Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Nov 11 - 02:58 AM

This takes me back to the end of our basic training in the British Army in 1959, when the detested Corporals who had been the bane of our life suddenly became human and introduced us to this song. We also sang the chorus version already given containing 'the elephant and the kangaroo-oo-oo-oo'. Thanks all for recapturing the memory. Brian.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: Bert
Date: 14 Nov 11 - 10:28 AM

...Making sense has never been a strong suit for those who sing this song...

I know Charlie, but I thought that the possibility of it being the original version might be of interest to some of the dyed in the wool folkies here.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: GUEST,pakamac
Date: 10 Aug 12 - 05:46 PM

"And in the next cage ladies and gentlemen, we have the Polar Bear"
" Ooh, ahh, the polar bear. What the f***in' hell is that?"
" One on side of the North pole lives an Englishman who keeps a private school. One th other side of the North pole is a Frenchman who keeps another private school. And right at the North Pole the polar bear slides down a glacier, keepin' 'is own privates cool!"

Oh, we're off ........

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: GUEST,pylortes
Date: 26 Apr 14 - 10:01 PM

from the old days civil war reenacting and camp fire songs...

the oo-ma-doodle bird, it from the antarctic, is had no legs, and when it come sin for a landing, it says, oo-ma-doodle, oo-ma-doodle..


next we have the mate to the antarctic oo-ma-doodle bird, the Oo-Ah bird.

the Oo-Ah bird lays square eggs, and every time it lays an egg you can hear it say..ooo-ahhh..ooo-ahhh..

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: GUEST,JTB
Date: 27 Apr 14 - 05:04 PM

I learned this song in the school bus going to our rugger games circa 1963.

Ringmaster: "Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight we have a man who claims he can perform miracles"
Audience: "Jesus Christ!"
Ringmaster: "Right first time, Madam".

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: GUEST,Wendy
Date: 03 May 14 - 06:53 AM

My parents sung this to us on long car trips in South Africa in the 70's.....

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 03 May 14 - 02:42 PM

A History and analysis of the song, discussing its very long and complex heritage will by the estimable Ed Cray. is scheduled for publication this spring by CAMSCO Music. Watch this space.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: GUEST,Joe Knight
Date: 16 Jun 14 - 11:08 PM

Learned this song around the drunken campfires of Lake Powell AZ in the 80s.

Don't know how it made the jump from the UK/AS to Western US, but thanks to all who have have passed it on throughout the planet. Amazing how the the refrain/corus has held up though the decades.

Learned many new lyrics tonight that I will add to my archive.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: Rog Peek
Date: 17 Jun 14 - 04:40 AM

I don't believe the square crocodile has been mentioned.
The square crocodile?
Yes, the square crocodile....has a square head, square legs, a square arse and he shits bricks!

Rog

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: eftifino
Date: 17 Jun 14 - 09:22 AM

I learnt the intro as follows:

Roll up, roll up! See the Fat Lady standing on the Skinny Man's
COCK your eye over here and see the leopard with the 14 spots on his
MICKEY, close the door there's a draught coming in from the elephant's
HOLE-d your tickets for the next performance please!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: GUEST,Joe Kitchen
Date: 05 Aug 14 - 06:56 AM

I remember this as 'The Wild Beast Show' while serving with the R.A.F.in India in 1944.

I learned the following:

Next we have the Pfanga Pfanga bird who dives from the highest mountain peaks to the deepest part of the ocean bed to collect sardine farts for spirit levels'

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: Lighter
Date: 10 Aug 14 - 09:36 AM

> sardine farts for spirit levels

That *is* funny, Joe.

Do you remember any songs?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 10 Aug 14 - 10:46 AM

"The Wild West Show--A Tangle of Tales and Titles" (Ed Cray) is now available from CAMSCO Music as the fifth in their series of "Occasional Papers in Folklore" This 147 page book traces the origins and variations of a song that Legman considered to be the oldest bawdy song in current ciculation, with roots extending back to Shakesperean times. Softcover. ($9.95+ S&H)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: GUEST,Chorus
Date: 22 May 15 - 03:52 PM

Let me introduce the xxxxxx
Audience: fantastic, incredible, unbelievable,
The xxxxxx, what the fuck is that?
Then the main refrain followed by
'We're off to see the Wild West show, the elephant and the kangaroo ooh ooh ooh , never mind the weather, we'll all be together to see the Wild West Show
Wonderful thread with loads of extra lines, betore are invented even now 😀martin

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: GUEST,Eoin Bruce
Date: 19 Jan 17 - 02:52 AM

The OO Bird & The AAH Bird
The OO bird lives at the North Pole and the AAH bird lives at the south pole. Once a year the two of them meet on the Equator and the only sound that can be heard is "Ooo AAH, Ooo Aah".

