patch.
I'm a lonely little petunia in an onion patch
And all I do is cry all day.
Boo hoo, Boo hoo,
The air's so bad it takes my breath away.
I'm a lonely little petunia in an onion patch
And all I do is cry all day.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: Nerd
Date: 12 Aug 04 - 03:57 PM

There is not a child ballad, but the Tennyson poem "The Lady of Shallott" has been set to music and sung by the likes of Loreena McKennitt.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: Susan of DT
Date: 12 Aug 04 - 05:11 PM

A search of the DT for onion gets 10 hits, including Bruce Gewirtz's "LET ONION BE in All Our Stews" parody of "Let Union be in All Our Hearts"

Subject: Lyr Add: I LOVE ONIONS (Susan Christie)
From: Cool Beans
Date: 12 Aug 04 - 05:38 PM

I LOVE ONIONS
As recorded by Susan Christie, 1966

I don't like snails or toads or frogs
Or strange things living under logs
But mmm, I love onions!

I don't like to dance with Crazy Ted
He's always jumping on my head
But mmm, I love onions!

Onions, onions, la-la-la!
Onions, onions, ha-ha-ha!
Root doot doot-doot, doot doot doot!

Onions, onions, la-la-la!
Onions, onions, ha-ha-ha!
Root doot doot-doot, doot doot doot!

I don't like rain or snow or hail
Or Moby Dick the Great White Whale
But mmm, I love onions!

I don't like shoes that pinch your toes
Or people who squirt you with a garden hose
But mmm, I love onions!

Onions, onions, la-la-la!
Onions, onions, ha-ha-ha!
Root doot doot-doot, doot doot doot!

Onions, onions, la-la-la!
Onions, onions, ha-ha-ha!
Root doot doot-doot, doot doot doot!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: Wyrd Sister
Date: 12 Aug 04 - 05:46 PM

There was the famous Bert Jansch LP in the 60s - Jack O'nion ;-)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: Leadfingers
Date: 12 Aug 04 - 09:16 PM

Ernie Mayne's song 'My MEATLESS DAY' has a reference to Pickled Onions in one of the verses !! There is a set of lyrics in the forum .

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: Walter Corey
Date: 12 Aug 04 - 10:36 PM

The music hall song "A LITTLE BIT OF CUCUMBER" (also in the database) has a chorus that begins "I like pickled onions"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 13 Aug 04 - 01:22 AM

You couls easily adapt Pete Seeger;s 'Beans In My Ears' - kids love the song and it's tres easy to learn.

Regards, John

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 13 Aug 04 - 01:30 AM

Or the old music hall song, adapted for the occasion:

Any 0-nion any 0-nion any any any 0-nion?
You look neat - talk about a treat,
You look dapper from your napper to your feet.
Dressed in style, brand new tile,
And your father's old green tie on,
But I wouldn't give you tuppence for your old watch chain,
0-nion, 0-nion

Regards, John

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Aug 04 - 05:57 AM

Other Ernie Mayne songs- "A N'Egg And Some N'Ham And A N'Onion" and "I've Never Wronged An Onion". Harry Champion also had a song called, believe it or not, "Baked Sheep's Heart Stuffed With Sage And Onions"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: Greyeyes
Date: 13 Aug 04 - 06:06 AM

Don't know how much of their material is onion related, but you could have a look at this link .

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 13 Aug 04 - 06:51 AM

Perhaps you could do with some assistance from some friends of mine The Celebrated Onion Band. Not for the faint-hearted though, Gerald "Pug" Rayner, the lead vocalist doesn't exactly sing folk songs - his approach is nearer to "grabbing them by the balls and kicking the sh*t out of them !"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: GUEST,strawdog
Date: 13 Aug 04 - 07:24 AM

Thank you everyone.
Your responses bring a tear to my eye.
(Then again, I always have been somewhat thin-skinned.)
Whichever songs I choose, I'm sure that the words that come out of my mouth tomorrow morning will be powerfully strong.

For anyone who may need an onion song in the future, I did stumble upon a cute little tune from 1924 by the Duncan Sisters called, "IN SWEET ONION TIME (I'LL BREATHE MY LOVE TO YOU)".

Thanks again,
strawdog

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 13 Aug 04 - 07:33 AM

To John in Brisbane

Surely the subject of the original song, makes it more apt for green apples rather than onions.

