#278409 - 28/03/2006 17:33
Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/07/1999
Posts: 5549
Loc: Ajijic, Mexico
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An informal survey of my cow-orkers showed that everybody knew this song. I learned that song before most of you youngsters were born, more than 50 years ago. Is this strictly a North American phenomenon, or has it made inroads into other continents as well? It's not like this was ever a top-10 song, or even ever played on the radio at all. How did this song propagate so universally, and what could account for its remarkable staying power? I suppose some Christmas songs like Jingle Bells or White Christmas might show comparable longevity, but this song is pretty much in the realm of the under-10-year-olds. A strange business, indeed. tanstaafl.
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#278410 - 28/03/2006 19:04
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: tanstaafl.]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Do you have any evidence that it was recorded commercially before you knew it? I have no idea where it originated, but I imagine it has more in common with "Ring Around the Rosie" than it does with "Jingle Bells". "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is one that's pretty much an under-10 demographic, too.
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Bitt Faulk
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#278411 - 28/03/2006 19:42
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: tanstaafl.]
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enthusiast
Registered: 31/05/2002
Posts: 352
Loc: santa cruz,ca
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an oldie but a goodie.
I think I learned that in the mid-70's, ~2nd grade. california.
kinda reminds me of 'on top of old smokey, all covered with blood.....'
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#278412 - 28/03/2006 19:55
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: tanstaafl.]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
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I don't know if it ever made it into Canada as I've never heard (or heard of) that song beforfe (I have a younger brother by 8 years, friends' kids, etc..)
Bruno
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#278413 - 28/03/2006 21:21
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/07/1999
Posts: 5549
Loc: Ajijic, Mexico
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Do you have any evidence that it was recorded commercially before you knew it?Oh, that's a good one! Back in those days, it hadn't been all that long since recordings had progressed from Edison wax cylinders to 78 RPM records.  Well, not really... but I don't think 45 RPM records were out yet, circa 1950. Back in those dark ages, making a commercial recording was not the semi-casual process that it is today, and only mainstream audio was likely to be produced. tanstaafl.
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"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"
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#278414 - 28/03/2006 21:28
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: tanstaafl.]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31600
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Isn't that just the standard thing that kids do: chagning the words to a well-known melody, ala "comet" to the tune of Bridge Over the River Kwai?
I don't know the original, but I could swear that those particular lyrics came later.
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#278415 - 28/03/2006 21:37
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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People claim it's the tune of "The Old Grey Mare". I really have to wrench my brain to make them fit together, but I'm pretty sure that's right.
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Bitt Faulk
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#278416 - 28/03/2006 21:41
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: tanstaafl.]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Doing some research, it looks like you might want to look into the works of Iona and Peter Opie. They seem to be the leading anthropological scholars in this area.
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Bitt Faulk
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#278417 - 28/03/2006 22:21
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: tanstaafl.]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 06/04/2005
Posts: 2026
Loc: Seattle transplant
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Wow- that's a throw-back. Yah- California in the 70's is my only reference. Reminds me of 'Bringing home my baby Bumble Bee'. Nifty site, though. This one I remember from Dr. Demento. 
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#278418 - 29/03/2006 00:01
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/07/1999
Posts: 5549
Loc: Ajijic, Mexico
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I don't know the original, but I could swear that those particular lyrics came later. If you google for "Great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts" you will get over 700 hits, and will be able to find 40 or 50 (or more?) minor variations. What impresses me is how thoroughly ingrained in American "culture" this song has become. It seems like everybody learned it when they were little, but it certainly wasn't being taught in school (not officially, anyway! ) or popularized in songbooks or on the radio, etc. There are people in my office from Florida, New York, California, Alaska, you name it, ranging in age from teenager to 60's, and they all know the song. It's been around at least 60 years. Did the song make it overseas? tanstaafl.
