Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits

Subject: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST,Billy the Bunnie
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 11:18 AM

Inspired by some other recent queries, are there many songs about Rabbits other than the Australian ones about trapping us, and such redundant advisory pieces as "Run, Rabbit, Run"?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 11:22 AM

Bright eyes..Art Garfunkel.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 11:28 AM

Well it isn't a rabbit but it's near - The Innocent Hare.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Azizi
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 11:41 AM

There's a number of songs/rhymes about rabbits in this thread:
thread.cfm?threadid=97895&messages=33#1935296 Lyr Add: Mistah Rabbit Patting rhyme .

I'm interested in reading other examples of rabbit/hare/bunny songs posted in this thread.

Also, I've a question for Billy the Bunnie: Is the Australian song "Run Rabbit Run" that you mentioned in your first post the same as the 19th century African American song "Run N***** Run" ,also known as Run Children Run" and other such titles?

The chorus of that song [using the "children" title] is "Run Children Run/the patterollers get you/run children run/it's almost day".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: NoMattch
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 11:43 AM

A hare song:
White Hare by Seth Lakeman

Subject: Lyr Add: THE BUNNY HOP
From: Azizi
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 11:47 AM

I just thought of a dance/song called Do The Bunny Hop and I found it on this website http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/bunnyhop.htm.

Warning-a jazzed up midi comes on soon after you arrive at that site. I'm warning you cause it sure scared the heck out of me :o)

Here's the words:

Put your right foot forward
Put your left foot out
Do the Bunny Hop
Hop, hop, hop!

Dance this new creation
It's the new sensation
Do the Bunny Hop
Hop, hop, hop!

Let's all join in the fun
Father, mother, son
Do the Bunny Hop
Hop, hop, hop!

-snip-

This website ends the song with this {corny} joke:

Knock knock
Who's there?
Ammonia
Ammonia trying to be funny!

-snip-

Ugh!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 12:36 PM

Well, this one isn't exactly about a rabbit or a hare so you probably won't want to count it. I have it on a Steeleye Span LP. The song is "Hares on the Mountain".

Subject: Lyr Add: HARES ON THE MOUNTAIN (adapt. Chris Wood)
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 01:14 PM

Haven't there been more than enough albino bynnies galloping around here lately? However, Hares On The Mountain as re-worked by Chris Wood is a gem:


If all you young girls were like hares on the mountain
We'd soon get our boots on and go out a-walking.
But if all you young girls were like swans in the water
We'd soon take those boots off and dive in there after.

And if all you young girls were like stars in the dark
We'd chase round the world to avoid the dawn's spark.
And if all you young girls were like the sun in the morning
We'd sit bleary-eyed just to see the day dawning.

And if all you young girls were like rain from the sky
We'd stand out in T-shirts and shun all things dry.
And if all you young girls were like the hot August sun
Then we'd sit out with ice-cream and get nothing done.

And if all you young girls flew south like the swallow
There'd be nothing for it but to up sticks and follow.
But if all you young girls were like my own true lover
Then all you young men would love them as I love her.

(C J Wood)

Then there's The Bonny Black Hare, Hares In The Old Plantation, While Gamekeepers Lie Sleeping, The (Original) White Hare (of Howden) . . . and a load of rubbish.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Dave Hunt
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 01:24 PM

Well I recorded Little Bunny Fou Fou! -
And then there's 'Little Peter Rabbit's got a fly upon his nose'
etc...
Dave

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 01:45 PM

White Rabbit...Jefferson Airplane.
The Rabbit....Jimmy Wayne
Phat Rabbit...Ludacris
While we were hunting Rabbits....Matthew Good Band
Run Rabbit Run ...Nirvana
Jennifer Rabbit...Tom Paxton
Fat Rabbit...Timbaland and Magoo
Rabbits Dying...Throwing Muses
Rabbit Run...Eminem
Rabbit Rabbit...Chas and Dave
You're getting to be a rabbit with me...Allan Sherman

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 01:58 PM

Rabbit in the Moon...? unknown
Rabbit Hole...Living Legends
Rabbit with Fangs....Magic Dirt
Rabbit One...Master of Reality
Rabbit Fighter T/Rex (Marc Bolan)
I am a Rabbit...Lemonheads
Rabbit vs. Papa Doc.....8Mile
Rabbit Song...Gargantua Soul
Rabbit in Your Headlights....Unkle
Rabbits don't Come Easy...Helloween

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST,Billy the Bunnie
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 02:47 PM

Hares ain't rabbits (it's a rodent thing)
And no, the "Run, Rabbit, Run" one isn't the same as the "Patter-rollah ketch you" one (scans quite differently;

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 03:01 PM

You are right.
Rabbits are clearly distinguished from hares in that rabbits are altricial, having young that are born blind and hairless. In contrast, hares are generally born with hair and are able to see. All rabbits (except the cottontail rabbit) live underground in burrows or warrens, while hares live in simple nests above the ground (as does the cottontail rabbit), and usually do not live in groups. Hares are generally larger than rabbits, with longer ears, and have black markings on their fur. Hares have not been domesticated, while rabbits are often kept as house pets. In gardens, they are typically kept in hutches, small, wooden, house-like boxes that protect the rabbits from the environment and predators.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 03:18 PM

I can't think of any rabbit songs only hare songs. I think you chose rabbits because you knew we'd be struggling!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Azizi
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 03:30 PM

"Oh well, hare today, goon tomorrow".
[from "Little Bunny Foo Foo". I suppose, given Billy the Bunny's name that songs about bunnies are acceptable on this thread.

**

Thanks for the information that the Australian song "Run Rabbitt Run" isn't the same as that 19th century American song "Run ___ Run."   

So can you or anyone else post at least the chorus of that Australian song hare? {'here' Get it? Yes I know it's weak but the words rabbit and hare and bunny don't lend themselves to play on words half as much as the words feet and shoe do. {Note the clever reference to the Songs about Feet thread which I started}.

:o)



And is it a children's song?

Thanks.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST,DocJ
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 04:51 PM

'Rabbit in the Garden' - Ace Johnson
'Rabbit Chase' - New Lost City Ramblers

DocJ

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Charley Noble
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 05:35 PM

Racoon's got a bushy tail,
Possum's tail is bare;
Rabbit, he got no tail at all,
Just a little bunch of hair!

Then there's the old blues song "When the Blues Chase Up a Rabbit"

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 05:55 PM

Rabbit in a log
And I can't find my dog
How will I get him? I know
Get me a briar
and I'll twist it in his hair
That's how I'll get him, I know

As recorded by The Mitchell Trio in their John Denver days.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 06:09 PM

Rabbit In The Pea Patch - Red Clay Ramblers

The Good Brothers had a song on their first album about a rabbit raiding their marijuana garden. I think it was called The Rabbit.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 06:21 PM

eanjay...did you read the posts I made about 3 or 4 above yours before you wrote it?

