Lyr Req: Peeping through the knothole in Father's

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Peeping through the knothole in Fathe
From: Artful Codger
Date: 30 Apr 08 - 03:00 AM

Does anyone have an ABC of the three-verse version of this song? It appears as if every line has a different tune, appropriately for a sequitur of non sequiturs.

The New Christy Minstrels recorded four lines of it (knothole, shore, snake's hips, boy's best friend) as part of a nonsense medley. I think the medley is the one titled "A Treasury of Nonsense" on the Tell Tales! LP (1960s); Amazon has a reissue on CD. The medly also contained this song:


THE HEFFALUMP

Well, I went to hunt the heffalump in the land of Bilders Meer
And if you do not know the place I'll tell you where it's near:
It's not too close to Freeglestown and farther still from Glarf,
But you know you're near to Bilders Meer when you hear the heffalump snarf.

Oh, the Heffalump is fourteen feet when measured ear to ear,
And though he has but three of them, he frankly cannot hear.
His nose is green, his eye is red, his tail is turquoise blue,
And may I be a bingle if my story isn't true!


My aural transcription, prepared from the LP long ago. Sorry, I don't have attribution info. As I recall, the first part and the last line were spoken, not sung.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Peeping through the knothole in Fathe
From: GUEST,Nora
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 04:24 PM

The one that's been sung in my family for years, I assume passed down from my Grandmother who is 84 this year is this:

Peeping through the knot hole in Papa's wooden leg
Who put the shore so near the ocean, the ocean
Who cut the sleeves on Papa's BVDs
And dug up Willie's grave for a kitchen, a kitchen

The horses ran around, with their feet upon the ground
Who'll wind the clock up while I'm gone
There's room beside my head and there's room beside my feet
A mother chased her son around the block, the block

She picked up a shingle, that made his britches tingle
Just because he smacked his baby sister, his sister
Runnin' down the lane, with his britches full of pain
A boy's best friend is his mother, his mother

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Peeping through the knothole in Father's
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Feb 08 - 10:22 AM

Wow! My dad would sing that song! I have alway's wondered about it. My dad just turned 85yrs old, February 22, 2008. I am glad I found more lyrics, he only knows a couple lines.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Peeping through the knothole in Fathe
From: GUEST,GUEST, Charles
Date: 08 Feb 08 - 06:01 PM

My grandfather (now 88) sang a verse of this song every now and then:

Lookin' through the knothole in Father's wooden leg
Why do they put the shore so near the ocean, the ocean
Run get the axe there's a hair on baby's chin,
cuz a boy's best friend is his mother, no other!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Peeping through the knothole in Father's
From: GUEST,silvia
Date: 06 Jan 08 - 07:03 PM

I learned the song in summer camp, 1945, when I was 8. I remember three stanzas that are similar but not identical to those above.
Each stanza finished with:
A boy's best friend is his mother
You're a liar, you're another
You've been drinking booth and whisky
No I haven't Hic!
sung as quickly as possible.
It was really funny and we children enjoyed it a lot.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Peeping through the knothole in Father's
From: GUEST,Joe Hiles
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 12:48 PM

The horses run around,
Their feet are on the ground,
Oh, who will wind the clock while I'm away, away?
Go get the ax, there's a hair on babys chin,
And a boy's best friend is his mother, his mother.

Awhile peeping through a window,
A second storey window,
I slipped and sprained my eyebrow on the pavement, the pavement,
Go get the mouth wash, sisters got a beau,
I wonder if Grandma's teeth will soon fit Jenny, fit Jenny.

While walking in the moonlight,
The bright and sunny moonlight,
She kissed me in the eye with a tomato, tomato,
A snake's belt slips because he he has no hips,
And he wears his neck tie around his middle, his middle.

I learned and sung this song as a boy when I went to Boy Scout camp in the late 1940's & early 1950's.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Peeping through the knothole in Father's
From: GUEST,Don L.
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 12:42 AM

This is how I learned it from my mother who claimed that my older brother just started singing it one day in the early seventies. She suspected he learned it at school.


Peeking through the knothole of grandpa's wooden leg,
who wound the clock while I was gone.
Go get the ax, there's a flea in lizzie's ear and
a boy's best friend is his mother.