Subject: Lyr Add: LET ONION BE IN ALL OUR FARTS
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 13 Aug 04 - 09:35 AM

Or following Susan's lead:

LET ONION BE IN ALL OUR FARTS

Come on, lads, and let's be jolly
Drive away all melancholy,
For, to grieve it would be folly,
While we are together.

cho:Let Onion be in all our farts,
Let all our farts be joined as one.
We'll end the day as we begun,
We'll end it all in pleasure.

Right-folla-rolla-rye, too-ra-lie-doe (3x)
While we are together.

Old King Solomon, in all his glory,
Told each wife a different story,
Of the things that we delight in,
While we are together.
cho:

Eating and drinking are quite charming,
(or: courting and drinking, if you prefer)
Smoking and piping there's no harm in.
(or: piping and dancing)
These are things we take delight in,
While we are together.

Grab the bottle as it passes,
Do not fail to fill your glasses.
(or: Come on, lads, and raise your glasses
Grab the bottle as it passes)
Water drinkers are dull asses,
While we are together.

Cease your quarreling and fighting,
Evil thinking and backbiting.
All these things take no delight in,
While we are together.

Subject: Lyr Add: FEED YOUR BABIES ONIONS (from Kenny Hall)
From: GUEST,ClaireBear
Date: 13 Aug 04 - 10:44 AM

This thread would not be complete without a song Kenny Hall used to sing called "Feed Your Babies Onions," which is one of those silly A-part only lyrics for a fiddle tune. There are many references to this as a song name in the forum, but I haven't found the actual lyric on any of those other threads, so here goes...

Can't help you identify the fiddle tune beyond that it's a waltz and the A part's in major while the B part is in the relative minor until the last line, which is the same as the last line of the A part (I do know the tune, but wouldn't know how to transcribe it), but the original lyric went like this:

FEED YOUR BABIES ONIONS

Feed your babies onions
So you can find them in the garden when it's dark
Feed your babies onions
So you can find them in the dark.

It was a great start but way too short. So I added lyrics for the B part:

You'll find them in the potting shed
Find them in the flowerbed
Underneath the roses red
You will find them in the dark.

Then I added other verses, such as these, leaving the chorus instrumental as Kenny Hall did when he sang his one verse. I usually ad lib them, but here are some I always sing (I say "I always sing" but I don't think I've ever sung this except alone, in the car):

Feed your babies turnips,
And they will go and live at someone else's house.
Feed your babies turnips,
They'll live at someone else's house.

Feed your babies ice cream
And they'll be fat but they'll be very happy kids.
Feed your babies ice cream
And they'll be very happy kids.

Feed your babies garlic
And they'll grow up to know the finer things in life.
Feed your babies garlic
They'll know the finer things in life.

Feed your babies nothing
And they will shrivel up and finally blow away.
Feed your babies nothing
And they will finally blow away.

Who else has a verse?

Claire

PS I can attest to the accuracy of the turnips, ice cream and garlic verses as I feed these to my own child -- well, not the turnips but I tried 'em once and sure enough he looked as though he wished he lived somewhere else -- but just in case you wondered, I'm not endorsing feeding your babies nothing. That verse is cautionary.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: JennyO
Date: 13 Aug 04 - 10:54 AM

Our choir sings a song called "Power in a Union". When we have been in a rather silly mood, down at the pub for instance, we have been known to sing "There is power in an onion......"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 13 Aug 04 - 05:18 PM

Robert Earl Keen's latest CD has the song "Farm Fresh Onions" and if one became really desperate "Home Grown Tomatoes" could become "Home Grown Onions".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: Musicman
Date: 13 Aug 04 - 07:43 PM

there is also a song from about 1924 called "She knows her Onions"...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: open mike
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 01:03 PM

I found this thread when looking for "Feed Your Babies Onions"
i see an album by that name by the Highwoods String Band, but it
does not contain a cut by that name....has 23 other good ones, though.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: greg stephens
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 02:57 PM

Can I recommend the Boat Band's "Take Me Over the Tide", a double CD. On the second CD, track 2 is "The Onions"(or "les Ognons". A Creole traditional tune popularised by Sidney Bechet. The only lyrics are the one word "Onions" or in French "'s'Ognons"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: greg stephens
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 03:36 PM

Here you are, Humphrey Lyttelton plays "The Onions"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: Jack Campin
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 04:04 PM

1920s Edinburgh childrens song:

I love a sauasage
A Cawperative sausage
You can tell it's Cawperative by the smell
When you fry it with an ingan
You can hear the ingan singin
Mary, ma Scots bluebell.