Subject: Lyr Add: I DON'T WANT A BUNNY WUNNY (Tom Paxton)
From: Ian Burdon
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 06:25 PM

As well as Jennifer's Rabbit mentioned above, Tom Paxton also penned the following to commemorate President Jimmy Carter's encounter with one of the fearsome (and apparently amphibious) rodents

I Don't Want a Bunny Wunny:

      I don't want a bunny wunny in my little row boat
      In my little row boat in the pond
      For the bunny might be crazy and he'll bite me in the throat
      In my little row boat in the pond

President Carter got into his boat
Wasn't in a hurry, wanted to float
Think about the country, think about sin
Along swum a rabbit, and it tried to climb in
And what did Jimmy say

Look at him swimming, look at him fly
Ears laid back and a gleam in his eye
Hissing through his front teeth, swimming like a seal
If you were the President, how would you feel
You'd prob'ly say

President Carter saved the day
Splashed with the paddle, rabbit swam away
Jimmy was a hero, felt it in his bones
Said in the words of John Paul Jones

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Goose Gander
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 06:37 PM

Blues Chase Up a Rabbit

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: oldhippie
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 07:25 PM

Here Comes Peter Cottontail
Hoppin' Down the bunny trail
Hippity Hoppity
Easters on its way.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 07:37 PM

"the Australian song "Run Rabbit Run""

I only know an English song of this name - it has been used recently in TV ads for an Aussie wine region tourism campaign.

Subject: Lyr Add: RUN RABBIT RUN (Noel Gary, Ralph Butler)
From: Lanfranc
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 07:51 PM

Before the Australians (or, worse, the Irish!) lay claim to it, the following gives the history of the song.

QUOTE
"Run Rabbit Run"
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Run Rabbit Run is a song written by Noel Gay and Ralph Butler. The music was by Noel Gay and the song was sung by Flanagan and Allen.

This song was written for Noel Gay's show 'The little Dog Laughed' which opened in October 1939. It was a popular song during World War II, especially after Flanagan and Allen changed the lyrics to poke fun at the Germans (eg. Run Adolf, Run Adolf, Run, Run, Run........)

    On the farm, every Friday
    On the farm, it's rabbit pie day.
    So, every Friday that ever comes along,
    I get up early and sing this little song

    Run rabbit - run rabbit - Run! Run! Run!
    Run rabbit - run rabbit - Run! Run! Run!
    Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
    Goes the farmer's gun.
    Run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run.

    Run rabbit - run rabbit - Run! Run! Run!
    Don't give the farmer his fun! Fun! Fun!
    He'll get by
    Without his rabbit pie
    So run rabbit - run rabbit - Run! Run! Run!

Allegedly, the lyrics are a defiant dig at the ineffectual Luftwaffe - In September 1939, just after the outbreak of the Second World War, Germany launched its first air raid on Britain. The only casualty was a rabbit.

UNQUOTE

I always understood that the unfortunate rodent was a resident of the Orkneys and was the victim of a sneak raid on the naval base of Scapa Flow.


Alan

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: BanjoRay
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 08:02 PM

Rabbit In The Peapatch was from Uncle Dave Macon before the Red Clay Ramblers. How about Little Rabbit/Rabbit Where's Your Mammy from the Crockett Mountaineers (and many other old time bands)

"Rabbit where's your mammy?
She's Dead and gone to glory"

Ray

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Azizi
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 09:14 PM

Thanks Alan for posting those lyrics and commentary.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Bert
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 11:09 PM

If all the young ladies
were little white rabbits
I'd be the hare
and I'd teach 'em bad habits

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 16 Feb 07 - 04:18 AM

Georgiansilver, yes I did daft thing to say wasn't it! Still it worked, there have been even more since.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Scrump
Date: 16 Feb 07 - 04:20 AM

My effort Bunny White Hare

.... I'll get me carrot.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 16 Feb 07 - 07:32 AM

I was right about "Run Rabbit Run".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST,The balck belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 16 Feb 07 - 07:39 AM

Figgy duff used to sing "rabbits in a basket" and I know theirs was not the only version of that song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Charley Noble
Date: 16 Feb 07 - 09:01 AM

Is there a song about Welsch rabbit?

Or a carpentry song about "rabbets"?

Charley Noble, who's never touched a hare

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Scrump
Date: 16 Feb 07 - 09:06 AM

The Yetties' song "Rabbit" (it's not the Chas & Dave song)

Could this be the one you're looking for?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: black walnut
Date: 16 Feb 07 - 09:14 AM

I've recorded: Can You Hop Like a Bunny?

~b.w.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Severn
Date: 16 Feb 07 - 03:10 PM

"Feast Here Tonight"(sometimes called "Rabbit On The Log")-The Monroe Brothers, with later versions by many Old Time and Bluegrass artists, including The New Lost City Ramblers, Bill Monroe & Doc Watson, and Ralph Stanley & Jimmy Martin.

I Have A Rabbit- recorded by Pete Seeger on "God Bless The Grass" listed as having been written by P. Eliran

"The People Are Scratching", off the above Seeger album
("The people are scratching, All over the street, Because the rabbits had nothing to eat.....")by Ernie Marrs, Pete Seeger and H. Martin

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Joe_F
Date: 16 Feb 07 - 09:41 PM

Thanks, Charlie Noble, for mentioning:

When the blues catch a rabbit,
He run one solid mile.
Poor little rabbit
Cry like a newborn child.

Wish I was a headlight
On some eastbound train.
I'd shine my light on
Cool Colorado rain.

I've never heard anybody sing that but me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Charley Noble
Date: 16 Feb 07 - 11:09 PM

Joe-

There's an old Mudcat thread that is focused on that song. We finally figured out that most of us learned it from a recording by Judy Henske.

It was a song one of my college friends, way back in the 1960's, used to lead and I'm fond of it too.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Goose Gander
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 04:56 AM

Hey, here's the thread on that song again, it's an old blues lyric that showed up a lot in the mid-twentieth century, who knows how old it is or where it came from?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Susan of DT
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 08:44 AM

Search the Digital Tradition for rabbit, rabbits, hare, hares, bunny, bunnies.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 17 Feb 07 - 10:24 AM

I got a song it's called the wild rabbit blues.
Wild rabbits are the rabbits I always choose.
They taste so good in a veggie stew,
Nothing else will ever do,
I gotta song it's called the wiiiild raaaaabbit blues.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 04:52 PM

In America, hares are usually called jackrabbits, which sort of blurs the distinction.

