# History of the "Oh roll your leg over" song(NSFW before you google unaware) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 18, 2018, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-oh-roll-your-leg-over-song-nsfw-before-you-google-unaware/824725 "2018-11-18T07:34:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-oh-roll-your-leg-over-song-nsfw-before-you-google-unaware/824725/1 "2018-11-18T07:34:48Z")
I was digging though some old boxes starting to prepare before I possibly have to move. I came across an old bootleg tape I made at Lake Mishawaka in the Poudre canyon decades ago. On it was that old bawdy classic “Oh roll your leg over”. About 40 verses no clue who the artist was. That brought back a whole bunch of memories of that night, and many since then when I have heard that ol’ tune. I was curious of the origin of the song, but A bit of Googling didn’t bring much enlightenment. And I have just decided to create a poll of whether you know of the song or not. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-oh-roll-your-leg-over-song-nsfw-before-you-google-unaware/824725/2 "2018-11-18T07:35:45Z")
Nope, never heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-oh-roll-your-leg-over-song-nsfw-before-you-google-unaware/824725/3 "2018-11-18T18:29:39Z")
I think I saw it in a fanfic. At least, I read a fanfic in which a character was singing a drinking song with “roll your leg over” as the refrain. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-oh-roll-your-leg-over-song-nsfw-before-you-google-unaware/824725/4 "2018-11-18T23:23:04Z")
We sang it back in high school, early-mid 1970’s. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-oh-roll-your-leg-over-song-nsfw-before-you-google-unaware/824725/5 "2018-11-18T23:30:17Z")
Mudcat Cafe has the lyrics and discussion here: [mudcat.org: Lyr Req: roll your leg over](https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=27) and [mudcat.org: Lyr Add: Roll Your Leg Over](https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=5502) I didn’t know it. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-oh-roll-your-leg-over-song-nsfw-before-you-google-unaware/824725/6 "2018-11-18T23:35:44Z")
I know it as a [John Valby](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Valby) song. [Here’s a video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM4ek6ilwNM) of him performing it. I saw him a few times in the 90s, but I think he’s been doing his Dr. Dirty act since the 70s. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2018, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-oh-roll-your-leg-over-song-nsfw-before-you-google-unaware/824725/7 "2018-11-19T07:22:24Z")
I’m not sure how to answer. I have a vague memory of a song on one of my dad’s old records from the 1960s - one of those military folk song albums (Though not Barry Sadler’s “Ballads of the Green Berets”). When I saw the thread title, I read, “Roll your leg over”, and mentally filled in “… the man in the moon”. So … I dunno. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Me](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mr.Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Me)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2018, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-oh-roll-your-leg-over-song-nsfw-before-you-google-unaware/824725/8 "2018-11-19T13:51:29Z")
I first heard it from [Iris & Rose](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1_JnTA5Hpg). They perform all manner of bawdy tunes at Renaissance faires, quite an entertaining pair. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2018, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-of-the-oh-roll-your-leg-over-song-nsfw-before-you-google-unaware/824725/9 "2018-11-19T14:51:33Z")
I know it from John Valby. Long story short, I started [hashing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_House_Harriers) in Istanbul while I was stationed in Turkey (90-91) and the song was known among the hashers. My sergeant major had a cassette of one of Valby’s performances and copied it for me. I’ve heard two different choruses, one is “Roll your leg over, roll your leg over, roll your leg over, the man in the moon” and the other is “Roll your leg over, roll your leg over, roll your leg over, and F\*\*\* me 'til dawn.” There was also a cadence that had similar verses but a different “chorus” which was “hey hey Baba Reba, hey hey pass the refer.” I know that I heard the cadence version a few months before hearing Valby’s version. > [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > Mudcat Cafe has the lyrics and discussion here: [mudcat.org: Lyr Req: roll your leg over](https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=27) and [mudcat.org: Lyr Add: Roll Your Leg Over](https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=5502) In a “The Internet is a small world” moment, the links provided by the good \*\*Prof \*\* here mention hashing and have comments from a man named **Zippy the Cyberpimp** , who I knew through hashing and had met a few times in the 90s. Sadly, he is no longer with us.