Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past History Information Request Yellow Belly

Remember 'Dip dip dip my blue ship...' and also 'Eeny meany miny mo' but the version i remember had morphed into being un P.C!- not that we knew this as kids!!
When did the words change and why? I'm referring to the early 1980s. Hmmm

:r:that is so funny

i remember a very racist one...eeny meany miney mo catch a n.gger by his toe if he squeals let him go eeny meany miney mo. we never questioned it as kids and in all honesty i may not have understood what the word meant im so glad we've come along way since then!
another was one potatoe two potatoe etc and then there was the rhymes you sang as you clapped the other persons hand, mainly girls played this

A lot of these kind of songs were from kids street games, and playground games like skipping and hop-scotch.

Who remembers

'Queenie Eye, Queenie Eye, who's got the ball?
I haven't got it, it isn't in my pocket,
Queenie Eye, Queenie Eye, who's got the ball?'

And what about the way kids always re-interpreted the words to Christmas Carols?

'We three kings from Orient are,
One on a bike, and one in a car,
One on a scooter, beeping his hooter,
Followed by Ringo Starr...

ha i remember the first one but hadnt heard the other

Refering back to bert1's original post, most of the web-sites I've seen say that the 'Yellow belly custard' rhyme only dates back as far as the 1950's and seems to originate from the Liverpool area.

There were loads of silly songs, mostly sung by the girls when they were skipping, like -

Jelly on a plate,
Jelly on a plate,
Wibble-wobble, wibble-wobble,
Jelly on a plate!



There were quite a few rude ones as well!

Yes Rude, Ring O'Ring O' Roses has been sourced back to the plague. Ring of roses was said to be the rash, pocket full of posies well I;m not too sure on that bit.I have a feeling that was something to do with carrying herbs for medicinal purposes. Then ah tishoo ah tishoo was when they all dropped dead. Of oourse all of this has been disputed by some. So we are not really any the wiser.

There was another rhyme which went like this:

Nobody loves me, everybody hates me,
Think I'll go and eat worms.
Long thin slimy ones, big fat hairy ones,
Gooey, Gooey, gooey gooey worms.
Long thin slimey ones slip down easily
Big fat hairy ones don't
When thin big fat hairy ones get stuck in your teeth
??
I can't remember the last line.

Geekus is pretty hot on this stuff. He must have had a sister or played with the girls.

There was a book i remember back from primary school called Inky Pinky ponky. Had loads of crazy nonsense rhymes.. for example

The title..

Inky Pinky Ponky..
Daddy Brought a Donky
Donky died
Daddy cried
Inky Pinky Ponky..

Adam and eve in the garden of eden armaining the beauty of nature. A devil jumped out with a brussell sprout and hit them in the eye with a potatoe..

One fine day in the middle of the night
Two Dead men got up to fight..
Back to back they faced each other.
Draw there swords and shot each other.
they plaized a donkey passing by
Hit a blind man in the eye.
Knocked him through a rubber wall
In to a dry ditch and drowned them all..

And so on..

'Inky Pinky' is a traditional nursery rhyme, but the book which you refer to was probably Michael Rosen's collection of these rhymes and songs. You can still buy copies of it on sites like Amazon if you want to reminisce.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/6458350

There's some other great stuff on his website: http://www.michaelrosen.co.uk/poems.html

Another 'dip' one:

Ink pink, pen and ink,
I smell a dirty stink
and it comes from I O YOU.

Bri

My dad used to recite this. I haven't got a clue what it's about but I vaguely remember him saying it was Chinese, as if !!
I'll try to write it as it sounds.

Eenie Meenie racka racka um pum push,
R r chicker ah chicker ah
Oonie poonie ping pong piney
Ala gala wester richi poo!


What a load of rubbish.

Whatever you're drinking granny, I'll have the same...

Cheers and a Happy New Year to you!

There was a little man and he had a little gun. Across the fields he used to run. With a belly full of fat and a big straw hat and a pancake tied to his bum bum bum!


I had an uncle his name was Jim. Somebody threw a tomato at him. Now tomatos are soft and don't hurt your skin but this tomato was wrapped in a tin.

My uncle could tell em!

Just found a web-site which might be of interest to wiki members who are following this thread. Haven't looked at it properly yet but it looks good. Lots of theories on the origins of nursery rhymes and kid's songs:

http://www.rhymes.org.uk/