Subject: Lyr Add: PETER COTTONTAIL (from Gene Autry)
From: Azizi
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 06:35 PM

PETER COTTONTAIL
Written by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins
As recorded by Gene Autry on Columbia (38750), 1950.

Here comes Peter Cottontail,
Hoppin' down the bunny trail.
Hippity-hoppin’, Easter's on its way.

Bringin' every girl and boy
Baskets full of Easter joy,
Things to make your Easter bright and gay.

He's got jelly beans for Tommy,
Colored eggs for sister Sue.
There's an orchid for your mommy
And an Easter bonnet, too.

Oh! here comes Peter Cottontail,
Hoppin' down the bunny trail.
Hippity hoppity, happy Easter day.

INSTRUMENTAL BREAK

Here comes Peter Cottontail,
Hoppin' down the bunny trail.
Hippity, hoppin’, Easter's on its way.

Try to do the things you should.
Maybe if you're extra good,
He'll roll lots of Easter eggs your way.

You'll wake up on Easter mornin’
And you'll know that he was there,
When you find those choc'late bunnies
That he's hiding ev'rywhere.

Oh! here comes Peter Cottontail,
Hoppin' down the bunny trail,
Hippity hoppity, happy Easter day.
Hippity hoppity, happy Easter day.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Girl Friday
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 06:53 PM

We in Tone Deaf Leopard have a rabbit song. A parody of The Wild Rover...."Wild Rabbit"It's about a lab rabbit.

I've been a wild rabbit for many a year
Then one day I woke up and found meself here...
Full words are on our website on Werdz Page... fill yer boots!
wild rabbit

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Severn
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 07:23 PM

The modern version is "Here Cums Peter, Caught In Tail (Hip Hop Mix)"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Azizi
Date: 25 Feb 07 - 01:17 AM

Here's another Mudcat thread about rabbit songs & rhymes:

thread.cfm?threadid=69479&messages=11#1178598 RE: Lyr Req: There once was a rabbit developed a habit.

Because they fit here, I'm reposting two examples from that thread:

Subject: RE: There once was a rabbit
From: Amos - PM
Date: 05 May 04 - 12:19 PM

Rabbit Poem

There was once a rabbit
Developed the habit,
Of twitching the end of his nose.
His sisters and brothers
And various others
Said, "Notice the way that it goes".

Now one clever bunny
Said, "That's very funny,
I'll practise it down in the dell".
The rest said, "If he can,
I'm positive we can".
And did it remarkably well.

Now all the world over,
Where rabbits eat clover,
And burrow and scratch with their toes,
There isn't a rabbit,
Who hasn't the habit,
Of twitching the end of its nose.
-snip-

[the author of this rhyme was given in that thread as Georgia Roberts Durston, an American]

**

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: There once was a rabbit developed a habit
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Nov 04 - 02:33 AM

An old recording of Josh White had a track on it referring to rabbit habits.

Something like:

Jack the Rabbit
Had a bad habit
Ate up the corn
And all the cabbage
But I took him down
To the low low ground
And I cured that fool
Of his bad habit.

(The cut was titled "Don't Lie Buddy")
...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: ranger1
Date: 25 Feb 07 - 01:44 PM

Rabbit in the Moon is by Aztec Two-Step.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Allan C.
Date: 25 Feb 07 - 02:21 PM

From an old thread:

I cannot attest to the current popularity of another song I know, but it seems to go back quite a way (forgive any spelling errors):

Flevit Lepus

Flevit lepus parvalus
Clamens altis vocibus
Quid fecci hominibus
Quod me secunter canibus? (repeat X2)

Roughly translated:

The Little Rabbit

The poor little rabbit
Exclaims in a loud voice
Why makes men
Always chase me with dogs? (or sticks, depending upon translator)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: SouthernCelt
Date: 25 Feb 07 - 03:58 PM

It's not a song but it's a good surpriser comment to shut up an unruly talking audience:

"Shhhhhh!!!! Be vewy, vewy quiet! I'm huntin' wabbits."

This was first attributed to Elmer Fudd in a non-musical usage.

SC

P.S Forgive me please! I just couldn't resist considering the subject of this thread.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Feb 07 - 09:44 PM

My Uncle now he had a shotgun
When I was a grasshopper high
Now I always wanted a shotgun
So I asked him to give me a try
He held up the gun to my shoulder
And just left the trigger to me
Now don't say that I never told you -
Shot a rabbit, up a tree!

(a song by Allan Smethurst - the Singing Postman)

Subject: Lyr Add: MISTER RABBIT
From: oldhippie
Date: 26 Feb 07 - 12:41 PM

MISTER RABBIT

Mister Rabbit, Mister Rabbit, your tail's mighty white
Yes, bless God, been gittin' out of sight

Refrain:
Ev'y little soul gwine-a shine, shine
Ev'y little soul gwine-a shine along.

Mister Rabbit, Mister Rabbit, your coat's mighty grey
Yes, bless God, been out 'fo day

Mister Rabbit, Mister Rabbit, your ears mighty long
yes, bless God, been put on wrong

Mister Rabbit, Mister Rabbit, your ears mighty thin
Yes, bless Good, been splittin' the wind.

Subject: Lyr Add: TRACKS IN THE SNOW (Steve Thomason)
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 26 Feb 07 - 04:26 PM

If hares are allowed, Steve Thomason's song, "Tracks in the snow" inspired by an arctic hare in the Peak District.

TRACKS IN THE SNOW  Steve Thomason

All the events in this song happened, even the sighting of a red kite which possibly came over to the Peak District from Wales. The hare was one of the arctic hares that had been introduced onto Kinder. Every winter it turned white and would be feeding in the 15 acre field as we came home to walk the ¼ mile down the track towards the glow of the farm lights, visible in the valley even though the farm itself was hidden.

Chorus - Walk with me down hidden paths
White hare in the field, trout in the stream
Walk with me down hidden paths,
To the land that is now just a dream.

I remember the paths I walked with my dog,
Over high heather moors, past the cotton grass bog,
Heard the lark on the wing and the curlew's lone call,
Heard the grouse cry "Come back" over Matley Moor wall.

In the spring I would sit with my back at the Rocks,
Looking down o'er the field where I watched the hares box,
Saw the vole in the stream, red kite in the sky,
Never thinking those days they would pass by and by.

With the swaling long done and the heather shoots grown,
And the bilberry fruit on the banks near my home,
And haymaking done and the dusk folding round,
We'd watch as the owls hunted mice o'er the ground.

And Autumn comes round and the grey clouds roll in,
There's a blanket of mist hides the high moorland rim,
As you walk through the fields and the rain turns to sleet,
And the whole of your world is the ground at your feet.

