Folklore: Songs about Rats

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Nov 11 - 04:08 PM

Jim Carroll

The Waterford Boys
(Trad)
For Fun and Diversion we have met together
I tell you from Waterford hither we came
We crossed the Big Ocean in dark stormy weather
Our pockets were light and our Hearts were the same
Sad at leaving Old Ireland we're once more on dry land
By the roadside a tavern I chanced for to spy
And as I was melting my pockets I felt in
For the price of a drink I was mortally dry

For we are the boys of such Fun and such Eloquence
Drinking and Dancing and all other Joys
For Ructions Destructions Diversions an Devilment
Who's to compare with The Waterford Boys

In the tavern I rolled in the landlord he strolled
And good morrow says he and says I if you please
Will you give me a bed and then bring me some bread
And a bottle of porter and a small piece of cheese
My bread and cheese ended I then condescended
To take my repose sure I bade them good night
When under the clothes I was trying to doze
First I stuck in my toes and then popped out the light

Well I wasn't long sleeping when I heard something creeping
And gnawing and chawing around the bed post
My breath I suspended but the noise never ended
Thinks I you have damnable claws for a ghost
Now to make myself easy for I felt rather lazy
Well over my head I again pulled the clothes
When "Moses what's that", sure a great big jack-rat
With one leap from the floor jumped right up to my nose

For we are the boys of such Fun and such Eloquence
Drinking and Dancing and all other Joys
For Ructions Destructions Diversions an Devilment
Who's to compare with The Waterford Boys

Well I reached for a hobnail and made him a bobtail
And wrestled with rats to the clear light of day
When the landlord came in and he said with a grin
For your supper and bed you've five shillings to pay
"Five shillings for what, now don't be disgracing yourself"
Says I to the rogue "if you please, when I can't sleep
With these rats you've the devil's own face on you
To charge me five shillings for dry bread and cheese"

Oh the landlord went raring and lifting and tearing
He jumped through the window and he kicked in the door
When he could go no further he roared
"Meela murder, these rats they are eating me up by the store
Sure they sleep in my stable they eat from my table
They've wrestled my dogs and they've killed all my cats"
"Truth then" says I "just give me those five shillings
And I'll tell you a way to get rid of the rats"

"I will then" said he "we'll invite them to supper
And dry bread and cheese lay before them for sure
Never mind if they're willing, but charge them five shilling
And devil the rat will you ever see more"

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: Bert
Date: 04 Nov 11 - 04:00 PM

Not a song, but my Dad used to say

"Red rats with straw hats on
and green eyes like goozgogs"

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: Charley Noble
Date: 04 Nov 11 - 03:18 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: Charley Noble
Date: 20 Feb 06 - 09:01 AM

Mice are not rats but I harvested this music hall ditty from Mudcat and might as well post it here as well:

THE MICE ARE AT IT AGAIN

Well, since I killed my old tom-cat, with mice we're over-run.
I've ordered traps in by the gross and poison by the ton.
Well I put my Sunday trousers on last night to make a show
But as soon as I got on the street I says "hello, what-o?"
For the mice are at it again, as sure as bees is bees.
They're in and out the early doors(?), they're skitterin' 'round my knees.
Well I try to preserve my wardrobe but still its all in vain,
For as soon as I find the drop behind(?) the mice they're at it again.

Well I went unto a specialist because my hair was thin.
He says "your hair's not fallin' out, you've gone and pushed it in."
Oh but when he put his X-ray on he got a different view,
Saying "now, my boy, I'll tell you where your hair is going to."
"Well the mice are at it again, oh take it for a map."
"I fancy you could do with a little bit off the top."
"Well you look as though you're moulting, but still you can't complain."
"You've been letting your head hang out of the
bed and the mice they're at it again."

Well last week I earned some overtime and like a big fat-head
I hung my trousers at the foot when I got into bed.
The next morning when I awoke I found I had been done.
I asked the Mrs. about it and she says "its ten to one
That the mice are at it again, oh, been up to their tricks."
I said "they must have been hungry for to chaw up 7/6."
For I knew I'd half a sovereign. "That's right" says Mary Jane,
"And they chawed it down to half-a-crown, the mice they're at it again.