I fell from a window, a second story window,
who built the shore so close to the ocean.
who cut the sleeves from dear old daddy's vest
and a cup buys some spoons to build a sewer.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Peeping through the knothole in Father's
From: GUEST,Michelle
Date: 16 Nov 07 - 08:57 PM

My mother-in-law's version:
While peeking through a knotehole in granpa's wooden leg,
I got a splinter in my eyeball, my eyeball.
Go get the axe, there's a hair on baby's chin.
And why's the shore so near the ocean, the ocean.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Peeping through the knothole in Fathe
From: GUEST,David Gerstein
Date: 12 Nov 07 - 12:51 AM

As "The Horses Run Around," this was available on an old Disney children's record album, "Goin' Quackers!". Cartoon voice artist Will Ryan handled the vocal chores and it was funny as sin.

The horses run around, their feet are on the ground
Oh, who will wind the clock while I'm away? [squeak, squeak, boing!]
Go get the axe, there's a flea in Lizzie's ear
And a boy's best friend is his mother!

Earlier, in 1930, the Oswald Rabbit cartoon ALASKA has a wonderful version of the song, too, sung by a deadpan Klondike bar entertainer who eats soda crackers as he sings. The "boy's best friend" line ends every verse in that version, and on the final round he sings "Mammy," Jolson-style, rather than "...mother."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Peeping through the knothole in Fathe
From: GUEST,Nrweastman
Date: 13 Oct 07 - 05:03 PM

Hi,
Here's the way my dad (born 1922) sang in in Texas Boy Scouts and what he taught my brother and me as our "bathtub song":

Oh, the horses run around, their feet're on the ground!
Oh, who will wind the clock while I'm away, away?
Go get the Listerine, sister wants a bowl,
Oh, a boy's best friend is his mother, his mother.

I'm a-lookin' through a knothole in father's wooden leg
Why do they build the shore so near the ocean, the ocean?
Go get the axe! There's a hair on baby's chin!
Oh, I wonder if Grandma's teeth will soon fit Jenny, fit Jenny.


My brother and I both sing it to our kids in the bathtub, too!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Peeping through the knothole in Father's
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 08 Oct 07 - 10:04 AM

Someone above mentions Steve Benbow, One verse which Steve sang was;

I fell from a window a second storey window
Caught my eyebrow on the windowsill
I'd rather have a chocolate flavoured ice
Amd a boy's best friend is his mother

His other verses were similar to or slight variations of those quoted above.


Hoot. From memories of the Ballds and Blues Club

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Peeping through the knothole in Father's
From: Kent Davis
Date: 07 Oct 07 - 09:48 PM

Peepin' through the knothole on Grandpa's wooden leg,
Who'll wind the clock when we're away, away?
Go get the ax! There's a hair on baby's chest!
A boy's best friend is his mother.

I learned this in the late 1970s from my aunt, born in Lashmeet, Mercer County, West Virginia. She learned it as a young child, probably early 1950s.

Kent

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Peeping through the knothole in Father's
From: GUEST,Jo in South Carolina
Date: 07 Oct 07 - 08:52 PM

My mother used to sing this song and started it like this:

Oh, the only girl I knew had a face like a horse and buggy
Peepin down the fire 'scape oh fireman save my child
Oh, the fireman up the ladder went,
The child was bigger than the fireman,
Mother's teeth will soon fit
Hang out the ice to dry.

Oh, I fell out the window, the second story window
Caught my eyelash on the window sill
I feed my baby garlic so we can find him in the dark
Oh, a boy's best friend is his mother, his mother.

The horses run around, their feet are on the ground
Oh, why'd they put the shore so near the ocean, the ocean
A snake's belt slips because he hasn't any hips
Oh, his waistline comes just below his necktie, his necktie.

Oh, peepin through the knothole in father's wooden leg
An onion is a husky vegetable, a table
Go get the axe, there's a hair on baby's chin
Oh, who cut the sleeves from father's vest, his vest.

I know there were more verses, it seems it went on forever but I don't remember them all. One line was "Oh who will wind the clock while I'm away, away" but I don't remember the rest.