With the winter comes snow and the fields turn as white,
As the coat of the hare that was waiting each night,
As we walked down the track to the lights of the farm,
With their promise of comfort, fire and warmth.

But those days are long gone and the ground at our feet,
Is concrete and metal on the hurrying street,
And tractor and link box are lost long ago,
But I still see the tracks of white hare in the snow.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Cool Beans
Date: 26 Feb 07 - 05:11 PM

"The Rabbi Elemelech."
Oh. Rabbits. Never mind.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Bainbo
Date: 26 Feb 07 - 05:42 PM

"I'm glad that I'm Bugs Bunny" by Mel Blanc.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Cool Beans
Date: 26 Feb 07 - 06:04 PM

"I'm Late," sung by the rabbit in Disney's "Alice in Wonderland"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Joe_F
Date: 26 Feb 07 - 09:53 PM

Say, old man, can your dog catch a rabbit?
Yacky yacky
Take a man time, take a man time.

Sung by my roommate, 1953. Not in DT; mentioned once in a thread.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 27 Feb 07 - 08:05 AM

3 songs about hares on my site
1 Latin, 1 German, 1 mixed German and Latin (very short)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: eddie1
Date: 27 Feb 07 - 11:06 AM

"And her hare it hung over her shoulder
Tied up with a black velvet band"

Eddie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST,Billy the Bunnie.
Date: 27 Feb 07 - 12:28 PM

My furry thanks to all for songs anbout my friends and relations.

"See Billy the Bunnie descending the mountainside
Fierce as the torrent and wild as the gale;
Boldly he bounds where bright burns, with brown trout in, glide
Swift to the broad river far down the vale;
So fleetly he leapt, so neatly he stepped,
Adjusting his ears so his balance was kept,
See him leap, land, bouncing and scampering;
Jaunty the jinks of his furry white tail."

6:8 Rabbit twitching his nose.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Cool Beans
Date: 27 Feb 07 - 01:22 PM

Joe F., I think your old roommate misheard what Leadbelly sang:
Old man, can your dog catch a rabbit?
Take him and try him, take him and try him.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Rowan
Date: 27 Feb 07 - 04:35 PM

Way above, eanjay posted the distintions between hares and rabbits; rabbits live in burrows and hares live on the surface.

John Wormsley, famous in Australia for his efforts at protecting native wildlife from feral pests (and wearing a hat made from a complete cat skin to an award presentation) tried to establish a refuge in the South Australian mallee country. 6000 acres (from recollection) were double fenced and then he started eradicating the resident rabbits. Using all the usual agricultural techniques he got down to about 10% of the original population; to reduce them to zero he had to employ a bloke with a dog and a gun.

During the final stages, the rabbits changed their behaviour completely, avoiding burrows and behaving like hares; they made nests in the grass and chamged camp every night, covering considerable distances between camps.

I gather the exercise was successful, despite malcontents trying to reinfest hte refuge by throwing live cats and rabbits over the fences into the property,

But I've not yet heard any songs about it.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Joe_F
Date: 27 Feb 07 - 11:36 PM

Cool Beans: Very likely!

I never even knew it was a Leadbelly song. We didn't talk about the origins of songs; we just sang them.

The roommate's name was Ives Hendrick. He made banjos & played them. He killed himself in 1953.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 23 Mar 07 - 07:37 AM

A program about Churchill's bodyguard mentioned that around June 1940
"Run Rabbit Run" was a favourite of Churchill at Checkers.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 23 Mar 07 - 09:11 AM

The Rabbit Skipped (Maggie Hammons Parker)

The rabbit skipped
The rabbit hopped
The rabit ate
My turnip tops
....

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST,squirrel
Date: 27 Apr 07 - 10:26 PM

love this site about rabbits.I prefere Squirrels. Need words to song not previously mentioned. I think its called Shadow boy. Some words,At night amoung the t'tree my shadow boy and i.And thats when the Bunnies come leaping all about.It finishes,Hide and seek with cottentails is just the nicest play.I used to sing this song in a choir 50's 60's. Its driving me crazy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST,mackiela
Date: 04 Jun 08 - 10:33 PM

Just love that song. Teaching it to granddaughter, tku for lyrics. just have to get the music now.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: alanabit
Date: 05 Jun 08 - 03:54 AM

"My bunny lies over the ocean
My bunny lies over the sea..."

(alanabit ducks for cover...)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST,Suffolk Miracle
Date: 05 Jun 08 - 08:17 AM

There is a Scottish bothy ballad called The Last Farewell To Stirling (which I used to sing a lot in the early seventies, until someone stared referring to it as The Decimalisation Song, so that noone could take it seriously!) about a poacher about to be transported, in the usual Folk way, for fourteen years to Van Dieman's Land. Addressed to his girlfriend, one verse goes:

No more I'll walk you in the dark
Nor take you out through the King's Park
Nor start a rabbit from its flat
When I am far from Stirling-o

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 05 Jun 08 - 08:43 AM

Shotgun Boogie - 1950

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST,cStu
Date: 05 Jun 08 - 08:58 AM

I've got a bunny song sung to a vaguely discernable fiddle tune!

Run Run Bunny Bunny Go

Old Fox coming down the road now bunny bunny
Run Run bunny bunny go
Whitetails bobbing in the air there funny bunny
Go go bunny bunny run

Farmer coming with his gun now bunny bunny
Run Run bunny bunny go
rest his gun on his hungry tummy bunny
Go go bunny bunny run

Jump for the hole in the hedge now bunny bunny
Run Run bunny bunny go
Whitetails flying through the air there funny bunny
Go go bunny bunny run

Subject: Lyr Add: BIG-EYED RABBIT
From: MissouriMud
Date: 05 Jun 08 - 11:43 AM

Don't forget Big Eyed Rabbit:


1. Yonder comes a rabbit, skipping through the sand
Shoot that rabbit, he don't mind
Fry him in my pan, Lord I'll fry him in my pan

Chorus 1. Big-eyed rabbit's gone, gone, the big-eyed rabbit's gone

2. Yonder comes a rabbit, fast as he can run
If I see another one
Gonna shoot him with my gun, shoot him my gun

Chorus 1 ...

3. Yonder comes my darling, how do I know?
I know her by her big brown eyes
Shining bright like gold, shining bright like gold

Chorus 2 . Rocking in a weary land, I'm rocking in a weary land.

Probably some another verses I dont recall in there - lots of versions of this - Tommy Jarrell recorded it a couple of times

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: peregrina
Date: 05 Jun 08 - 12:04 PM

African proverb on old Oxfam poster: Until the lions have their historians, history will always tell of the victories of the hunters.