(tune: Harry Lauder's "Mary My Scots Bluebell"; "ingan" = onion; "Cawperative" = Co-operative, the chain of nonprofit retail outlets for the working classes opened across the UK in the 1860s).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: GUEST,Ed
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 06:42 PM

I have always thought in the back of my mind:
Cheese And Onions

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: open mike
Date: 08 Oct 09 - 11:21 PM

lots of these recipe songs include onions, especially B-O-R-S-C-H-T
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=21278&messages=47

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: GUEST,Conan the Blackburnian
Date: 09 Oct 09 - 05:12 PM

Old Scottish song:-Onion Bonny Banks & Onion Bonny Braes

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Jun 17 - 08:25 PM

I know a waltz, Peeler Creek, that is also referred to as Feed Your Babies Onions, some of the same words you've posted.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 28 Jun 17 - 09:54 PM

My son does this one. From The Muppet Show, originally performed by Rowlf the Dog.

Onions Make Me Cry

I'll admit I split bananas,
Take Easter eggs and make them dye.
But I never harmed an onion
So why should they make me cry?

Once I saw a salad dressing.
My face got radish, my oh my.
But I never harmed an onion
So why should they make me cry?

Potatoes I've mashed, and berries I've crushed,
I've made an artichoke, and that's not all.
I've also whipped cream, and beaten an egg.
Yes, I've even made a melon ball.

Of all the things above, I'm guilty.
If punished I would know just why.
But I never harmed an onion
So why should they make me cry?
Oh why should they make me cry?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: JennieG
Date: 29 Jun 17 - 01:08 AM

Don't cry for me, onion peeler......

Sorry about that, I couldn't resist.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 29 Jun 17 - 02:37 AM

28 Jun 17 bwl's
Onions Make Me Cry
https://youtu.be/JE1mG9SdFUw

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: GUEST,Jake
Date: 31 Jan 19 - 10:24 PM

I only knew the song by "feed your babies onions". I looked up Peeler Creek, referenced here... that's the tune.

A part lyrics.

Oh feed your babies onions /
so you can find them when the lights are way down low

Oh feed your babies onions /
so you can find them in the dark.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 Feb 19 - 12:56 PM

There’s the song SHE KNOWS HER ONIONS—but of course it’s not literally about onions. “Knowing one’s onions” is a metaphor for being wise.

Two sets of lyrics have been posted in another thread, one from the original sheet music, by Yellen, Ager & Pollack, and one as sung by the Happiness Boys (Billy Jones and Ernest Hare).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: open mike
Date: 07 Feb 19 - 03:02 PM

Can anyone provide a link to the music for the song               
Feed Your Babies Onions?
Or the name of the tune if it has another name?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: Stewie
Date: 07 Feb 19 - 06:24 PM

Tom Dundee had an intro to his best-known song 'A delicate balance' whereby he dreamt that he had turned into an onion. You can hear it here:

Click

Beaut song,

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: ketchdana
Date: 07 Feb 19 - 08:56 PM

A limburger sandwich, a cool glass of beer,
a slice of raw onion, and you--oo.

(from an old barbershop quartet song)
...Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: GUEST,nickp (cookieless)
Date: 08 Feb 19 - 03:21 AM

@open mike - 'Feed Your Babies Onions so you can find them in the dark' was used as a tune title by the wonderful Highwoods String Band (and as the title of their compilation cd). It was used as a generic joke name by the band and I don't believe it was used for any specific tune. Another was (from memory) 'Run for the roundhouse, Maggie, they can't corner you there' and so on.

There may be a tune or song with that title but I don't know them as such.

Cheers, Nick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: Donuel
Date: 08 Feb 19 - 10:00 AM

after stealing some puns...

food is violent

Vegans won't eat meat
Living things with eyes
will not be their treat
Pigs feet make them cry

Food is violent
Organic or not
Screams are silent
What ever you got

I've beaten some eggs
Not a sound was made
I've fried chicken legs
There was no first aid

I've peeled bananas
Potatoes I've mashed
It sounds like torture
the food that I've thrashed

Make a melon ball
slice a tomato
Your food has been mauled
hit by torpedo

Food is violence
no matter your mood
After an ambulence
You'll one day be food

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 08 Feb 19 - 10:22 AM

GLASS ONION – The Beatles
GREEN ONION TOP – Roosevelt Sykes, 1951
I’M A LONELY LITTLE PETUNIA (IN AN ONION PATCH) – Dick “Two-Ton” Baker, 1947.
J'AIME L'OIGNON FRIT and LA CHANSON DE L'OIGNON – French

Subject: Lyr Add: ONION EATING MAMA (Cliff Carlisle)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 09 Feb 19 - 09:20 AM

My transcription from the recording at YouTube:


ONION EATING MAMA
As recorded by Cliff Carlisle, 1934.

