Since we’re already discussing Little Bunny Foo Foo, I’d like to ask about another childhood classic, “Found A Peanut”.
FAP seems to have many alternative endings after the protagonist goes to the hospital. The kid-friendly version I learned in nursery school had the narrator getting better (and then going on to eat another rotten peanut, dumb kid). The song I learned in camp had him dying, going to heaven, meeting St. Peter, not liking St. Peter, going the other way, and ultimately getting a job in Hell shoveling peanuts (after which he finds a peanut, etc). I vaguely remember hearing one in which in he dies, goes to heaven, but then forgets his teddy bear and comes back for it.
So, what version have you heard?
P.S. I was shocked- shocked- to hear that one of my brothers had never heard this classical gem of American doggerel. Kids these days.
This is so weird! I was thinking about this very thing, like, two days ago! The other night, my husband was snacking on some peanuts in bed, and the next day we were changing the sheets. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my husband pick something off the floor and pop it into his mouth, and yes, it was a peanut. I started to sing the song, and he had never heard it! I swear, the deficiencies of American education…
Anyway, I started trying to remember how the whole thing went, and I couldn’t come up with the right words, but the story as I know it goes: found a peanut, got sick, called the doctor, he said I wouldn’t die, died anyway, went to heaven, couldn’t get in, went to hell, couldn’t get in, went back to Earth, found a peanut.
As I learned it, the tune used was Clementine, and a typical verse went like this:
Found a peanut, found a peanut, found a peanut ju-ust now
Ju-ust now I found a peanut, found a peanut just now
It was rotten, it was rotten, it was rotten ju-ust now
Ju-ust now it was rotten, it was rotten just now
My mom was notorious for teaching my siblings and I expurgated versions of such ditties (“Whistle while you work, Hitler is a jerk, Number Nine is Frankenstein”), so I don’t know if her “went the other place” reference to the hellish journey was standard or not.
Total hijack, but I had to get this off my chest: I’ve been looking for Hawaiian music for a luau we’re holding soon, and now every time I see the name “Malleus, Incus, Stapes!”, I sing it to the tune of “Mele Kalikimaka”.
“Malleus Incus Stapes is Hawaii’s way
To say ‘Merry Christmas’ to you…”