"All the Girls in France Do the Hoochie-Coochie Dance"

Cafe Society
41

I opened this thread because the line “All the Girls in France” fit a song that is on my kid’s CD. The song is “Knees Up Mother Brown” (no known author or copyright). The first part begins:

There came a girl from France
Who didn’t know how to dance
The only thing that she could do
Was knees up Mother Brown

{refrain}
Oh, knees up Mother Brown
Knees up Mother Brown
Knees up, knees up, never let the breeze up,
Knees up Mother Brown

Frankly the song sounded quite aggressive, apparently telling the kids to knee Mother Brown in the “groin”. :slight_smile:

42

I swear, until this very moment I had No Idea™ that there were words to this song. I always heard it as “snake charmer music” and we all just sang, "Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah
NahNahNahNahNahNahNah Huh.

43

I heard one of the versions already repeated several times - “There’s a place in France where the naked ladies dance/there’s a hole in the wall where the men can see it all.”
It didn’t have any more lyrics.

Did everyone sing that that “Hello Operator” song at your school too?

44

We used to tack on a “And the men wear bikinis and the women suck their weinees.”

45

You mean this one?

  • Miss Lucy had a steamboat
    The steamboat had a bell
    Miss Lucy went to heaven
    The steamboat went to
    HELL-o operator
    Give me number nine
    If you disconnect me
    I’ll kick your big be-
    HIND the frigerator
    There was a piece of glass
    Miss Lucy fell upon it
    And cut her big ol’
    ASS me no more questions
    Tell me no more lies
    The boys are in the bathroom
    zipping up their
    FLIES are in the meadow
    The bees are in the park
    Miss Lucy and her boyfriend
    Are kissing in the dark…*

Gawd, I’m ashamed I remember that much…

I’m going to be a terrible influence on my children. :cool:

46

Gad, I haven’t thought of this in YEARS, but here’s how we sang it:

*There’s a place called Mars
Where the ladies smoke cigars

Every puff they take
Is enough to kill a snake

When the snakes are dead
They put roses in their heads

When the roses die
They put diamonds in their eye

When the diamonds break
It is nineteen forty-eight*

It’s funny how stuff like that sticks with you 30 years later…

Barry

47

When my contemporary neighborhood chicks were 10, they sang several of the versions posted here.

By age 12/13, they had developed some real XXX versions that can’t be posted.

Sneakin’ in a lounge with fake ID at age 17, the band sang it this way:

“So, I held her in my arms
Told her of her many charms
Kissed her as the fiddle played
Bonaparte’s Retreat”

Progress? Questionable.

48

There’s a place in France
Where the naked ladies dance
There’s a hole in the wall
Where the boys can see it all
But the men don’t care
Cuz they chew their underwear
And each pair they chew
Costs $1.92
And the king and the queen
Have a rubber ding-a-ling

49

I’d always heard it this way:

Going down to France
Where the naked ladies dance
The men don’t care
Cuz they chew their underwear

50

Oh, my God, do you have any idea how offensive this is to Eastern Rite Christians?

The melody of the song you all are quoting is ripped from a hymn sung at the Entry of the Bridegroom (celebrated on Wednesday and/or Thursday of Holy Week in the Greek Rite Churches.)

The lyrics don’t translate well into English but they go roughly

Behold the Bridegroom is coming in the middle of the night
Blessed are the servants He shall find awake
But the one found asleep is not worthy of Him

Beware, Oh my soul, do not fall asleep
Lest to death you’re delivered
And the doors of the Kingdom be closed on you
Watch instead and cry out
Holy, holy, holy Lord
Through the intercession of the Angels
Have mercy on us

There are more verses, but I don’t have them available at the moment. You might want to consult with Dogface for the rest.

Leave it to a bunch of American G.I.'s to take one of the most beautiful hymns in Christianity and turn it into a bawdy song…

51

Do what you’re telling us is that all visiting non-Greek Orthodox Christians either fall on the floor laughing hysterically when that tuned is played, or injure themselves in a noble attempt not to?

52

Gentleman’s agreement. I don’t laugh at the familiar music, they don’t ask why my practices resemble Catholicism or Eastern Orthodox but aren’t.

53

**All the girls in France
Do the hula-hula dance
And the way they shake
Is enough to kill a snake
When the snake is dead
They put roses in its head
When the roses die
They put diamonds in its eye
When the diamonds break
It’s the year of 68![\b]

54

My version doesn’t involve France! I must have hung out with unusual children.

In the land of Oz, the women don’t wear bras
But the men don’t care, cause they don’t wear underwear

OR

In the land of Oz, the women don’t wear bras,
and the men go around with their dooeys (dewies sp?) hanging down.

55

I heard:
All the girls in France do the Hoochie Coochie dance/
And the dance they do is enough to kill a Jew/
And the Jew they kill is enough to take a pill/
And the pill he takes is enough to kill a snake…
That is about all I remember…

56

What kind of dance do zombies do?
And on seeing this thread, I thought Eve was back. :frowning:

57

runner pat, me too. Her user statistics show she hasn’t even read the boards (while logged in, at least) since January, although her last post was in early 2007.

58

We’re no longer automatically closing zombie threads, so I’ll leave this open for now.

twickster, MPSIMS moderator

59

This reminded me of a scene in The Office that went something like this:

Andy: (starts singing the song)
Angela: Andy! Stop singing about naked women! (Looks disgusted) And France!

60

Me too. I was all like “Huh?” and then I was like “Oh,” and then I was like “Aww.”