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"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"
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#278419 - 29/03/2006 00:14
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: tanstaafl.]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 16/06/2000
Posts: 1682
Loc: Greenhills, Ohio
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What about Little Rabbit Foo Foo? I hadn't thought of that stupid song for quite a few years until I heard an Easter bunny singing it, the words were more politically correct than I remember singing, but now I can't get it out of my head. Anyone else remember that song?
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Laura
MKI #017/90
whatever
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#278420 - 29/03/2006 00:31
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: tanstaafl.]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 23/09/2000
Posts: 3608
Loc: Minnetonka, MN
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I had a record that contained this song when I was a kid. I am 32 now I can't remember how old I was when I had the record.
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Matt
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#278421 - 29/03/2006 00:56
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: Laura]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 20/01/2002
Posts: 2085
Loc: New Orleans, LA
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"Little bunny foo foo, hopping through the forest. Picking up the field mie and bopping them on the head. And DOooooown came the good fairy, and she said...."
Yeah, I heard that one. Late seventies, Florida.
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#278422 - 29/03/2006 01:01
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: Laura]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 17/12/2000
Posts: 2665
Loc: Manteca, California
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I did Greasy Grimy - though I'll be danged if I could repeat the whole work from memory now. It's a viral kind of thing. All kids are exposed to it by other kids. Some parents never get over it and pass it on to their kids. Those parents were all ways the ones that knew how to keep kids occupied with fun.
The little bunny foo foo is something I sure don't remember from being a kid, but my 5year old grand niece exposed me to it a 4-5 months ago. Funny thing is I just asked her about it and she can't remember it now.
Little Bunny Foo Foo,
Hopping through the forest
Scooping up the field mice
And boppin' 'em on the head.
I don't thing she knew any more of it that that.
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Glenn
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#278423 - 29/03/2006 05:09
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: Laura]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 06/04/2005
Posts: 2026
Loc: Seattle transplant
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Little Rabbit FooFoo was known to BASH the field mice on their head in my day. What is this wussy 'bopping' stuff?
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#278424 - 29/03/2006 07:27
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: tanstaafl.]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 13/07/2000
Posts: 4180
Loc: Cambridge, England
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Quote:
Did the song make it overseas?
I'd never come across it before this thread, but then we don't have gophers here in the UK. Bunny Foo-Foo I've only heard from my little sort-of-goddaughter, who's growing up in Philadelphia, and as for "On top of Old Smokie, all covered with snow, I know where I'd wanna... go", the only place I've heard that before was on a Laurie Anderson song, where it didn't make much sense to me at the time.
Peter
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#278425 - 29/03/2006 08:45
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: peter]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 16/04/2002
Posts: 2011
Loc: Yorkshire UK
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Quote:
"On top of Old Smokie, all covered with snow, I know where I'd wanna... go"
The only reason I'm familiar with that is, when I was at school, someone had a Stan Freberg LP with:
"On top of spaghetti, all covered in sauce,
Lay my little meatball -something, something, something-,
It rolled from the table and on to the floor,
then my little meatball rolled out of the door"
- I can't take you past that!
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Politics and Ideology: Not my bag
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#278426 - 29/03/2006 09:06
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: boxer]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 13/07/2000
Posts: 4180
Loc: Cambridge, England
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Quote:
"On top of spaghetti, all covered in sauce"
Oooh. There's a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon where Calvin is singing that, to his mother's great annoyance. I always kind-of assumed that Watterson had made it up!
Peter
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#278427 - 29/03/2006 11:15
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: boxer]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 25/08/2000
Posts: 2413
Loc: NH USA
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On top of spaghetti, all covered with cheese,
I lost my poor meatball, when somebody sneezed.
It rolled off the table, and onto the floor,
and then my poor meatball, rolled right out the door.
It rolled to the garden, and under a bush,
and now my poor meatball, is nothing but mush.
That's the way I remember it.
