Info: In an anarchist garrett

Subject: Lyr Req: In an anarchist garrett
From: GUEST,bookperson39
Date: 26 Aug 05 - 06:56 PM

I'm looking for the lyrics to a comic "folk song" we used to sing in college in the late 1950s. This is what I know:

In an anarchistic garrett,
So lowly and so mean
Oh smell the pungent odor
of nitroglycerine.

blah blah blah

CHORUS:

Oh it's Uncle Ivanovich's turn to throw the bomb.
The last one it was thrown by Cousin Tom.
______'s aim was bad and and the copskys they got Dad.
Oh it's Uncle Ivanovich's turn to throw the bomb.

It goes on with names of various family members who are equally inept at "throwing the bomb". The tune is a somber fake Russian melody.

Any geezers out there?

Audrey

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In an anarchist garrett
From: Arkie
Date: 26 Aug 05 - 07:28 PM

This is in the database as "Its Sister Jenny's Turn To Throw The Bomb".   There is also another thread on this song.

Database

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In an anarchist garrett
From: Arkie
Date: 26 Aug 05 - 10:40 PM

If you click on the Database link above it will also take you to the other thread where this song is discussed.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In an anarchist garrett
From: GUEST,bookperson39
Date: 27 Aug 05 - 12:00 PM

Thank you so much. I needed the answer in a hurry and didn't have time to learn to use your archives.

I'm sure I own a copy of Song Fest and we are in the process of moving and I couldn't find it! Many thanks from an old folkie of the 50s.

Audrey

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In an anarchist garrett
From: Arkie
Date: 27 Aug 05 - 02:35 PM

You are most welcome.   I lost my copy of Song Fest in my move to Arkansas over 30 years ago, but the Digital Tradition database has come in handy on many occasions. That and the thread search will be quite useful once you can spend a little time with them.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In an anarchist garrett
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Aug 10 - 12:36 AM

In an anarchistic garret
So meager and so mean
Smell the pungent odor
of nitroglycerine
They're busy making fuses
and filling cans with nails
and the little Slavic children
set up this mournful wail:
It's Sister Jenny's turn to throw the bomb
The last one it was thrown by Brother Tom
Mother's aim is bad
and the copskys they know Dad
So it's Sister jenny's turn to throw the Bomb
Jenny took the bomb and started off
Mother said "Now mind you, go blow up Templehoff!"
All that night they waited till the dawn turned into day..
and the little Slavic children
set up this mournful lay....

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In an anarchist garrett
From: GUEST,Bob Winston
Date: 18 Jan 12 - 09:09 PM

One verse should be:

Early in the morning, our Jenny started off
Mind you said her mother, blow up the Peterof
She did and the family waited 'till dawn turned into noon
and all the Slavic children
set up this mournul tune.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In an anarchist garrett
From: Charmion
Date: 19 Jan 12 - 10:26 AM

In the version of this I learned from my mother (McGill '51), Mother instructs Sister Jenny to blow up Templehof, not the Peterhof. The folk process at work again -- the Berlin Airlift was on all the front pages when she learned it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In an anarchist's garrett
From: GUEST,quodlibet
Date: 17 Oct 16 - 05:43 PM

Funny---I was thinking of this song today with the bombing of Rep. Party place in NC---I learned it from ''Song Fest" back in the 50s.   The book has long since fallen apart; has anyone got any idea when the song was actually written? 40s? or early 1900s, when anarchists were particularly busy?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In an anarchist garrett
From: cnd
Date: 17 Oct 16 - 08:49 PM

Listen to two versions:
More folksy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMepfv8T9f8
More rocky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lgBM4JSKEA

The Glencoves version (2nd link) was released in 1963 [SOURCE 1]
The other version, by Leslie Jones, was recorded later in the 80s and released in the early 90s.

Text version of the Socialist Songbook: http://www.hengstrom.net/songbook/54.html

This post from the other page on the topic says before 1930s, but it wasn't in Song Fest in 1948 (but was in 1958).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In an anarchist garrett
From: cnd
Date: 09 Jul 21 - 10:44 PM

Well, thanks to the bot whose post above will most certainly be removed at some point, I can pick up on some slack work I did back in 2016...

Lyrics from the Socialist Songbook link above, with some light formatting:

IT'S SISTER JENNY'S TURN TO THROW THE BOMB

In an anarchist hovel, so humble and so mean,
Smell the pungent odors of nitroglycerine,
For they are making fuses and filling jars with nails
While all the Slavic children sing out with mournful wails.

CHORUS:
Oh, it's sister Jenny's turn to throw the bomb, bomb, bomb,
The last one did in poor old brother Tom, Tom, Tom,
For Momsky's aim is bad and the copskies all know Dad
So it's sister Jenny's turn to throw the bomb.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In an anarchist garrett
From: cnd
Date: 09 Jul 21 - 11:00 PM

Transcription of the Leslie Fish recording (first link in my 2016 post):

It's Sister Jenny's Turn to Throw the Bomb
(A1 on Leslie Fish on It's Sister Jenny's Turn to Throw the Bomb, 1987)

In an anarchistic garret, so dingy and so mean
Smell the pungent odor of nitroglycerine
From the piles of pipe and powder and pamphlets to the sky
Midst the dust' and dirty laundry you can hear this mournful cry

CHORUS
Oh, it's sister Jenny's turn to throw the bomb (throw the bomb!)
God knows what's become of brother Tom (brother To-o-om!)
Momma's aim is bad, and the cops, they all know Dad
So it's sister Jenny's turn to throw the bomb

There are knives and guns and daggers scattered on the front room floor
Look behind the sofa, you'll find two-dozen more
But cousin Mac's in prison, and grandpa is long dead
And uncle Jim has left us to become a 'Frisco Red!

CHORUS (So it's...)

In the hole you'll find the baby teething on some dynamite
Try and get it from her and you'll find you're in a fight
But she's too young to do it, and momma's baking bread
And uncle Jake is tripping and he's flipping out his head

CHORUS (So it's...)

There's a Sabo Tabby Kitten sitting purring by the door
And lyin' in the bed there's a smiling saboteur
But our cat's no good at bombing and none of us are sure
That that smiling, sleeping freak is not a big provocateur

CHORUS (So it's...)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: In an anarchist garrett
From: cnd
Date: 09 Jul 21 - 11:03 PM

The version in my second link has already been wondrously transcribed by the golden-eared Jim Dixon here, though a better recording than the link I shared is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx4bNOcxHtg.

(In hindsight, 'rocky' may be a strong word for the song... but at the very least, there's no dulcimer)

Subject: RE: Info: In an anarchist garrett
From: Charley Noble
Date: 10 Jul 21 - 05:21 PM

My mother used this as a lullaby for when she wanted my brother and I to go to sleep. Of course, we didn't go to sleep but stayed up chorusing "Bomb, bomb, bomb!"

Cheerily,
Charlie Ipcar