Recently I was driving in a car with my Mom and my nephews. In the course of this long drive the song 100 Bottles of Beer was started. My Mom sang "100 Bottles of beer...if one of those bottles should happen to fall...". I told her I had learned that line as "...take one down pass it around..." Can you tell me the orgin of that song, and the original words?
A discussion ensued regarding changes of lyrics over time. She said the rhyme Eenie Meenie Minie Moe was different when she was growning up. The saying she learned was"...catch a nigger by the toe". I found those words horrorfying. I can understand why they were changed to tiger, but neither word seems to fit quite right. Can you also tell me the orgin of this saying, and why the N word would have ever been added?
I can attest that, growing up in the Bronx in the 1950s, it was invariably the n-word. However, as kids we had little concept that this might be offensive - it was an Irish-Italian neighborhood and we never saw any black people.
And as for the 99 bottles, etc. I’ve learned it both ways. As I recall, the first version I learned was “if one of those bottles should happen to fall” – but only because I was a youngster, and such words were deemed less offensive. The “Take one down, pass it around” version was what was sung when we wanted to feel more daring and grown up.