Bob Clarke, a 2nd Engineer with Frank C Strick shipping line, taught many of us several verses by sheer repetition.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 19 Jan 17 - 04:15 AM

"Do you sing it?"
Sing?
I've always considered it a Cante-Fable
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Jul 17 - 06:59 AM

Used to sing this about 30yrs ago while camping with the olds... It was always a song headed by the most pissed up one of the night... Hehehe

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: GUEST,Guest...John Taylor
Date: 23 Jun 18 - 10:29 AM

I sang the song around a beer keg as a Kappa Alpha fraternity pledge in the 1950's at the University of South Carolina.
The verse I remember dealt with the horny skinned rhinocerous
..." step right up ladies and gentlemen and see the horny skinned rhinocerous. How do the natives kill the horny skinned rhinocerous??? Lift the tail and the arrows go in one by one" ...and "we are off to the Hamburger Zoo to see the elephant and the fighting kangaroo..."etc. Brings back good memories of good times.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 24 Jun 18 - 08:02 PM

Amazing that "The Wild West Show" is still very much alive. I probably already mentioned somewhere above that I first learned a version from the younger members of the Puleston Clan in Long Island, NY, back in the 1960s. The family patriarch Dennis Puleston was raised in England and was a source of many such ditties, including "The Ballad of Anthony Clair" referred to above, the juggler with the "large balls, balls as heavy as lead."

Charlie Ipcar

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: GUEST
Date: 15 May 19 - 07:28 AM

Sung it many a time when in the Royal Navy 1960's..........a few variations on the words, but basically the same song. It was always a favorite after a few pints.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 23 Jun 19 - 01:58 PM

Sang it with the Shantyboys in 1956 and remember Fi-Fi the the dancing lady: first she dances on her right foot, then she dances on her left foot and in between the two she makes a living. You won't find her cherry but can see the battered box in came in.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: GUEST,Alex now in Houston TX
Date: 12 May 20 - 11:24 AM

In the 60s I used to sing this with wee Al Bourne, Len Turnbull, and all the rest of us drunks in the 'Mally Arms an old pub in the south side of Glasgow Scotland. I found this thread while searching for the verse of 'The Hairy Horned Armored Armadillo' which I have forgotten! . I am still looking....

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: GUEST,Guest; now in Seattle
Date: 12 Jan 22 - 01:47 AM

Learned this in a British pub in Trinidad, WI...... The Pelican Inn. What fun to hear the sailors sing this when they were in port. Sang a verse at a dinner party tonight for the first time in 55 years. Recognized many of the verses. Great to see this post.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: G-Force
Date: 12 Jan 22 - 09:01 AM

Remember this from Uni in the 1960's.

We also had the Piebald Horse. The Piebald Horse?? The only animal I know with 3.1416 testicles!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Aug 22 - 11:56 AM

A favourite sung in our mess !! I remember the verse "ladies and gentlemen,. in the next cage we have the stange beast from borneo the orang outan he has one ball made of steel and one ball made of brass and as he swings through the trees they slap together and go orang gotang gotang !!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: Sol
Date: 29 Aug 22 - 12:48 PM

From my rugger days, vocalising on the back of the bus. >>>

And here we have the Walagawoomba bird. (What the **** is the...?)
The Walagawoomba bird flies to a height of 1000ft and then goes into a vertical nose-dive. When he is 6" off the ground he shouts "Walagawoomba!". To the average person, Walagawoomba means nothing but to the Walagawoomba bird it means "Help! I can't ******* stop!"

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: Lighter
Date: 30 Aug 22 - 12:33 PM

An American B-29 stationed in Alaska in 1947 was named "Kee Bird."

For "Kee-kee-Kerist, it's cold!"

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: GUEST,Gyro
Date: 14 Oct 24 - 12:02 PM

This song was a staple in American fighter squadrons in the 80s.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: GUEST,LarryG
Date: 02 Feb 25 - 06:00 PM

Trevor Jones left Avalon on Catalina Island in 1980 and moved to Lahaina, Maui. In May or June of that year, he was auditioning to be the house entertainer at the Pioneer Inn in Lahaina. My submarine happened to be anchored off Lahaina that weekend as a reward for successfully completing a major inspection. I met Trevor there that afternoon and he asked if we could get some people to show up that night for his audition. We agreed and passed the word around. Soon it became a ship's party at the Pioneer Inn and we completely filled the place. Trevor played his guitar and sang, we drank and sang, and the bar literally ran out of alcohol--so they were borrowing booze from other bars in the area. It turned into one of the best parties I've ever attended and, because we drank the bar dry, the decision to hire Trevor was made without question. Last reports had Trevor playing guitar and singing at the Rula Bula Irish Pub in Tempe, AZ.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: GUEST,Larry G
Date: 02 Feb 25 - 06:09 PM

Two of Trevor Jones's favorite verses were "the Bengal Tiger" (gentlemen: a 500-pound pussy that eats you) and "the Humpback Whale" (ladies: a member of the animal kingdom with a tongue 10 feet long and a hole on top of his head to breathe through).

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'The Wild West Show'. Do you sing it?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 03 Feb 25 - 03:07 PM

Nice to see this old thread revived.

Cheerily,
Charlie Ipcar