Well for to wash my neck I keep some whiskey 'round the place.
Oh the bottle it is empty every morning I can trace.
And I asked the old landlady who'd been drunk the night before,
Or did whe know where my whiskey went and she says "dear, oh Lord!"
"Well the mice are at it again, oh isn't it a shame,
For every night that I get tight, the mice they do the same."
"Well I noticed a couple this morning trying to cool their brains."
"They were running about and their tongues hanging out
and the mice they're at it again."

While waiting at a bus stop a lady says to me:
"You're just the saucey surgeon I've been waiting for to see."
Well her voice was full of whiskey and her manner full of grace,
But as soon as she lifted up her veil I says "is that a face?"
For the mice were at it again, oh, talk about a clock,
For when I saw it in the light it gave me quite a shock.
And I says "fare you well, old Solemn(?), your dial'd stop a train,
So take it away and boil it for the mice are at it again."

The following transcription is from the singing of Sean Corcoran on
"Sailing Into Walpole's Marsh" (Inisfree SIF1004)

@animal
filename[ MICEATIT
TUNE FILE: BIGLRCRW
CLICK TO PLAY
RG
apr96

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: raredance
Date: 19 Feb 06 - 05:53 PM

BAD RATS   
by John Stewart (Bullets In The Hour Glass, 1992, Shanachie 8005)

Good rats all have wheels
Good rats all have names
Good rats all can feel
Good rats are the same
Good rats all have friends
Good rats all can eat
Good rats all get papers to protect their little feet.
It's a song about the good rats

Bad rats have no names
Bad rats have disease
Bad rats all must leave
Bad Rats are the same
Bad rats have no friends
Bad rats die alone
Let's all kill the bad rats
And pass around the stone
It's a song about the bad rats
Look at all the good rats Look at all the bad rats

There ain't no way you know of telling who's a bad rat.
There ain't no way you know of telling who's a bad rat.
There ain't no way you know of telling who's a bad rat.
Look at all the bad rats.

Look at all those Asian people
I'm glad they aren't like me.
Look at all those Ethiopian people
I'm glad they aren't like me.
Look at all those homeless people
I'm glad they aren't like me.

It's a song about the bad rats.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: lady penelope
Date: 19 Feb 06 - 05:48 PM

Hi Charley, that's great. The Tom Paxton song sounds familiar for some reason. The poem you quote I'd always assumed was the Pied Piper Of Hamlyn. I've certainly heard it before.

Thanks for all your input, guys!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: GUEST,Nigel Parsons
Date: 19 Feb 06 - 03:44 PM

Of course, one of the 'standard' verses of "The Quartermaster's Stores" is:

There were Rats, Rats,
As big as pussy/bloody cats
In the stores, In the stores
There were Rats, Rats,
As big as pussy/bloody cats
In the qurtermaster's stores.

CHEERS
Nigel

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: Charley Noble
Date: 19 Feb 06 - 11:36 AM

Lady Penelope-

Here's my notes and lyrics of Tom Paxton's rat song; I can't provide a tune at this point:

Well known singer-songwriter Tom Paxton wrote this song, originally published in Broadside back in 1964. No doubt he was inspired by the massive New York City rent strikes of the previous year, led by Harlem tenants' organizer Jesse Gray, which among other things persuaded the mayor's office to initiate a million dollar rat extermination program.

Words and music by Tom Paxton
© Deep Fork Music

The Rats


We have always been taught to be humble and meek,
And give thanks for a roof above our heads;
We are grateful but please
Tell me who do you thank
For the rats that run under our beds.

Chorus:

And the rats how they run through the walls of our slum
And no fear of man do they show;
With our children we hold dear
We are prisoners of fear,
And the rats come and go, come and go.

The inspectors they come, swearing justice for all,
And they write up citations by the score;
But their breath must be short,
For they never reach court,
And they never come around here anymore. (CHO)

Politicians they walk through our streets, and they talk,
Thinking thoughts that are pure as driven snow;
As they puff and they blow,
Just like someone we know,
Politicians come and go, come and go. (CHO)

The landlords they scream at our Communist scheme,
For we all are with-holding our dough;
They can scream for all time,
But they won't get a dime,
Till the rats up and go, up and go. (CHO)

There's also this delightful poem by Robert Browning:

Rats!

