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21 Jun 10 - 03:07 PM (#2932116) Subject: Origins: Please ID this song if you can . . . From: Brian May The lines I remember are, something like " . . accounts for the hump on the camel And the Sphinx's inscrutable smile." There's another line 'We're all queers together" and I think the melody is the Eton Boating Song. It may have an Armed Services' connection. Can anyone help? |
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21 Jun 10 - 03:10 PM (#2932120) Subject: RE: Origins: Please ID this song if you can . . . From: SINSULL In the Digital Tradition: http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiADMENLIS;ttBOTBAY2.html http://mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=136 |
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21 Jun 10 - 04:29 PM (#2932187) Subject: RE: Origins: Please ID this song if you can . . . From: Acorn4 We used to sing this on the back of the bus to a chorus of:- Shine your buttons with Brasso, Only three halfpence a tin! You can but it or swipe it from Woolworth's, It's always full up to the brim. I think this probably originated in the army but the bit you quote seems to turn up in several Rugby type songs. |
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21 Jun 10 - 05:22 PM (#2932227) Subject: RE: Origins: Please ID this song if you can . . . From: Leadfingers Brian - To the tune 'Eton Boating Song ! The sexual life of the camel Is stranger than anyone thinks At the height of the mating season , He tries to bugger the Sphinx But the Sphinx's posterior orifice Is blocked by the sands of the Nile Which accounts for the hump of the Camel And the Sphinx's inscrutable smile Another 'Pick Up verse' that appears in several songs - I 'collected' this in The NAAFI bar in Germany in 1961 with a number of even ruder verses tacked on . |
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21 Jun 10 - 05:33 PM (#2932237) Subject: RE: Origins: Please ID this song if you can . . . From: Reiver 2 The Reivers used to sing this little group of songs as a single number at college parties in Kamloops, B.C. The song you're referring to was the last one of the three. We called it "The Sphinx." Side By Side We got married on Friday The vicar said it was my day. When they were gone, we were alone, Side by side. We got ready for bed then, But I nearly dropped dead when Her false teeth and hair, she laid on the chair, Side by side. Then to my amazement, Her little glass eye so small, He arms and legs beside them, She laid on the chair by the wall. My baby and me, we are parted, And we'd only just started. Now I sleep on the chair, 'cause there's more of her there; Side by side. Abigail On the bosom of young Abigail, Was written the price of her tail. And upon her behind, For the use of the blind, Was the same information in Braile. The Sphinx Oh, the sexual desires of the camel Are greater than anyone thinks. One day at the height of his passion, He tried to make love to the Sphinx. But that part of the Sphinx's anatomy Was blocked by the sands of the Nile, [Spoken: Dear children!] Which accounts for the hump on the camel, And the Sphinx's inscrutable smile. I have no idea where we first heard these. Reiver 2 |
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21 Jun 10 - 11:38 PM (#2932427) Subject: RE: Origins: Please ID this song if you can . . . From: GUEST,iancarterb I know where I first heard the camel verses- Oscar Brand, Bawdy Songs and Backroom Ballads, late 1950s! |
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22 Jun 10 - 01:08 PM (#2932687) Subject: RE: Origins: Please ID this song if you can . . . From: Brian May Thanks all, yes I think I first heard these in the back of a bus travelling to/from some sports match. It's just that I'm learning a song (with different lyrics!) but the tune's the same and I'm getting a bit confused as I keep wanting to sing THOSE lyrics. Anyone who has further stores of THOSE lyrics, please feel free to post them for me as honour dictates I learn what I shouldn't sing as well as what I should (hee hee). Thanks to all those who participated. Brian |
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22 Jun 10 - 01:20 PM (#2932695) Subject: RE: Origins: Please ID this song if you can . . . From: Leadfingers Look Here |
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22 Jun 10 - 01:59 PM (#2932715) Subject: RE: Origins: Please ID this song if you can . . . From: Brian May Leadfingers, personally I preferred belly, but HE never put me on to exactly what I needed. . . Thanks, it's so frustrating when snippets are in your head and you can't shift them - I suspect there's a whole website full of them here. Take care, appreciate the effort. Brian |
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22 Jun 10 - 06:32 PM (#2932905) Subject: RE: Origins: Please ID this song if you can . . . From: Joe_F These verses also appear attached to "Toroly Oroly Ady", which is otherwise a naval song devoted to insulting the skipper. Sometimes the Hedgehog Song also gets mixed in. |
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22 Jun 10 - 07:25 PM (#2932924) Subject: RE: Origins: Please ID this song if you can . . . From: GUEST,kendall And further experimentation has inconrovertably shown comparative safety on ship board is enjoyed by the hedgehog alone. |
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23 Jun 10 - 05:58 AM (#2933110) Subject: RE: Origins: Please ID this song if you can . . . From: GUEST GUEST kendall Wow, now you're getting very droll. Perhaps there are people who enjoy pain . . . |
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23 Jun 10 - 09:03 AM (#2933212) Subject: RE: Origins: Please ID this song if you can . . . From: Rob Naylor Acorn4: We used to sing this on the back of the bus to a chorus of:- Shine your buttons with Brasso, Only three halfpence a tin! You can but it or swipe it from Woolworth's, It's always full up to the brim. We sang that chorus (slightly modified as below) in the back of the school bus to and from "educational" trips: Shine.... It's..... You can buy it or nick it from Woolworths But I doubt if they'll have any in But that chorus was for "My Father's a Lavatory Cleaner", not for "The Sexual Life of The Camel", which was the "too-ra-lai" one: My father's a lavatory cleaner He cleans them by day and by night And when he comes home in the evening He`s covered all over in ..... Chorus: Shine up your buttons with Brasso It`s only three ha`pence a tin You can buy it or nick it from Woolworths But I doubt if they'll have any in And when it came round to Christmas He gave my ma a great fright For instead of bringing her chocolates He brought her a box full of ..... CHORUS Some say that he died of a fever Some say that he died of a fit But, I know damn well what he died of He died of the smell of the ..... CHORUS Some say that he`s buried in a graveyard Some say that he`s buried in a pit But, I know damn well what he`s buried in He`s buried in six foot of ..... CHORUS |
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23 Jun 10 - 01:31 PM (#2933341) Subject: RE: Origins: Please ID this song if you can . . . From: GUEST,EBarnacle I wonder whether the origin of "Sweet Violets" was before this song. Many of the verses are clearly related and, if later, violets would be an effort to make the song socially marketable. |