Song challenge: the hunt from the rabbit's point of view.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: peregrina
Date: 05 Jun 08 - 12:12 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST,Pete
Date: 05 Jun 08 - 12:46 PM

Bunny ain't got no tail at all, tail at all, tail at all.
Bunny ain't got no tail at all. Only a ball of fluff.

Second verse same as the first. Can't get better, must get worse.

Bunny ain't got etc.etc.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST,Volgadon
Date: 05 Jun 08 - 12:51 PM

The Rabbit Song!
There is an old Soviet comedy from 1969, the Diamond Arm, about a mild-mannered family man who gets tangled up in a web of international smuggling. A cast containing diamonds was placed by accident on his arm, so now the smugglers want them back. He is taken to some restaurant, to get him drunk, to make things easier. He gets up to sing and causes a riot.

The song is about two rabbits who go to an oak forest to work a charm. If they nibble the grass three times in the face of danger, they will grow brave.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyIIGAy6s40

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: banjoman
Date: 06 Jun 08 - 06:56 AM

Just to clear up a couple of misconceptions in this thread:
Rabbits and Hares are not Rodents - they both belong to the species Lagomorph - which also includes the mountain hare.

Rabbits are wonderful creatures and make great companions - I currently have two and they provide hours of stress relief.
Highly recomended as pets for older people

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Rowan
Date: 06 Jun 08 - 07:28 PM

Just to clear up a couple of misconceptions in this thread:
Rabbits and Hares are not Rodents - they both belong to the species Lagomorph - which also includes the mountain hare.

Well, almost right; they're lagomorphs, which is the colloquial name for the family, equivalent to "rodents". I'm in the middle of transporting a workplace from one building to another and my references are packed away but the scientific binomial (genus and specific epithet), for the rabbit that has gone feral in Oz, is Oryctolagus cuniculus

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: RobbieWilson
Date: 06 Jun 08 - 09:20 PM

Coney Island baby

Subject: Lyr Add: THE RABBIT TRAPPER'S SONG
From: Rowan
Date: 06 Jun 08 - 11:07 PM

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned

THE RABBIT TRAPPERS SONG
(posted by John in Brisbane in 1998); the words are apparently from the oral tradition, recorded by Dave de Hugard.

1. Oh, my traps are all a-jangle,
At an easy swinging tangle,
I'm setting in a circle
Keeping round a fringe of trees;
Although I'm mud and gory spattered,
And my clobber's torn and tattered
I'm as carefree as the bunnies
Till they fall for one of these.

2. Oh, I'm under no man's orders
And I recognise no borders,
There's a welcome everywhere for me
And my old dungarees;
I am a rabbit trapper,
And a canny bunny snapper,
And I whistle through the bushland,
Though I'm wet up to the knees.

3. While you guys are courting tabbies,
I'm out among the rabbies,
I can hear them bucking, squealing,
Oh, a dozen traps ahead,
And again while you are flirting
At the last trap I am certain
To be bagging up my bunnies,
Keeping tally as I tread.

So Ginger make the railway early,
There's a shy and dinkum girlie
Let's me juggle with the cream cans
As she write cheques out for me.

I'm told Dave de Hugard wrote the tune to which it has been most commonly sung (in the Top End, with the audience doing "chorus" actions) for the last 20 odd years and, apparently, got so tired of hearing it that he wrote another.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Jun 08 - 11:21 PM

Variation on Guest, Pete a couple of days ago:

To the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb"

Wabbits got no tails at all
Tails at all,
Tails at all;
Wabbits got no tails at all
Just a powder puff!

(spoken)

Same song second verse,
Could be better, but it's gonna be worse.

Wabbits got no tails at all
Tails at all,
Tails at all;...

How long can you stand to listen to the kids do this one?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Little Robyn
Date: 07 Jun 08 - 04:45 PM

Then there's the Maori version of Run Rabbit, Oma räpeti.

Oma räpeti, oma räpeti
Oma, oma, oma
Oma räpeti, oma räpeti
Pühia te kaiako

Pako pako pako
Ko te tangi ö te pü
Oma räpeti, oma räpeti
Oma, oma, oma         

Run rabbit, run rabbit
Run, run, run
Run rabbit, run rabbit
Shoot the teacher

Bang, bang, bang
goes the farmer's gun
Run rabbit, run rabbit
Run, run, run


I don't know about the 'shoot the teacher' bit - that's from the NZ Folk
site.
Robyn

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST,David Ingerson
Date: 08 Jun 08 - 04:07 AM

I suppose it is technically off-subject, but there is the Irish (Co. Tyrone) song,

The Creggan White Hare,

which tells of the hare successfully eluding at least three sets of hunters.

I just got back from three weeks in Ireland where I heard a version with about five additional verses to the version I know. I'll have to find the recording among the scores of songs I recorded, but I'll transcribe the extra verses and post them in a day or two.

Cheers,

David

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST,Arkansas Red
Date: 08 Jun 10 - 02:40 PM

The song, "When The Blues Chase Up A Rabbit" can be found on an LP album by Charlotte Daniels and Pat Webb. It's out of print, but you might get lucky. I borrowed the album about forty years ago and learned the song. You might be able to find the Judy Henske version on Amazon.com

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Young Buchan
Date: 08 Jun 10 - 04:52 PM

Somewhere at the back of my mind is a verse from an old Suffolk singer along the lines of:
The foxes and the hares are busy making lairs;
The little birds are nesting in the trees;
And all the little rabbits are engaged in dirty habits
'Cos they've all got a wife but me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 18 Sep 20 - 07:03 AM

Q
",,, wondering about the origin of bunny ,,,"

A
"Alas, it’s not there largely because we don’t know. Bun was an English dialect word, recorded from the sixteenth century, which was used for a squirrel or rabbit. It seems that the word turned into the endearment bunny in the following century, and only later was it transferred back to the rabbit.
There is a suggestion that the word may have originally referred to the small tail of the rabbit, in the same way that a tight coil of hair at the back of the neck was also called a bun, because both were roughly the shape and size of the cake. Others argue that the origin was the Gaelic word bun that meant a stump or root, and which could refer to the tail of a hare.
But neither origin explains why it was applied to a squirrel, whose tail looks rather different. But then, we don’t know for sure where the word bun in the sense of the cake comes from either, so it’s all quite obscure."
https://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-bun1.htm

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Susan of DT
Date: 18 Sep 20 - 07:12 AM

I just posted this one on the girl scout thread yesterday:

In the woods there stands a house [draw a square]
I looked from my window out [shade your eyes]
Saw a rabbit in distress [rabbit ears?]
Running in alarm [hands make little running motions]
Help me, help me, sir, he cried [fling hands out]
From the hunter I must hide [cringe down?]
Keep me safe and warm [one hand pets the other]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Rex
Date: 18 Sep 20 - 02:00 PM

