From an old novelty record called My Old Man’s a Dustman
“He looks a proper nana” or alternately “narner.” What’s a nana/narner?
“He wears cor-blimey trousers.” I believe “cor-blimey” is a general epithet along the lines of gee whiz or good golly; is there some specific sort of trouser that might be considered “cor-blimey trousers”?
And the last stanza:
Is there some deeper meaning or joke to the last couple of lines or is it just a comment on the average length of a tiger?
I think “nana” might be shortened from “banana”, and means fool.
“Cor blimey” is euphemistic for “God blind me”, and is the sort of thing you’d say when you see something that astonishes you. So “cor-blimey trousers” asre trousers that would cause the viewer astonishment.
And Idon’t think there’s anythng more to the last than a tiger’s back being about 4 feet long.
I thought “nana” was slang for a homosexual, but I could be wrong.
Often these slang terms have multiple meanings. You and I could both be right, since both meanings work in the context of the song (which is now ringing in my head – it’s a very catchy tune).
When the song was written ‘nana’ was indeed a contraction of Banana and meant dope-idiot-fool as above.
Corblimey meant dirty/filthy or generally awful. Rhyming slang with grimy.
“Nana” = abbreviated version of ‘banana’, here used to denote ‘idiot’ or ‘fool’
“Cor blimey” = rhyming slang for ‘grimy’ = very dirty
Tiger joke: yes, the simple and superficial reading is the correct one. No deeper meaning that I’m aware of.
The tiger joke is just typical “music-hall” type of humour really - giving a plausible but in fact utterly useless answer to a question for comic effect.