They fought the dogs and killed the cats,
And bit the babies in the cradles,
And ate the cheeses out of the vats,
And licked the soup from the cooks' own ladle's,
Split open the kegs of salted sprats,
Made nests inside men's Sunday hats,
And even spoiled the women's chats
By drowning their speaking
With shrieking and squeaking
In fifty different sharps and flats.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 19 Feb 06 - 03:57 AM

anybody remember that Harvey Andrews song:-

'blah, blah

.......it wasn't long before we had the RATS again!'

rats sung with great emphasis....

one word title, and I've forgotten the word!

god I hate getting old.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: GUEST,Joe_F
Date: 18 Feb 06 - 08:30 PM

PERRINE ETAIT SERVANTE

(Arranged by Kate and Anna McGarrigle/Garden Court Music ASCAP)

Perrine était servante, Perrine était servante

Chez Monsieur le Curé, digue donda dondaine

Chez Monsieur le Curé, digue donda dondé



Son amant vient la voir, son amant vient la voir

Le soir après l'dîner, digue donda dondaine

Le soir après l'dîner, dingue donda dondé



Perrine O ma Perrine, Perrine O ma Perrine

Voudrais-tu m'embrasser

O grand nigaud qu't'es bête, O grand nigaud qu't'es bête,

Ça s'prend sans se demander, digue donda dondaine

Ça s'prend sans se demander, digue donda dondé



Voilà l'curé qui arrive, voilà l'curé qui arrive

Où vas-tu bien t'cacher, dingue donda dondaine

Où vas-tu bien t'cacher, digue donda dondé



Caches-toi donc dans la huche, caches-toi donc dans la huche

Il n'saura point t'trouver, digue donda dondaine

Il n'saura point t'trouver, digue donda dondé



Il y resta six semaines, il y resta six semaines

Elle l'avait oublié, digue donda dondaine

Elle l'avait oublié, digue donda dondé



Au bout de six semaines, au bout de six semaines

Les rats l'avaient mangé...

Ils ont rongé son crâne, ils ont rongé son crâne

Et pis tous les doigts d'pieds, digue donda dondaine

Et pis tous les doigts d'pieds, digue donda dondé



Voilà la triste histoire, voilà la triste histoire

D'un jeune homme à marier

Qui allait trop voir les filles, qui allait trop voir les filles

Le soir après l'dîner, digue donda dondaine,

Le soir après l'dîner, digue donda dondé



--- Joe Fineman    [e-mail]

||: Consoling the useless is some use. :||

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: raredance
Date: 18 Feb 06 - 08:18 PM

III. "Uncle Rat's Courtship" from Ozark Folk Songs by Vance Randolf(A variation on a theme with none of those d-amphibians. The first part of this is rhymed couplets, the last part is internally rhymed singlets.)
Uncle Rat he courted Miss Mouse
He rode over to her house

He got down and walked right in
There set Miss Mouse to card and spin

He took Miss Mouse upon his knee
He says, my dear will you marry me

Where will the wedding supper be
Way down yonder in a hollow tree

What will we have for supper, says she
A black-eyed pea and a cup of tea

In come a bumblebee with a banjo on his knee

Next come a spider with a jug of cider

Next come a snake with a basket of cake

Next come a fly with a basket of pie

Next come a flea with a pot of tea

Next come a bee with sugar for the tea

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: lady penelope
Date: 18 Feb 06 - 11:13 AM

Mrrzy, yes can I have the lyrics for the french children's song and Charley Noble, can I have the Tom Paxton song 'Rats'?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: lady penelope
Date: 18 Feb 06 - 11:01 AM

You guys are the best! You never fail!

To answer Weelittledrummer's question, I asked because on Wednesday I went to a talk about rat folklore. The feller giving the talk is interested in collecting any stories to do with rats and mentioned specifically that he hadn't come across any songs about rats (other than the Pied piper one and the rat catcher's daughter). That got me thinking and so.......

I shall pass on the songs you've mentioned (and go and have a little trawl of my own) he'll be delighted to find that the story of the bishop in the tower has been put into song and the idea of billing the rats so they'll leave echoes the method of 'rat charming' that involved posting a 'notice to quit' where they nest.

Cheers guys!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: Charley Noble
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 09:44 AM

Probably the most haunting poem about rats has to be the one Robert Southey wrote about the evil Bishop Hatto and God's judgment for his greed during a massive crop failure in medieval Germany:

At last Bishop Hatto appointed a day
To quiet the poor without delay;
He bade them to his great Barn repair,
And they should have food for the winter there.