Wayland The Rabbit - Seals & Crofts

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST,Big Al Whittle
Date: 19 Sep 20 - 04:15 AM

On the Isle of Portland (UK). You're not supposed to mention rabbits, as the quarrymen for Portland stone believed the rabbits digging to be a cause of rockfalls.

i wrote this song about it

https://soundcloud.com/denise_whittle/on-portland

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST,Roderick A. Warner
Date: 19 Sep 20 - 07:05 AM

https://youtu.be/qAZWFafX6o8

Cottontail... Duke Ellington, 1940. Interesting run over the ‘I Got Rythm’ changes... Classic ‘jazz’ from 60 years ago...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST,Roderick A. Warner
Date: 19 Sep 20 - 07:21 AM

https://youtu.be/9jHG5qsbfpI
Cottontail encore...
With lyrics (featuring the late Annie Ross with Jon Hendricks, who wrote the words, Dave Lambert)... not the original lyrics that Duke wrote but a later embellishment which captures the essence of the song imo...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GerryM
Date: 19 Sep 20 - 08:29 AM

Space Rabbits of Brocklevoons, by Kate Rowe.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 19 Sep 20 - 10:37 AM

There the fox and the hare, the badger and the bear
and the birds' on the green-wood tree,
there's the pretty little rabbits all engaging in their habits
and they've all got a mate but me.

From the Bob and Jacqueline Patten Collection
Collected in Rockliffe / Wreay, Cumbria, England, UK

John O'Connell from Baile Mhuirne, Co. Cork gave me the song, originally an English folk song and published in The Oxford Book of Traditional Verse. (Jimmy Crowley, notes 'Uncorked!')

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST,henryp5
Date: 19 Sep 20 - 10:49 AM

From: Rowan Date: 06 Jun 08 - 07:28 PM

Just to clear up a couple of misconceptions in this thread:
Rabbits and Hares are not Rodents - they both belong to the species Lagomorph - which also includes the mountain hare.

Well, almost right; they're lagomorphs, which is the colloquial name for the family, equivalent to "rodents". I'm in the middle of transporting a workplace from one building to another and my references are packed away but the scientific binomial (genus and specific epithet), for the rabbit that has gone feral in Oz, is Oryctolagus cuniculus

Cheers, Rowan

The lagomorphs are the members of the taxonomic order Lagomorpha, of which there are two living families: the Leporidae (hares and rabbits) and the Ochotonidae (pikas).

Lagomorphs and rodents form the clade or grandorder Glires. Despite the evolutionary relationship between lagomorphs and rodents, the two orders have some major differences.

Wikipedia, of course.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST,MNJoe
Date: 19 Sep 20 - 01:28 PM

At Camp Ajawah in MN, a counselor taught a song in the 1980s which has been popular among the girls ever since. I was (mildly) surprised to learn that it was a song under copyright, a novelty tune that was cowritten by Milton Berle!

Check it out here:

https://archive.org/details/78_i-wuv-a-wabbit_dick-two-ton-baker-and-his-music-makers-baker-berle-drake-martell_gbia0105368a

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Mrrzy
Date: 20 Sep 20 - 02:55 PM

Really? Nobody has mentioned Mr. Rabbit?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Sep 20 - 03:03 PM

You didn't want Aussie ones about rabbits getting trapped, which is why I didn't include Stan Wakefield's song from the Great Depression - 'The Rabbiters'.

Doug Jenner

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 20 Sep 20 - 04:30 PM

Ralph McTell Alphabet Zoo

The Rabbit Song

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST,LarryTheRadioGuy
Date: 22 Sep 20 - 12:31 AM

Rabbit's Run by Happy and Artie Traum (from the first album).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Monique
Date: 22 Sep 20 - 02:45 AM

In a Cabin in a Wood, a slightly different version from Susan's on Sept 18th. It's sung in several languages. A Greek children's song (Little Rabbit).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: SummerCampSongs
Date: 22 Sep 20 - 09:48 AM

Mrrzy, someone did post Mr Rabbit upthread (Feb 2007). I'll take this opportunity to share this version of the song by the Replacements' Paul Westerberg: Mr Rabbit

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST,John Greaves
Date: 22 Sep 20 - 04:40 PM

I wrote a song about rabbit pie which is on the Yorkshire Garland website, I remember living on very thin rabbits through the 1947 winter,we were snowed up for 8 weeks and 2 days. I wont touch them now. It is a thoroughly silly song but quite fun to sing!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 22 Sep 20 - 08:01 PM

Another variant on the one Susan and Monique posted' from my days as a Gifl Guide around the campfire, also complete with actions:

In a cottage in a wood,
Little old man at the window stood,
Saw a rabbit running by,
Knocking at his door.
"Help me! Help me! Help me!" he said,
All those guns will shoot me dead,
"Come, little rabbit, come to me,
Happy we shall be".

And another from my grandson's pre-school singarounds:
(To the tune of John Brown's body/Glory Hallelujah)
Little Peter Rabbit had a fly uppn his nose, (x3),
So he flipped it and he flopped it and the fly flew away.

And one from Children's Favourites on "the wireless" all those years ago, especially popular around Easter time, instead of Easter eggs,
The Chocolate Rabbit. (Will post words later).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 22 Sep 20 - 08:15 PM

Seems I posted the first of those 3 songs in the girl scout thread that has just popped up again, 10 years ago! Guide's honour, not a copy and paste, but exactly the same words. What I had forgotten was that, as well as doing actions, we used to omit one line more of the singing (but still do the actions) on repeating the song each time, until we got to no singing, just miming!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 23 Sep 20 - 05:58 AM

Written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and first recorded by Big Mama Thornton in 1952.

You ain't nothing but a hound dog
Crying all the time
Well, you ain't never caught a rabbit
And you ain't no friend of mine

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 24 Sep 20 - 10:18 AM

Here is the chocolate rabbit song:

My Chocolate Rabbit

I got a chocolate rabbit
For an Easter treat.
A great big chocolate rabbit
Good enough to eat.

So I ate his ears on Sunday
His nose I finished Monday
Tuesday I nibbled on his feet
I ate his tail on Wednesday
Thursday, Friday I kept on
By Saturday evening he was gone.

Oh I loved my chocolate rabbit
From the moment that he came
And if I get another one
I'll love him just the same.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Nick
Date: 24 Sep 20 - 03:08 PM

ABBA with colds Bunny, Bunny, Bunny

CSNY Helplessly Hopping

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits.
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 24 Sep 20 - 06:20 PM

Oops: I copied the lyrics of Chocolate Rabbit from a website, but they've missed a couple of lines out!!!
Here is a better version!

