Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?

Subject: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: John M.
Date: 12 Oct 05 - 05:21 PM

Hello everyone,

Can you help me identify the tune used for this "Leprosy" song (recording)  ?


                1.  Do you sing this song? 
                2.  If yes, when and where did you learn it?
                3.  Would you be willing to sing it for folklore purposes over the phone?

Any help is appreciated.

Sincerely,

John Mehlberg
[e-mail]
~
Afternoons:  314.647.3883
Evenings:     314.381.0492
~
My website: www.immortalia.com
~

LEPROSY    (recording)
[Tune - Unknown "tango"]

Leprosy
My darling I have leprosy
There goes my eyeball into my high ball
Kiss me quick
My God there goes my upper lip

Notes:  This was sung by an anonymous woman on 25 Sep 2005.  She learned this while at college in Fulton, Missouri in the early 1960s.  I believe that I have read about this song in Brunvald's Introduction to Folklore.   I will try to dig out the page reference later today. 

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Oct 05 - 06:18 PM

I learned it this way probably at summer camp in the late fifties, early sixties

Leprosy, is crawling all over me
therw goes my eyeball
right into my highball

Oh darling kiss me quick
There goes my upper lip

and in the background I hear
The splash of my ear in your beer.

I'd be happy to sing it over the phone.

Fred Maslan

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: kendall
Date: 12 Oct 05 - 06:32 PM

...There goes my fingernail
right into my ginger ale..

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: Inukshuk
Date: 12 Oct 05 - 06:46 PM

There goes my fingernail
Into my cocktail...

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 12 Oct 05 - 06:58 PM

The tango is the well-known Jalousie. I seem to recall there was a thread about it not that long ago. (I'll have a look in a few minutes).

Mick

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 12 Oct 05 - 07:03 PM

John - have a look at Lyr Req: Jalousie or Jelosy HER ARM FELL OFF. Bob Coltman was interested in the Leprosy parodies and posted some sets of words in that thread. As I said there you can find midi's of the original tune on the net.

Mick

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 12 Oct 05 - 07:16 PM

I thought Tom Lehrer had one by that title, but it's not in my Lehrer collection. Probably I just mism-membered it.

John

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you h
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 12 Oct 05 - 07:42 PM

There is also the version of Leprosy to the Beatle's Yesterday.

Leprosy - bits and pieces falling off of me.

I am not half the man I used to be.

Oh I believe, I have leprosy.

Sincerely,

Gargoyle

MCP - thanks I was going to rummage through some old piano books - That's IT.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: GUEST,Ingrid Frances Stark
Date: 12 Oct 05 - 11:16 PM

I also remember Tom Lehrer having one that sounded like that.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you h
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 12 Oct 05 - 11:23 PM

I will also cast another vote with Lehr - it is his style.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: John M.
Date: 12 Oct 05 - 11:44 PM

Guest - Fred Maslan, thanks for offering to sing for me. You can reach me at [e-mail].   You can reach me be phone most afternoons at 314.647.3883 or evenings at 314.381.0492.

MCP, thanks. I will get the song.

Everyone, is there anyone here willing to sing your version?   If yes, please email or call me. It is appreciated.

Sincerely,

John Mehlberg

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: mousethief
Date: 13 Oct 05 - 12:24 AM

My mum used to sing bits of this. As much as I remember:

Leprosy
You're getting the best of me
There goes my finger
It will not linger

...

There goes my eyeball
into my high-ball

O..O
=o=

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: GUEST,aLLAN s.
Date: 13 Oct 05 - 01:16 PM

I heard it as far back as the early1940's

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: johnross
Date: 13 Oct 05 - 01:19 PM

Peggy Seeger knew the song as a child in the 1940s. Or so she once said in a concert.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you h
From: Kevin Sheils
Date: 13 Oct 05 - 05:35 PM

Each time I fidgit
I lose a digit

Pretty sure it's not Lehrer, similar in style but not subtle enough IMO

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you h
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 13 Oct 05 - 11:13 PM

The Tom Lehrer song folks are thinking of is probably The Masochism Tango.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you h
From: Kevin Sheils
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 05:11 AM

The Tom Lehrer song folks are thinking of is probably The Masochism Tango.

Or possibly "I hold your hand in Mine"

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: GUEST,Lans
Date: 28 Apr 09 - 09:43 AM

I also know the one based on the Beetles "Yesterday"

Leprosey
I'm just half the man I used to be
little pieces falling off of me
Oh I believe it's leprosey
And I believe it's killing me

Kiss me quick
I'm about to lose my upper lip
I don't even have a nose to pick
Oh I believe it's Leprosey
And I believe it's killing me.

There is more to it but that is all I can remember.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Oct 09 - 08:46 AM

Did you ever think as a hearse rolled by, that you would be the next to die?? The worms crawl in and the worms crawl out, the worms crawl in and around and about! Kiss me quick, there goes my lip...

just a snippet from my past.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 29 Oct 09 - 08:49 AM

'......there goes her ear, dear
into your beer, dear.....'

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: GUEST,will spires
Date: 22 Apr 11 - 02:32 AM

It has nothing to do with Tom Lehrer. You'er confusing it with "The Masochism Tango."

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Sep 11 - 12:39 PM

The song became popular after Frankie Lane had a hit with "Jealousy". Look for it on you tube. I use to sing this version back in the 50's

Leprosy
Your crawling all over me
Just look at my left leg,
It looks like a rotten egg.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: fox4zero
Date: 04 Sep 11 - 04:53 PM

Leprosy, my dear you've got leprosy
There goes your eye ball into my highball
Leprosy, my dear you've got leprosy
There goes your chin into my gin.
.
To the tune of Jealousy. Probably a camp song I sang 70 years ago.
Larry

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Feb 12 - 09:17 PM

Leprosy, see what you've done to me.