Rejoiced such tidings good to hear,
The poor folk flock'd from far and near;
The great barn was full as it could hold
Of women and children, and young and old.

Then when he saw it could hold no more,
Bishop Hatto he made fast the door;
And while for mercy on Christ they call,
He set fire to the Barn and burnt them all...

Ten thousand rats were sent by God to excercise punishment:

They are not to be told by the dozen or score,
By thousands they come, and by myriads and more,
Such numbers had never been heard of before,
Such a judgment had never been witness'd of yore.

Down on his knees the Bishop fell,
And faster and faster his beads did he tell,
As louder and louder drawing near
The gnawing of their teeth he could hear.

And in at the windows and in at the door,
And through the walls helter-skelter they pour,
And down from the ceiling and up through the floor,
From the right and the left, from behind and before,
From within and without, from above and below,
And all at once to the Bishop they go.

They have whetted their teeth against the stones,
And now they pick the Bishop's bones:
They gnaw'd the flesh from every limb,
For they were sent to do judgment on him!

Have a nice day!

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 09:22 AM

what's all this about anyway, have you got a gig at a fancy rats club /social evening or something?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: Abby Sale
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 09:01 AM

Any number of sea chanties mention the Packet Rats including one recent one, The Dreadnought Mutiny (The Bloody Forty)[words/tune: Jerry Bryant]

(I was just listening to Cisco Houston's song last week - nice processing of X Nights Drunk.)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: A Wandering Minstrel
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 08:10 AM

Mary Ellen Carter (but they're the two-legged variety)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: Wolfgang
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 07:05 AM

Many German songs mentioning rats, for the pied piper is called 'the rat catcher' in German and he figures in several songs.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: Stefan Wirz
Date: 17 Feb 06 - 03:40 AM

Sleepy John Estes' 'Rats In My Kitchen'

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: Susan of DT
Date: 16 Feb 06 - 09:16 PM

A search for rat in the Digital Tradition yields 50 hits and rats yield 30.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 16 Feb 06 - 08:39 PM

I wonder if there are any songs about "The Rats of Tobruk"?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: Mrrzy
Date: 16 Feb 06 - 08:34 PM

And another great French song where the curate's housecleaner hides her lover in a hutch when the curate comes back unexpectedly, and by the time she remembers him the rats have gnawed him, eating his skull and all his toes. Want those lyrics?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: GUEST,Black Rat
Date: 16 Feb 06 - 08:34 PM

Does the Pied Piper of Hamelin count?

There was of course Uncle Rat who presided over the unfortunate nuptials of the frog and the mouse.

And in the song 'Happy Family/Father had a Knife'

"Father had a rat, mother had a mouse,
Sister had a flea, and brother had a louse.

And who can forget Gordon Hall singing with relish about the size of rats in the quartermaster's stores?

But above them all stands Lord Roderick:-

Of all the peers of London Town
Who saunter up Pall Mall and down
There's none who've earned such high renown,
As Lord Roderick.

See him stroll in neat white spats
Disdaining all the common cats
To take his seat in the House of Rats,
And legislate.

How nobly he proclaims the laws
To protect wealth from grasping claws
And selflessly he serves the cause
Of aristocrats.

For centuries of plundered wealth
Are vital to the national health
Especially to the noble self
Of Lord Roderick.

PS This may be based on a complete misconception of the meaning of "Rathaus".

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: Mrrzy
Date: 16 Feb 06 - 08:32 PM

There is a great children's song in French where two birds are too poor to throw a wedding party because there would be no food; then by comes a rabbit with a baguette of bread, so there is too much bread now they need meat; by comes a crow with a leg of lamb, now there is too much meat they need wine; by comes a mouse with a barrel of wine, now there is too much wine they need music; by comes a rat with a violin under his arm, and he asks Are there any cats around? No, they are all in the attic; then down from the attic comes a cat and devours the rat. My dearie, all good, yes we will soon marry, my dearie, all good, yes soon we will marry, runs the refrain. Great song. Want the lyrics?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: Charley Noble
Date: 16 Feb 06 - 08:01 PM

LP-

One of my favorite poems by Hamish Maclaren is about nautical rats. Here's a link my musical adaptation of his poem which I call "The Rodent Mariners": Click here and search for lyrics!

Good luck in your search.

