Lyrics to Hello Operator, Gimme Number Nine

[dada2fish]

We knew most of those in 1970’s Detroit too. We used the name Lucy instead of Suzi. Does anyone also remember this one?

"Miss Lucy had a baby, she named him Tiny Tim.
She put him in the bathtub, to see if he could swim.
He drank up all the water, he ate up all the soap.
He tried to eat the bathtub, but it wouldn’t go down his throat.
Miss Lucy called the doctor, the doctor called the nurse,
The nurse called the lady with the alligator purse …

andI forgot the rest. There was different endings, I’m sure.

[Andy_L]

@Sagasumono

Anyone remember “Eddie-cuchie-catchie-canna-toss-a-nara-toss-a-noka-samma-kmma-wacky-brown” and about how he fell int the well and subsequently drowned to death?

That’s the one where everyone who is asking for help in rescuing Eddie-and-so-on is required to mention Eddie’s full name which of course takes so much time, that Eddie drowns before help can arrive, right?

P.S. The way I heard it, “Susie had a boyfriend, boyfriend had a truck, Susie liked to shift the gears” while her boyfriend preferred other activities…

[Kimstu]

@Sagasumono

Anyone remember “Eddie-cuchie-catchie-canna-toss-a-nara-toss-a-noka-samma-kmma-wacky-brown” and about how he fell int the well and subsequently drowned to death?

What? That was “Tiki-tiki-tembo-no-sarembo-cheri-beri-richi-pip-peri-pembo”,* who against all expectation was in fact Chinese, and had a younger brother named Chang.

Chang was the first to fall into the well, but they rescued him expeditiously because they ran to the Old Man with the Ladder and told him Chang had fallen into the well, so he brought his ladder and got Chang out.

However, when Tiki-tiki-tembo-no-sarembo-cheri-beri-richi-pip-peri-pembo fell into the well, it took so long to tell the Old Man with the Ladder that Tiki-tiki-tembo-no-sarembo-cheri-beri-richi-pip-peri-pembo had fallen into the well that the poor boy nearly drowned before they finally came to rescue him.

• Not to be confused with Rikki-tikki-tavi the mongoose in the Kipling story.

[Bad_News_Baboon]

@Sagasumono

Cadbury, that is quite curious. Could this song be a parallel to religion?

I am from the Southwest (Texas) and the song patter is the same with the exceptions

-The girls name is Lucy instead of Susie

-"Hello…Number 9…if you disconnect me, I’ll KICK you from

-“Behind the refrigerator…piece of glass…Lucy sat upon it, and cut her little”

-“Ask me no more questons…lies…Lucy’s in the bathroom, kissing all the guys!”

Intresting.Actullay I meant to make a thread about Nursery Rhymes and how strangely sad and evil some can be. Anyone remember “Eddie-cuchie-catchie-canna-toss-a-nara-toss-a-noka-samma-kmma-wacky-brown” and about how he fell int the well and subsequently drowned to death?

I grew up in west Texas and we had Susie. It would be interesting to see how this was on a map, much like they have done for soda/pop/Coke.

[Melbourne]

@j.c

That sounds like a “Little Willy.” And what is a Little Willy? The particular bland of black humor, according to my memory and the more reliable Norton Book of Light Verse, it is this: “a comic verse form, … identified by its content, the gruesome fate of “Little Willy” or a comparable figure.”

Many are collected in "“Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes,” by Harry Graham. You can also find them in turn of the century newspapers and magazines. (Graham was born in the 187os.) Here are some samples of his work:

The wonders of the internet. I think my c1970s copy of the Oxford book of quotations (which I can’t find at the moemnt) had “Little Willie from the Mirror.”… as anonymous

[Mj18]

Wow, I’m from St. Louis and our version in the 70s was way different, especially the end! (The one from leafrog was the only close one, except ours had a morbid last line…)

Miss Susie had a steamboat
The steamboat had a bell
Miss Susie went to heaven
The steamboat went to
Hello operator
Give me number nine
And if you disconnect me
I’ll shoot you in the
Behind the 'frigerator
There was a piece of glass
Miss Susie slipped upon it
And brioke her in the
Ask me no more questions
Tell me no more lies
And if you disobey me
I’ll shoot you 'tween the eyes!

[Serenata67]

@CadburyAngel

A variant on the lyrics:

…
The boys are in the bathroom, zipping up their
Flies are in the meadow, bees are in the park.
Miss Susie and her boyfriend are kissing in the
D-A-R-K, D-A-R-K, dark, dark, dark!
…

This was the version that I grew up with, but there was a rather racist final stanza that some of the other kids said. Even as a kid, it didn’t sit well with me, so I never sang it.