There goes my eyeball, into my highball.

Kiss me quick, there goes my upper lip.
There goes my fingernail, into my ginger ale.

(I recall this as a parody song making the rounds in the 1950s to the tune of Jealousy.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 24 Feb 12 - 07:43 AM

Three lepers were playing cards;
One threw his hand in, so
Another split his sides laughing &
The third laughed his head off.

Sick jokes are all part of growing up.
Stopping using them is a sign of maturity (or maybe senility!)

Cheers
Nigel

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Feb 12 - 12:15 AM

What did the leper say to the whore after a blou-job?

"Keep the tip ". .

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: GUEST,Marjorie
Date: 03 Jun 12 - 03:21 PM

My great aunt taught me the song in the 50's when I was very young. I remember the lyrics as follows:

Leprosy.
Good God, I've got leprosy!
There goes my eye ball
Into my high ball.

My upper lip
Just fell in the onion dip.
(I forget the rest).

(I would give anything to know the rest of the lyric if there are any. However, I notice that most people's recollection ends at about this point as well.)

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Feb 14 - 12:28 PM

The tango was "Jealousy Tango" and I heard it in boarding school in the 1950s. I don't remember all the words nor the order, but bits here and there (mainly the first lines of each verse:

Leprosy, by God I've got leprosy
There goes my eyeball
Right into my highball.....

Leprosy, by God I've got leprosy
There goes my fingernail
Right into my ginger ale.....

Leprosy, by God I've got leprosy
There goes my left ear
Right into my glass of beer.....

Leprosy, by God I've got leprosy
There goes my double chin
Into my glass of gin......

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 17 Jun 14 - 12:11 AM

there goes your left ear
it is floating in my soup, dear

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: Don Firth
Date: 17 Jun 14 - 07:08 PM

A fellow named Dallas Williams, who sang frequently in Seattle's Pamir House coffeehouse during the early Sixties, cobbled together a pretty funny (dark humor) song in the style and tradition of "Teen Angel." Of course, "Teen Leper."

He started out singing, then with the aid of a couple of stooges he recruited who did the "Ooh aahs" in harmony, he spoke the obligatory talking part, which contained such gems as "My parents didn't want me to go with her. 'But son,' they said, 'she has leprosy." "I said, 'Well, gee whiz, mom and dad, lots of teenagers have complexion problems…..'"

And the capper, "I'll never forget that magic night when" -- (suppressed sob) -- "she gave me her right thumb….."

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Jul 15 - 10:10 AM

Catch it quick..there goes my pper lip. There goes my eyeball, into my hiball, there goes my fingernail, into my gingerale.   I sang this with great gusto with my cousins and friend in the 1950's. I was 8 . Now armadillos are spreading leprosy in Florida, which brought me to this site ( not to mention my childhood fascination with the movievthe ten commandments when Moses found his leper relatives wandering in the darkness). Whats with the fascination? It s almost embarrassing! Ive got all my parts...lol

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: GUEST,Miss Pam
Date: 10 Nov 15 - 06:36 PM

It's the tango Jealousy as made popular by Frankie Laine. I just wrote about it on Facebook yesterday. Must be in the air.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: GUEST,rlhorm
Date: 28 Nov 15 - 11:56 AM

Leprosy, I think I've got leprosy,
There goes my eyeball into my highball.

Leprosy, I think I've got leprosy,
There goes my left leg into the beer keg.

That is all I remember.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: GUEST,michele
Date: 08 Feb 16 - 12:16 AM

Leprosy, it's crawling all over me
There goes my eyeball into my highball
Yesterday, I threw my big toe away
There goes my ear, into my beer.
Kiss me quick, there goes my upper lip
There goes my fingernail
Into my ginger ale........

The reason no one can remember pat this part is we were all laughing so much we stopped singing. Early 50's. In Hawaii, no less.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: GUEST,Ambam
Date: 12 Jul 18 - 11:58 PM

My mom used to sing this to me when I was kid
I’m 30 now
Just asked her
Her dad sung it to her lolol

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: GUEST,David
Date: 02 Aug 18 - 02:07 PM

my science teacher sang this during an amateur show in high school around 1986, in a Christian school no doubt. I forget everything but the kiss me quick, before I loose my upper lip

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 02 Aug 18 - 02:28 PM

I remember the joke about the two lepers playing cards
One threw his hand in
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 02 Aug 18 - 02:28 PM

I remember the joke about the two lepers playing cards
One threw his hand in
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: GUEST,rbarthjr
Date: 24 Jan 20 - 01:59 PM

The lines I remember most clearly from what my aunt would sing in the '60s:

There goes my right leg
They call me Lefty
There goes my left leg
They call me Shorty

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: GUEST,Barbara Z. Banks
Date: 19 Jul 22 - 11:42 AM

Oh, lordy, a friend just Facebook posted a photo of an armadillo in her yard in Texas, and I had to come here to find more lyrics. I was in my early 40s when this thread began! My mother used to sing snippets of this song back in the '60s.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: 'Leprosy' song to a Tango..can you help?
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Oct 22 - 09:34 AM

I remember my father singing this to me in the 60's and I cannot remember more either but I do have this

Leprosy, it's crawling all over me
There goes my eye lash into my succotash

But that could have been one my dad made up. He was like that...