Oh, Tom Paxton in his early years composed a tenant protest song called "Rats." If you're interested I'll post it. You really won't find it anywhere else.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: GUEST,J C
Date: 16 Feb 06 - 05:51 PM

The Waterford Boys - a lodger in a boarding house that was overrun with rats, when he was presented with a large bill, told the landlady that the way to get rid of them was to give them a similar bill and they'd leave of their own accord.

Nicky Tams
"A rat ran up my trooser leg
In the middle of the psalms,
Never again will I gang tae church
Withoot my nicky tams"

Nicky tams were leather thongs that were tied around the legs of a farm labourer's trousers to stop them dangling in the mud.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: Barry Finn
Date: 16 Feb 06 - 05:04 PM

Just a verse, but
From Ewan McColl's "Big Hewer"

I've scrabbled & picked at the face wher the roof was low
Go Down
Crawled throught the seams where only a mole could go
Go Down
In the thin cut seams I've ripped & redded
Where even the rats are born bow legged
Winning the coal, away in the hole, Go Down

Barry

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: GUEST,Janine
Date: 16 Feb 06 - 04:53 PM

'The Intoxicated Rat' recorded by Cisco Houston and Doc Watson. About a rat that drinks a mixture of spirits spilled by a drunk, gets some Dutch courage, faces a cat and runs away when he (he of course Carol!)sobers up.
Janine

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: Janie
Date: 16 Feb 06 - 04:51 PM

I don't have time right now to look up the specific info, but one of the Monty Python fellas wrote a wonderful musical story based on "The Owl and the Pussy Cat." At one point the owl and pussy cat spot a ship on the horizen. At first they think the flag is a skull and cross bones and that they are about to be attacked by pirates. As the ship draws nearer, they see the flag has a pie plate with a knife and fork crossed atop it. They hear the crew (all rats) singing a song, the first verse of which is

When I was a boy I went to sea
Hoho diddle diddle dum dee dee
I didn't go to school or wear a hat!
No, I became a pie rat!

Janie

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: GUEST,ClaireBear
Date: 16 Feb 06 - 04:32 PM

Well, there's a line in the sea song "Leave Her Johnny":

"Oh the rats have left and we the crew
   Leave her, Johnny, leave her
It's time that we were going too
   And it's time for us to leave her."

Or wait, would mice do in a pinch? There's a really cool line in June Tabor's version of "Dives and Lazarus" that goes "Hell is deep, hell is dark, hell is full of mice."

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: NH Dave
Date: 16 Feb 06 - 04:29 PM

Some time ago Wildlone posted Cyril Tawney's Robert the Rat to the forum from which it migrated to the DT Songs list.

Dave


wildlone - PM
Date: 03 Jul 01 - 01:54 PM

I was looking for any of Cyril's songs on the "cat" and noticed that this one was not here.
The tune Cyril uses is Brian O Lynn.
Recorded on Sally Free And Easy

STANLEY THE RAT
(Cyril Tawney)

Stanley the Rat was a fast one at that,
From bulkhead to bulkhead in four seconds flat
He's come and gone ere an eyelid can bat,
But he'd do it much quicker if we had a cat.

One flashing run and his visit is done,
Stan never lingers to join in the fun.
Our hospitality he'd rather shun,
But he'd stay a bit longer if we had a gun.

I raises me cap to this beady eyed chap,
Who needs no compass and carries no map.
And not knows what it means to get in a flap,
But we'd bloody well show him if we had a trap.

When does he doze nobody knows,
Night and day he keeps on his toes.
I don't suppose his eyes ever close,
But he'd sleep forever and ever and ever-
          If we had a high pressure hose.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: Dave Sutherland
Date: 16 Feb 06 - 04:18 PM

There is "The Waterford Boys" from the singing of Paddt Tunney

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: Kaleea
Date: 16 Feb 06 - 04:09 PM

Ben

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 16 Feb 06 - 04:07 PM

I believe you have spotted a hole in market.

No wonder the Roland Rat Rap got to number one.

There was the Boom town Rats rat trap, but it wasn't about rats.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: Carol
Date: 16 Feb 06 - 04:04 PM

Lots of songs about men with rat-like tendencies!!! Sorry I couldn't resist that.

Subject: Folklore: Songs about Rats
From: lady penelope
Date: 16 Feb 06 - 04:02 PM

Hello,

Does anyone know any songs about rats? I know 'The ratcatcher's daughter' but can't recall any others.