# Childhood Folk Songs... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 21, 2000, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-folk-songs/33978 "2000-09-21T08:39:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2000, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-folk-songs/33978/21 "2000-09-22T20:08:26Z")
Johnny L.A.: The “rickety tickety tin” song is one verse from a song by Tom Lehrer. The other verses are equally ghoulish. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2000, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-folk-songs/33978/22 "2000-09-23T02:00:37Z")
> [@](#): > > The “rickety tickety tin” song is one verse from a song by Tom Lehrer. The other verses are equally ghoulish. Thanx! 😃 Irish Ballad (by Tom Lehrer) About a maid I’ll sing a song, Sing rikitty-tikkity-tin; About a maid I’ll sing a song, She didn’t have her family long; Not only did she do them wrong, She did every one of them in, them in, She did every one of them in. One mornin in a fit of pique Sing rikitty-tikkity-tin; One mornin in a fit of pique She drowned her father in the creek, The water tasted bad for a week And we had to make do with gin, with gin; We had to make do with gin. She set her sister’s hair on fire, Sing rikkity-tikkity-tin; She set her sister’s hair on fire, And as the smoke and flame rose higher She danced around the funeral pyre Playing a violin, olin, Playing a violin. She weighted her brother down with stones, Sing rikkity-tikkity-tin; She weighted her brother down with stones, And sent him off to Davy Jones. All they ever found were bones, And occasional pieces of skin, of skin, And occasional pieces of skin. One day when she had nothing to do, Sing rikkity-tikkity-tin; One day when she had nothing to do, She cut her baby brother in two And served him up as an Irish stew, And invited the neighbors in, bors in, And invited the neighbors in. When at last the police came by, Sing rikkity-tikkity-tin; When at last the police came by, Her little pranks she did not deny, To do so she would have had to lie, And lying she knew was a sin, a sin, Lying she knew was a sin. My tragic tale I won’t prolong, Sing rikkity-tikkity-tin; My tragic tale I won’t prolong, And if you do not enjoy my song, You’ve yourself to blame if its too long, You should never have let me begin, begin, You should never have let me begin. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2000, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-folk-songs/33978/23 "2000-09-23T02:26:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by evilbeth \* > \*\*Not from _my_ childhood, but when my niece started to like Barney, I had: > > I love you, you love me > Let’s hang Barney from a tree > with a big, thick rope and beat him with a stick > Purple dinos make me sick. \*\* [Hijack] Oooh **EvilBeth** , you are so hired! We can only agree that **Blarney** was one of the greatest threats to civilization since **The Smurfs**. [smurf voice] “No, you are not capable of self determination. You must obtain consensual opinion / reality for all that you do!” [/smurf voice]. The vacuous / vacuum / vertiginous void that encompasses **Blarney** is so mindnumbing as to make soap operas look like Fine Art. ::kisses her wrist and stomps off:: [/Hijack] ---
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2000, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-folk-songs/33978/24 "2000-09-23T02:30:52Z")
Yankee Doodle went to town a riding on his mother every time he hit a bump he had a baby brother… You know, it took me _years_ to get that one. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2000, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-folk-songs/33978/25 "2000-09-23T21:23:23Z")
I was going to post about _Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts_, but I see Ukulele Ike already has. Look through it carefully and you can find the one song I contributed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-folk-songs/33978.md?page=1)