[Yodel at the beginning and after each verse.]

Got one stocking; got no shoes at all. (2x)
Got a pair of britches an’ a wore-out shirt an’ I just got married this fall.

Said two can live as cheap as one, but I know it’s wrong. (2x)
’Cause it didn’t say anything ’bout the little ones comin’ on.

Ah, my wife can eat; yeah, she’s eatin’ all the time.
My wife can eat; boy, she’s eatin’ all the time.
She’ll eat ham an’ eggs an’ the table legs an’ I just can’t save a dime.

You’re fond of eatin’ onions; turn your face away.
Been eatin’ onions, honey; turn your face away.
Gonna keep on eatin’ them onions, gonna leave you someday. (It’s the truth, honey.)

Eatin’, eatin’, an eatin’ ev’rywhere.
Eat in China, eatin’ ev’rywhere.
The way that wife o’ mine can eat would break up a millionaire. (Sure would, buddy.)


[Also recorded by Creighton Lindsay on “Strange New Town,” 2017.]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: Jack Campin
Date: 10 Feb 19 - 12:47 PM

Turkish one, from Asik Mahzuni Serif, best known for his take-no-prisoners "America, Killer, Killer":

https://www.facebook.com/100015877953399/posts/321527525053177/

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: GUEST,Fred Maslan
Date: 10 Feb 19 - 04:48 PM

you get corns and bunions
from eating Spanish onions
so cut yourself a piece of cake
and make yourself at home.

Just a snippet from something my mom used to sing.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: PHJim
Date: 10 Feb 19 - 11:50 PM

John in Brisbane said, way back on 13th of August, 2004 at 01:22 AM'
"You couls easily adapt Pete Seeger;s 'Beans In My Ears' - kids love the song and it's tres easy to learn."

Pete may well have sung this song, but it's not his. It's a Len Chandler song. According to Chandler, there were doctors who protested that many children were actually putting beans in their ears so it was banned in some places such as Pittsburgh and Boston.
Len was a protest singer and some of his songs upset certain elements of society, but he didn't expect a children's song to be banned.
I have taught this song to many classrooms of children with no complaints. I learned it from Sing Out! magazine in the sixties.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: GUEST,bradfordian
Date: 11 Feb 19 - 08:24 AM

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dBg6pD3Hw0A

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: GUEST,brdfordian
Date: 11 Feb 19 - 08:28 AM

Chopling Onions Paul Carbuncle

Subject: Lyr Add: WE'RE FEEDING THE BABY ONIONS (Bigelow...
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 31 Mar 20 - 04:25 PM

WE'RE FEEDING THE BABY ONIONS
Bigelow & Miller (1915)

1. Somebody came to our house, somebody came to stay
Father is happy, so happy with joy,
He’s half the owner of a ten-pound boy
When he arrived without his hair or teeth
The racket he made could a brass band beat
And when he yells, no one can tell
Where he is and so

Chorus
We’re feeding the baby onions so we can find him in the dark
For when he starts to holler, you can hear it in the park
It falls, it squalls, at night it bawls
It sounds through all the walls
So we’re feeding the baby onions
So we can find him in the dark

2. We fed it on the sweetest things, trying to keep it quiet
Grandpa would dance on his hickory log
And father would stand on his head and beg
But when the shadows of night would fall
Then Kid Napoleon would start to bawl
Hate to tell you but it’s true
To find him in the dark

Subject: Lyr Add: GIVE ME TRIPE AND ONIONS (Fred. Stanley)
From: Peter the Squeezer
Date: 03 Apr 20 - 06:10 AM

GIVE ME TRIPE AND ONIONS
Frederick Stanley (1924)

Some sing the praise of Bananas
And some the Cabarge and Cabean
And others the Rose and the Radish
The fairest that ever was seen
Now some like the Roast Beef of Old England
And others a s'nice Mince Pie
But when I am asked what I like best
I say as I wink my eye


Chorus -
Oh - Give me Tripe and Onions
Give Tripe and Onions to me
Don't like Lamb, Chicken or Ham
I can't stick your sloppy Beef Tea
Not keen on Roast Beef and Yorkshire
With Sausages I don't agree
Give me Tripe and Onions
Give Tripe and Onions to me
Don't like Lamb, Chicken or Ham
I can't stick your sloppy Beef Tea
Not keen on Roast Beef and Yorkshire
Oh - With Sausages I don't agree
Oh - Give me Tripe and Onions
Give Tripe and Onions to me