-Zeke
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#278428 - 29/03/2006 11:22
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: gbeer]
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old hand
Registered: 27/02/2003
Posts: 777
Loc: Washington, DC metro
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I have two kids - 5 and 2 - and I'm hearing all those songs I heard as a kid. Only they've morphed over the years. Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin layed an egg... I had completely forgotten that one until last Christmas. But for the life of me, I can't figure: How did "Happy Birthday" pick up a "Cha Cha Cha" between most lines? That one really annoys me.  -jk
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#278429 - 29/03/2006 12:30
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: tanstaafl.]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 2858
Loc: Atlanta, GA
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Quote:
and only mainstream audio was likely to be produced.
Ah how times have changed . . .
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-Jeff
Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.
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#278430 - 29/03/2006 12:48
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: Ezekiel]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 16/04/2002
Posts: 2011
Loc: Yorkshire UK
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Quote:
On top of spaghetti, all covered with cheese,
I lost my poor meatball, when somebody sneezed.
It rolled off the table, and onto the floor,
and then my poor meatball, rolled right out the door.
It rolled to the garden, and under a bush,
and now my poor meatball, is nothing but mush.
Yep, I think that's right, it must be 45 years since I heard the LP, so it's not surprising some of it had been distorted in my mind.
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Politics and Ideology: Not my bag
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#278431 - 29/03/2006 14:29
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: Ezekiel]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 10/06/1999
Posts: 5916
Loc: Wivenhoe, Essex, UK
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I was once sung a very much longer version, with several verses.
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#278432 - 29/03/2006 14:33
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: peter]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Well, that one makes sense to be stuck here, since it references North American geography. "Old Smoky" would be a reference to the Great Smoky Mountains area of the Appalachian mountains, which lie basically on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee.
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Bitt Faulk
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#278433 - 29/03/2006 15:41
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12341
Loc: Sterling, VA
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Quote:
People claim it's the tune of "The Old Grey Mare". I really have to wrench my brain to make them fit together, but I'm pretty sure that's right.
I have never heard the Gopher song before, but even just reading the lyrics I could identify that the cadence was the same as "The Old Grey Mare."
"And now: the crazy old man dancers!"
"Old grey mare she aint what she used to be
aint what she used to be
aint what she used to be"
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Matt
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#278435 - 29/03/2006 21:28
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: Robotic]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 16/06/2000
Posts: 1682
Loc: Greenhills, Ohio
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I agree, that's what I meant by it's politically correct now. I remember singing the bashing bit.
On Top of Spaghetti had many, many verses to it.
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Laura
MKI #017/90
whatever
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#278436 - 29/03/2006 22:01
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: Laura]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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My wife knows the "Little Bunny Foo Foo" one and she knows it as "poppin' 'em on the head". She'd've had to have learned it in the late 60s.
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Bitt Faulk
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#278437 - 30/03/2006 00:09
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: hybrid8]
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addict
Registered: 09/06/1999
Posts: 559
Loc: Newfoundland, Canada
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Quote:
I don't know if it ever made it into Canada as I've never heard (or heard of) that song beforfe (I have a younger brother by 8 years, friends' kids, etc..)
Bruno
I learned it here in Newfoundland, Canada. If it got here, it must be on the mainland!
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#278438 - 30/03/2006 00:10
Re: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts
[Re: Dignan]
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addict
Registered: 09/06/1999
Posts: 559
Loc: Newfoundland, Canada
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Quote:
Quote:
People claim it's the tune of "The Old Grey Mare". I really have to wrench my brain to make them fit together, but I'm pretty sure that's right.
I have never heard the Gopher song before, but even just reading the lyrics I could identify that the cadence was the same as "The Old Grey Mare."
"And now: the crazy old man dancers!"
"Old grey mare she aint what she used to be
aint what she used to be
aint what she used to be"
Hmmm... I misheard that one. I always thought it was "Old grey matter ain't what it used to be, ain't waht it used to be..." thinking it was something to sing when you felt like your mind was turning to mush!
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