Chocolate Rabbit

I got a chocolate rabbit
For an Easter treat,
A great big chocolate rabbit,
Good enough to eat.

So I ate his ears on Sunday,
his nose I finished Monday,
And Tuesday I nibbled on his feet.
I ate his tail on Wednesday,
Thursday I kept on,
By Friday he was going,
Saturday he was gone.

Oh, I loved that chocolate rabbit,
From the moment that he came,
And if I get another one,
I'll love him just the same.

Subject: Lyr Add: BLUES JUMPED A RABBIT (Noone/Page/Harris)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 12 Feb 21 - 08:32 PM

THE BLUES JUMPED A RABBIT
(Jimmie Noone)
As recorded by Jimmie Noone and His Orchestra, with vocal by Guy Kelly, on Decca (18439 A), 1936.

The blues jumped a rabbit, run him a solid mile.
Ah, the blues jumped a rabbit, run him a solid mile.
That poor fella lied down, was cryin’ like a natural child.

[You can hear this recording at the Internet Archive.]


THE BLUES JUMPED THE RABBIT
(Oran Page)
As recorded by [Oran] “Hot Lips” Page and His Orchestra, with vocal by Page, on Commodore Classics in Swing (593 A), 1947.

When you lose your money, please don’t lose your mind.
When you lose your woman, please don’t mess with mine.

Well, the blues jumped the rabbit an’ he ran him a solid mile.
Well, the blues jumped the rabbit, ran him a solid mile.
Well, the rabbit set down, crawled like a natural child.

Good as I treat you, baby, what you do can’t be sound.
Good as I treat you, baby, way you treat me can’t be sound.
You gonna give me my money, you stop runnin’ all around.

Hey, call me, baby; call me on the telephone.
Call me, baby; call me on the telephone,
‘Cause if I don’t love you, baby, I love you better’n a honky(?) dog love a beggar(?) bone.

[You can hear this recording at the Internet Archive.]


MR. BLUES JUMPED THE RABBIT
(Wynonie Harris)
As recorded by Wynonie “Mr. Blues” Harris and His All-Stars on Aladdin Jazz Series (171A), 1947.

Mister Blues jumped the rabbit an’ run him for one solid mile.
Yes, Mister Blues jumped the rabbit an’ run him for one solid mile.
Well, the blues saw the rabbit, he cried like a baby child.

He said: Please, Mister Blues, don’t treat Mister Rabbit so bad.
Please, Mister Blues, don’t treat Mister Rabbit so bad.
Don’t you know it’s the first blues that I’ve ever had?

Yes, Mister Rabbit, he’s learned his lesson at last.
Yes, Mister Rabbit, you learned your lesson at last.
You can’t outrun the blues; you just can’t run that fast.

Run, Mister Rabbit.
Run, Mister Rabbit.
Run, Mister Rabbit.
Run, Mister Rabbit.

Old Mister Rabbit, he’s got the blues in the night.
Yes, old Mister Rabbit, he’s got the blues in the night.
Yeah, I know how you feel; [my gal don’t?] treat me right.

[You can hear this recording at the Internet Archive.]

Subject: Lyr Add: MISTER RABBIT / MR. RABBIT
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 13 Feb 21 - 04:53 PM

Two more versions of the song posted by oldhippie back on 26-Feb-2007:

From On the Trail of Negro Folk-Songs by Dorothy Scarborough (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1925), page 174, where it appears with musical notation for the melody line:


MISTER RABBIT

1. “Mister Rabbit, Mister Rabbit, yo’ ears mighty long.”
“Yes, my lawd, dey’re put on wrong!
Every little soul must shine, shine, shine.
Every little soul must shine, shine, shine.”

2. “Mister Rabbit, Mister Rabbit, yo’ coat mighty grey.”
“Yes, my lawd, ‘twas made dat way!...”

3. “Mister Rabbit, Mister Rabbit, yo’ feet mighty red.”
“Yes, my lawd, I’m a-almost dead!…”

4. “Mister Rabbit, Mister Rabbit, yo’ tail mighty white.”
“Yes, my lawd, an’ I’m a-gittin’ out o’ sight!…”


MR. RABBIT
As recorded by Burl Ives on Columbia (90050-V), 1949, which can be heard at the Internet Archive.
(Apparently part of a series called “Animal Fair (Songs for Children)”)

SPOKEN: Here, here, Mister Rabbit, I want to talk to you!

1. “Mister Rabbit, Mister Rabbit, your coat’s mighty gray.”
“Yes, bless God, it’s made that way.
Ev’ry little soul must shine, shine
Ev’ry little soul must shine, shine.”

2. “Mister Rabbit, Mister Rabbit, your ears are mighty long.”
Yes, bless God, they’re put on wrong….”

3. “Mister Rabbit, Mister Rabbit, your ears are mighty thin.”
Yes, bless God, they’re splittin’ the wind….”

4. “Mister Rabbit, Mister Rabbit, your eyes are mighty red.”
Yes, bless God, I’m almost dead….”

Subject: Lyr Add: MY CHOC’LATE RABBIT / MY CHOCOLATE RABBIT
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 13 Feb 21 - 05:45 PM

A more complete version of the song posted by Tattie Bogle on 24-Sep-2020:


MY CHOC’LATE RABBIT
(Gerald Marks, Milton Pascal)
As recorded by Rosemary Clooney on Columbia (90101-V), 1951, which can be heard at the Internet Archive.

I got a brand-new Easter outfit,
A coat and hat and all the rest,
But there was one thing more from the candy store
That I really loved the best.

I got a chocolate rabbit
For a special treat,
A great big chocolate rabbit
Sweet enough to eat.
So I ate his ears on Sunday,
His nose I finished Monday,
And Tuesday I nibbled on his feet.

I ate his tail on Wednesday.
Thursday, I kept on.
By Friday he was going.
Saturday he was gone.
Oh, I loved my chocolate rabbit
From the moment that he came,
And if I get another one,
I'll love him just the same.

Subject: Lyr Add: RABBIT IN THE PEA PATCH (Pickard Family)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 15 Feb 21 - 06:05 PM

RABBIT IN THE PEA PATCH
As recorded by The Pickard Family on Jewel (5508-B) and Banner (S-6283-B), 1928.

CHORUS: Rabbit in the pea patch pickin’ out peas.
Rabbit in the pea patch pickin’ out peas.
Get away rabbit, get away, please.
Thought I heard that chicken sneeze. REPEAT.