Last night I went to the theatre
The play was a drama fine
The villain had trapped the hero
And to finish him off lost no time
The hero went down with a sigh
For the heroine he met his death
Then he gazed on the crowd with mournful eye
And said as he gasped for breath

A friend of mine once had a birthday
A rare event to be sure
I wanted to give him a present
Although I am rather poor
I can't afford a house or motor
Or a Singer sewing machine
So "What will you have, Old Thing", I said
Says he, "All right, old bean"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 03 Apr 20 - 09:06 AM

I'm a lonely little petunia in an onion patch ?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: GUEST,kenny
Date: 03 Apr 20 - 11:28 AM

Good luck with this :) :

https://youtu.be/0c4l_T3KRNo

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: Ged Fox
Date: 04 Apr 20 - 05:51 AM

I'm surprised that no-one mentioned this famous French song -
Chant de l'Oignon

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Onion Songs
From: Vincent Jones
Date: 04 Apr 20 - 09:02 AM

There's a song by Cousin Joe from New Orleans called "I never harmed an onion, so why do they make me cry?"

Which was rather disingenuous of the late lamented Joseph, as they only make you cry when you slice them.

Regarding a point of information of about 16 years ago, my mate Wally from Ramsbottom tells me that he has relations who moved to Chicago, and that they were delighted to be told that Chicago was a Native American word for "wild garlic valley", since that's the derivation of Ramsbottom (i.e ramson=wild garlic, bottom=valley).

Although everyone in the nearby villages refers to the town as "Tup's Arse".

Subject: Lyr Add: I NEVER HARMED AN ONION
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 22 May 20 - 10:14 AM

You can hear this recording at the Internet Archive.


I NEVER HARMED AN ONION
(Words and music by "Lanny and Ginger" Grey & Moe Jaffe)
As recorded by Steve Allen and His Orchestra (Coral 61573, 1956).

I'll admit I've split bananas,
Took Easter eggs and made them dye,
But I never harmed an onion,
So why should they make me cry?

I turn up my nose at turnips;
Don't care at all for carrot pie,
But I never harmed an onion,
So why should they make me cry?

[§] Potatoes I've mashed and berries I've crushed.
I've made an artichoke, and that's not all.
I've also whipped cream and beaten an egg,
And, yes, I've even made a melon ball.

Of all the things above, I'm guilty.
If punished, I would know just why,
But I never harmed an onion,
So why should they make me cry? [§§]

Now, I've cut off a head of cabbage (yes, I have)
And squeezed watercress until it's dry,
But I never harmed an onion,
So why should they make me cry?

Once I saw a salad dressing.
My face got radish—my, oh, my!—
But I never harmed an onion,
So why should they make me cry?

REPEAT § TO §§.


[The sheet music for this song is held by Indiana University, but it is not viewable online. However, the catalog entry reveals that there is a missing verse that begins: "I used to be so cheerful now all I do is cry. So if my eyes are…."]

Subject: Lyr Add: CHOPPING AN ONION (Paul Carbuncle)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 22 May 20 - 12:57 PM

Bradfordian posted a link to this song on YouTube back on 11-Feb-2019.

I found this description and lyrics Paul Carbuncle's website:

Here’s an attempt at writing a war poem, prompted by the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War. The arrival of the dreaded telegram was the initial idea, combined with a taste of the efforts of the wartime housewife to grow more food during a time of shortages and rationing.


CHOPPING AN ONION
(Paul Carbuncle, ©2013)

She was chopping an onion, an onion she’d grown
In the vegetable patch she’d dug in her lawn.
She glanced out the window and then looked again
As the telegram boy turned into the lane.

She shamefully wished the young angel of death
Upon innocent neighbours, under her breath,
Then her heart split apart and a single tear fell
As he walked up the path and rang on the bell.

He stood in his navy-blue jacket and hat
And held out the envelope, eyes on the mat.
She opened it painfully. ‘Thank you,’ she said.
‘REGRET TO INFORM …’ was as far as she read.

Re-reading the words as she sits on the stair
With a cold cup of tea and a howl of despair,
It’s been seventeen hours and she can’t understand
How her son came to vanish in some distant land.

It’s been seventeen weeks and she wishes she knew
If he suffered, how he suffered, where he suffered, and with who,
And then comes a letter describing a grave,
Says she ought to feel proud – he was strong, he was brave.

It’s been seventeen years and she’s never known
Why her boy had to go, why he didn’t come home.
She’s still growing veg and she’s still baking pies
And when she chops onions no-one asks why she cries.


[On his web page, he has links to several other performances, besides the one linked above, including performances by other people.]