Thank you for the memory jogger.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Peeping through the knothole in Father's
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 03:15 PM

"We feed the baby garlic so we can find him in the dark"

Love it!

Subject: Lyr Add: HORSES RUN AROUND
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 05:56 PM

From the 1963 edition of Song Fest (from the Intercollegiate Outing Club Association ed.by Dick and Beth Best)

HORSES RUN AROUND

The horses run around, their feet are on the ground,
Oh, who will wind the clock while I'm away, away,
Go get the axe, there's a hair on baby's chest,
Oh, a boy's best friend is his mother, his mother.

While looking out the window, a second story window,
I slipped and sprained my eyebrow on the pavement, the pavement,
Go get the Listerine, sister has a beau,
Who cut the sleeves off father's vest, his vest.

A-peeking through the knothole, in grandpa's wooden leg,
Oh who has built the shore so near the ocean, the ocean,
Go get the alcohol, Willy wants a drink,
Grandma's false teeth will soon fit baby, fit baby.

While walking in the moolight, the bright and sunny moonlight,
She kissed me in the eye with a tomato, tomato,
We feed the baby garlic so we can find him in the dark,
An onion is a husky vegetable, a table.

She spanked him with a shingle, and and made his panties tingle,
Because he socked his little baby brother, his brother,
A snake's belt slips, because he has no hips,
And he wears his necktie round his middle, his middle.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Peeping through the knothole in Father's
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 05 Feb 05 - 10:57 PM

Peeping through the knothole in Grandpa's wooden leg -
who will wind the clock when I am gone?
Go get the ax; there's a flea in Lizzie's ear.
For a boy's best friend is his mother.

Falling out the window, the second-storey window.
Why do they build the shore so near the ocean?
Who cut the sleeves out of dear old Daddy's vest
and dug up Fido's bones to build the sewer.

Here's a new verse I wrote myself. I disavow any copyright.

Look in both directions before you cross your t's.
Now we know why cats don't care for hot dogs.
Red means stop and green stands for jealous -
the policeman's not my friend,he's my uncle.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Peeping through the knothole in Father's
From: Flash Company
Date: 05 Feb 05 - 12:38 PM

Steve Benbow had a version of this, recorded by Doug Dobell on 77 records (the label, not the number of discs!), does Steve's mate out there have any words?

FC

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Peeping through the knothole in Father's
From: M.Ted
Date: 05 Feb 05 - 02:07 AM

I was looking through a knothole In fathers wooden leg
Why do they put the shore so near the ocean, the ocean
Go get the ax, there's a hair on baby's chin,
A boy's best friend is his mother

The horses run around with their feet upon the ground
Who'll wind the clock while I'm away, away,
A snake's belt slips, because they have no hips
I hope that grandma's teeth will soon fit Jenny!

I was looking through a window, a second story window
When I fell and sprained my eyebrow on the sidewalk, the sidewalk
What happens to your lap when you stand up
They dug up Billy's bones to make a sewer!


Learned from our dear departed Uncle Phil, who claimed to have sung it in a singing group of some sort at the University of Minnesota, circa 1915--We had questions in the family as to which lines belonged in which verse, as well as questions about what sort of singing group would have admitted Uncle Phil--

If I recollect, there is a version of it in "The American Songbag", and I may once have seen an actually Glee Club Songbook that contained the song, but it would have been about forty five years ago--when I was less interested than I am now--I never have had any idea what the name of the song is--

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Peeping through the knothole in Father's
From: Lighter
Date: 04 Feb 05 - 09:26 PM

Peeping through the knothole in grandpa's wooden leg,
Why do they build the beach so near the ocean?
Go get the ax, there's a fly on lizzie's ear,
And a boy's best friend is his mother!


That's how Bugs Bunny sang it, anyway. There's another version in Best & Best "New Songfest."

Subject: Lyr Req: Peeping through the knothole in Father's
From: GUEST,Burt
Date: 04 Feb 05 - 08:44 PM

Does anyone know this song?

Peeping throug the knothole in Father's wooden leg
Who will wind the clock when I am gone?

(Chorus) He ran down the lane with his britches full of pain
A boys best friend is his Mother

She hit him with a shingle to make his britches tingle
All because he hit his baby brother, brother

(Chorus)