Listen folks did you ever hear
Story ‘bout ol’ farmer Greer?
Planted a pea patch ten mile wide.
That pea patch was the old man’s pride.
Worked it ‘cause his hair was gray
From early morn till close of day.
Rabbit got in and couldn’t get ‘im out.
Ever’body heard the old man shout. CHORUS

Ol’ Miss Rabbit had a mighty habit
Flittin’ in the garden an’ eatin’ those cabbage.
Behind that hen-house on my knees
Thought I heard that chicken sneeze.
Rabbit run, rabbit true.
Rabbit’s story’s changin’ too.
Nothin’ but the rooster sayin’ his prayers,
Givin’ out a hymn an’ gettin’ upstairs. CHORUS


[There are other versions of RABBIT IN THE PEA PATCH posted in these old threads:
Lyr Req: Rabbit in the Pea Patch from 1999.
Lyr Add: Mistah Rabbit Patting rhyme from 2007.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE RABBIT WITH THE TWO BUCK TEETH
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Feb 21 - 06:32 PM

THE RABBIT WITH THE TWO BUCK TEETH
Words and music by Jimmie Dale & Roger Genger.
As recorded by Mervin Shiner on Decca (27977), 1952, which you can hear at the Internet Archive.

Did you see the rabbit with the two buck teeth?
Did you ever count the carrots that rabbit could eat?
Now it may sound strange, but I have been told
Since he ate fourteen carrots, he is worth his weight in gold.

Did you ever see the rabbit with the two buck teeth?
Did you ever meet a rabbit with so much conceit?
Now he puffs his chest as he walks around,
‘Cause he owns all the cabbage and the lettuce his town.

Now it doesn’t seem right and we all agree
That a rabbit should never gloat.
With his eyes so bright, he laughs with glee
When he says: “I’m the rabbit with my own fur coat.”

Did you ever see the rabbit with the two buck teeth?
Now he has a funny habit: shakes hands with his feet.
Some people think it’s sweet, but wait until you meet
The rabbit with the two buck teeth.

Subject: Lyr Add: RUN LITTLE RABBIT (Cab Calloway)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Feb 21 - 07:18 PM

RUN LITTLE RABBIT
(A. Gibson)
As recorded by Cab Calloway and his Orchestra on Okeh (6084), 1941, which you can hear at the Internet Archive.

Run, little rabbit.
Hit the road, little rabbit.
Got done(?), big rabbit.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Find a log, little rabbit.
I got my dog, little rabbit.
You’re in the fog, little rabbit.
* * * * *

You may dodge and Susie-Q,
But I’ll boogie-woogie after you.
You better not sit; you better not sigh.
I’ll run you round and shoot you down and fry your hide.

You better run, big rabbit.
Hit the road, big rabbit.
I got my gun, big rabbit.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!


[Asterisks represent “bangs” on a drum.]

Subject: Lyr Add: BENNY THE BOB TAILED BUNNY (G MacKenzie)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Feb 21 - 11:29 PM

BENNY THE BOB TAILED BUNNY
Words and music by Brad Browne & Irving Bibo.
As recorded by Gisele MacKenzie on Capitol #1997, 1952, which you can hear at the Internet Archive.

[A] Benny the bunny, that funny little bunny,
Benny the bob-tailed bunny—
If you’ve been good, you’re on his list,
So when Easter comes around you won’t be missed.
Benny the bunny, he’ll make your day so sunny
When you jump out of bed,
For you’ll find eggs upon your chair,
On the stair, most ev’rywhere,
And who do you think it is that paints and puts them there?
It’s Benny the bob-tailed bunny!

[B] Watch out! (Watch out!)
And mind your mom and dad.
Benny said to give you all this warning.
And he’s (and he’s)
The bestest friend you’ve had.
You’ll find that out one certain Sunday morning.

REPEAT [A]

Subject: Lyr Add: BENNY, THE MAGIC BUNNY (Kenny Roberts)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Feb 21 - 11:51 PM

BENNY, THE MAGIC BUNNY
Words and music by Al Hoffman & Dick Manning.
As recorded by Kenny Roberts with the Owen Bradley Quintet on Coral (60660), 1952, which you can hear at the Internet Archive.

[A] Benny, the magic bunny
Has a little magic hat,
Says: “Rabba-zabba-zoo!”
And there’s a kangaroo,
Presto! Just like that.

Benny, the magic bunny
Makes a bunny’s ears stand up.
He puts a pussycat
Into the magic hat.
Presto! There’s a pup.

[B1] Rabbits run to see his tricks.
They come from far and near.
He can make himself tall.
He can make himself small,
Or even disappear.

[C] Benny, the magic bunny,
With his little magic hat,
Can take the darkest day
And make it bright and gay,
Presto! Just like that.

REPEAT [A]

[B2] Benny never has to search
For food when he wants lunch.
He can reach in his hat,
And bingo! Like that,
There’s carrots by the bunch.

REPEAT [C]

Subject: Lyr Add: BUNNY ROUND-UP TIME (Gene Autry)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 20 Feb 21 - 10:15 AM

BUNNY ROUND-UP TIME
Words and music by Leo Israel and Stephen Gale [ASCAP credits Hermann Krasnow]
As recorded by Gene Autry on Columbia (39217), 1951, which you can hear at the Internet Archive.

[A] Over the prairie, Texas bluebells chime.
Get along, little cowboy; it’s bunny round-up time.
Go ridin’ to dreamland where cottontails do roam.
Get along, little cowboy; you’ll bring a bunny back home.

[B] There’s a little toy bunny a-hoppin’ right by.
There’s a sweet choc’late bunny with a jellybean eye,
But you got up your pony and on he goes
Till you rope a white bunny with the peppermint toes.

Yippee-I, yippee-A, yippee-I.

Then over the prairie while Texas bluebells chime,
Ride home, little cowboy, from bunny round-up time.

REPEAT [B]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Songs about Rabbits
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 22 Feb 21 - 07:03 PM

Lyrics for THE BUNNY HOP were posted in this thread by Azizi on 15 Feb 07 - 11:47 AM.
Here are writing credits and a partial discography:

Words by Leonard Auletti, music by Ray Anthony, ©1952.

The first recording was by Ray Anthony & His Orchestra, with vocal duet by Tommy Mercer & Marcie Miller on Capitol (2251), 1952.

[The links in this message lead to recordings at the Internet Archive.]

In 1953, Ray Anthony & His Orchestra released an instrumental version on Capitol (2427).

In 1954, Lee Roy & His Band released an instrumental version: Epic (9014);
Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra released an instrumental version called BUNNY HOP MAMBO on Capitol (2875);
Hugo Peretti released a vocal version on Mercury (MC 47A);
and Frank Messina and The Mavericks released an instrumental version on Mac Gregor (699-B).