Lyr Add: 'Biography of a Fly' Trad. Bawdy Song

Subject: Lyr Add: 'Biography of a Fly' Trad. Bawdy Song
From: John M.
Date: 25 Apr 05 - 04:59 PM

Hello everyone,

If you are easily offended, please STOP READING.   This thread is for mature audiences only.  Please don't post "dreadful song" or "worst song written" as you are not helping. 

Below is a traditional bawdy song titled: 'The Biography of a Fly'  (recording)

                Do you sing this song?  If so when/where did you learn it?

Any help is appreciated.

Sincerely,

John Mehlberg
[e-mail]
~
My, mostly traditional, bawdy songs, toasts and recitations website: www.immortalia.com
~

THE BIOGRAPHY OF A FLY  (recording)

The fly through through the open door
Right into the grocery store
He pissed on the cheese; shit on the ham
And he wiped his ass on the grocery man

Now when he got done with this dirty work
He buzzed right over to the grocery clerk.

Now a purty lady took a stroll
Took a bath in the lady's hole
Now the lady sneezed and held her breath.
And squeezed that poor little fly to death

[Notes:  This text is transcribed from an anonymous field recording recorded in 1962.  The earliest text for this song can be found in _Immortalia_ pg 135 titled 'The Darling Fly'.  There are several versions found in Dr. Lydia Fish's Air Force songbook collection.]

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Biography of a Fly' Trad. Bawdy Song
From: John M.
Date: 25 Apr 05 - 05:03 PM

Here is the version of the song from Immortalia 1927 pg 135:

THE DARING FLY
Anonymous

The little fly flew by the door,
Then flew into the grocery store :
He shit on the cheese, and shit on the ham,
Then he wiped his feet on the grocery man.

When the grocery man saw what he had done,
He went and loaded his gattling-gun;
Then he chased that fly all over the place,
And tried to shoot him square in the face.

But the little fly was awfully slick:
He showed the grocery man a trick.
He flew all around the store, and then
Went over and shit on the ham again.

And when he had finished his dirty work,
He went over and lit on the lady clerk;
And he climbed up her leg way past her knee,
And tickled her so she laughed with glee.

He fluttered so fast he made her sigh,
And she softly murmured, "Oh my , Oh my!"
Then she closed her legs and held her breath,
And poor little fly was smothered to death.

Does anybody know and sing this song?  


.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Biography of a Fly' Trad. Bawdy Song
From: Big Jim from Jackson
Date: 25 Apr 05 - 10:22 PM

John, Mudcat's Seamus Kennedy has a version of this on one of his CD's. I don't have them handy to be able to tell you which CD has them, but his song titles are listed on his web site under each of his CD's.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Biography of a Fly' Trad. Bawdy Song
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 25 Apr 05 - 10:46 PM

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Biography of a Fly' Trad. Bawdy Song
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 25 Apr 05 - 10:52 PM

Sorry, I'll try again.

This is well known among bawdy singers as "Two Little Gnats." I learned my version 1958-59, Hanover NH from a guy named Bill Edgerton. It has a chorus:

One was black and the other was blue,
One had rings on his tra la loo,
The other had rings around his ringy dingy doo    [or ding]
Hi ho the derry O.

Or words to that effect. Versions vary. Lots of verses. I'll try to see if I can scare up any, if I still have the songsheet around someplace.

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Biography of a Fly' Trad. Bawdy Song
From: artbrooks
Date: 25 Apr 05 - 11:24 PM

It is on Seamus' By Popular Demand, Vol.2 under the title "The Little Fly". I have it on a cassette, but I'd assume the CD has the same title.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Biography of a Fly' Trad. Bawdy Song
From: Snuffy
Date: 27 Apr 05 - 08:54 AM

A couple of versions posted on Mudcat here and here

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Biography of a Fly' Trad. Bawdy Song
From: John M.
Date: 27 Apr 05 - 01:48 PM

Dear Snuffy,

Thanks. I *did* search before I posted but these texts did not come up for me.

Thanks again.

Yours,

John Mehlberg

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Biography of a Fly' Trad. Bawdy Song
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Jul 17 - 06:06 PM

yes my dad used to recite it all the time he knew loads of little ditty's.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Biography of a Fly' Trad. Bawdy Song
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Oct 20 - 12:42 PM

My great grandfathers in Rodeo, CA sang the Fly song & Old Dan Tucker to my mother in the 1920’s. My mother taught us his songs & I taught them to my own children. The lyrics are a little different & our family’s version is shorter.

The fly flew in to the grocery store
and he thhh on the window & he thhh on the floor.
He thhh on the sugar and he thhh on the ham.
And he didn’t give a damn for the grocery man,

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Biography of a Fly' Trad. Bawdy Song
From: GUEST,Jim Ward
Date: 08 Oct 20 - 03:14 PM

The Sussex singer, George Spicer would sing this one if persuaded. There is a recording I made of him singing it at Horsham Folk Club in the 70's here-https://sussextraditions.org/record/fly-the-recitation/

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Biography of a Fly' Trad. Bawdy Song
From: GUEST,NakedSwimJim
Date: 02 Feb 21 - 12:34 PM

When I was growing up my aunt used to recite the first verse as a poem, except instead of "grocery" she said "company." Her family grew up in a coal mining town in Pennsylvania.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Biography of a Fly' Trad. Bawdy Song
From: GUEST,Roy W
Date: 17 Mar 21 - 07:16 AM

My mother used to sing the following to us as kids and ( my wife was never impressed) to my twins..., her grandchildren:
A little fly flew past our door
It flew into the grocery store
It peed on the cheese
And babbered on the ham
And wiped its bottom on the grocery man

When the grocery man saw what that fly had done
He loaded up his gatling gun
He chased that fly all up and down
And tried to shoot it up its brown
But the fly was a bit too quick
It showed the grocery man a trick
It flew around the room and then
Went back and babbered on the ham again.

I'm not sure how babber/ babba is spelled but I'm sure you get the drift......

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Biography of a Fly' Trad. Bawdy Song
From: GUEST,Myrtle's cook
Date: 17 Mar 21 - 12:12 PM

Two other versions of the song, close to Seamus Kenedy's recording no doubt, have been recorded by Foster and Allen and Barnbrack. Several versions of the latter can be found on Youtube.

I had first heard it sung (or recited depending on mood) by a usually very sombre Northern Irish lady. The song climaxes with a handgranade and destruction of all - apart from the fly!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Biography of a Fly' Trad. Bawdy Song
From: GUEST,#
Date: 06 Aug 21 - 12:36 PM

The song shares many stanzas with another called "Two Little Bugs." However, that led me nowhere except to more of the same.