# Relatively Unknown Later Verses to Well-Known Songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 29, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relatively-unknown-later-verses-to-well-known-songs/413598 "2007-07-29T17:12:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relatively-unknown-later-verses-to-well-known-songs/413598/21 "2007-07-30T21:01:21Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] Isaac Asimov wrote an article on the Star-Spangled Banner, including its relatively unknown later verses. [/QUOTE] The article I read was in “Reader’s Digest” back in the late 80s/early 90s. In it, he includes background information on the unknown verses. But that’s not all: Part of the article he mentions how he occasionally brings up the other verses and the background when he is called to speak at public functions. He said that he _sings_ the “Star Spangled Banner.” All verses. Having heard Asimov speak, I can only imagine what the dulcet tones of a singing Isaac must have been like. :eek: Wonder if any of them were recorded for posterity. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2007, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relatively-unknown-later-verses-to-well-known-songs/413598/22 "2007-07-30T21:07:11Z")
A verse not recorded on the studio take of this song is: _Now the years are rolling by me, they are rocking even me, I am older than I once was, and younger than I’ll be, that’s not unusual. No it isn’t strange, after changes upon changes, we are more or less the same, After changes we are more or less the same._ ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relatively-unknown-later-verses-to-well-known-songs/413598/23 "2007-07-31T03:17:00Z")
I still remember a few little-known verses I saw in my mom’s high school yearbook from the 1930s (and that would make me _how_ old? never mind) - don’t know how legitimate these are: [sung to I’ve Been Working On the Railroad] Someone’s making love to Dinah, Someone’s making love, I know. Someone’s making love to Dinah, 'cause I don’t hear the old banjo. // [sung to Bicycle Built for Two] John, John, here is your answer true. I’m not crazy over the likes of you. If you can’t afford a carriage, call off your goddam marriage 'Cause I’ll be damned if I’ll be jammed on a bicycle built for two. // [sung to My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean] My breakfast lies over the ocean, My supper lies over the rail. My dinner lies in great commotion - Won’t somebody bring me a pail? {chorus}… Last night as I lay on my pillow, Last night as I lay on my bed I stuck both my feet out the window; next morning my neighbors were dead. // Okay, maybe not legit, but still cute. ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relatively-unknown-later-verses-to-well-known-songs/413598/24 "2007-07-31T03:56:02Z")
[QUOTE=Boulter’s Canary] A good way to commit suicide is to sing the sixth verse of the British national anthem in a Glasgow pub on a Saturday night: - _Lord grant that Marshal Wade May by thy mighty aid Victory bring. May he sedition hush, And like a torrent rush, Rebellious Scots to crush. God save the Queen!_ [/QUOTE] The Australian National Anthem has a similarly amusing if less bloodthirsty second verse, rarely sung: When gallant Cook from Albion sail’d, To trace wide oceans o’er, True British courage bore him on, Till he landed on our shore. Then here he raised Old England’s flag, The standard of the brave; With all her faults we love her still, “Britannia rules the wave!” In joyful strains then let us sing “Advance Australia fair!” If I recall correctly it’s rarely sung because verses one and three are technically the anthem, the rest just hangs around. But you know, with all jolly old England’s faults, we love her still. Even if she is off crushing Scots. ---
**Author:** ![Mbossa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Mbossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mbossa)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relatively-unknown-later-verses-to-well-known-songs/413598/25 "2007-07-31T05:29:39Z")
Dire Straits’ _Money for Nothing_ has a verse that rarely gets played. [According to Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_for_Nothing_(song)), the verse was cut from the radio edit, video edit, single, and Best Of album, so many people probably don’t know it exists. > [@](#): > > See the little faggot with the earring and the makeup > Yeah buddy that’s his own hair > That little faggot got his own jet airplane > That little faggot he’s a millionaire > > We gotta install microwave ovens… ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relatively-unknown-later-verses-to-well-known-songs/413598/26 "2007-07-31T12:23:35Z")
Most people don’t know anything beyond the first verse of Dirty Old Town by Ewan MacColl. For example, _Clouds are drifting across the moon Cats are prowling on their beat Springs a girl in the street at night_ _Dirty Old Town, Dirty Old Town!_ Most people don’t know beyond the first verse of various popular Irish ballads including, I’ve Been a Wild Rover, The Black Velvet Band and countless others. Just sing the chorus a few times and you’ll be all right. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relatively-unknown-later-verses-to-well-known-songs/413598/27 "2007-07-31T14:15:44Z")
[QUOTE=Mbossa] Dire Straits’ _Money for Nothing_ has a verse that rarely gets played. [According to Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_for_Nothing_(song)), the verse was cut from the radio edit, video edit, single, and Best Of album, so many people probably don’t know it exists. [/QUOTE] When it was new, I heard it all the time on the radio & the TV. There was controversy but it was shrugged off with the defense “That’s the POV of the working men in this song, not the POV of the band.” ---
**Author:** ![xnylder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbce88/32.png) [@xnylder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xnylder)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relatively-unknown-later-verses-to-well-known-songs/413598/28 "2007-07-31T15:33:24Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] I think numerous Christmas carols would fall into this category. [/QUOTE] My favorite being “What Child is This”. [QUOTE=The Forgotten Verse] Why lies He in such mean estate, Where ox and ass are feeding? Good Christians, fear, for sinners here The silent Word is pleading. Nails, spear shall pierce Him through, The cross be borne for me, for you. Hail, hail the Word made flesh, The Babe, the Son of Mary. [/QUOTE] (From [The Cyber Hymnal](http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/w/h/whatcist.htm).) Yes, let’s put a little reminder of Christ’s violent death into this lovely song celebrating His birth! I’ve only heard this verse sung once, and that was at a private Catholic school holiday mass. It fit right in with the ambient guilt quotient, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relatively-unknown-later-verses-to-well-known-songs/413598/29 "2007-07-31T17:30:24Z")
We Three Kings, too. If you go to a church that stops after three verses, you’re ending with: Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume Breathes a life of gathering gloom; Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, Sealed in the stone cold tomb. Happy Christmas! Actually it makes sense in the symbolism of the three gifts, but still. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relatively-unknown-later-verses-to-well-known-songs/413598/30 "2007-07-31T17:52:09Z")
[QUOTE=xnylder] My favorite being “What Child is This”. Quote: Originally Posted by The Forgotten Verse Why lies He in such mean estate, Where ox and ass are feeding? Good Christians, fear, for sinners here The silent Word is pleading. Nails, spear shall pierce Him through, The cross be borne for me, for you. Hail, hail the Word made flesh, The Babe, the Son of Mary. (From [The Cyber Hymnal](http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/w/h/whatcist.htm).) Yes, let’s put a little reminder of Christ’s violent death into this lovely song celebrating His birth! I’ve only heard this verse sung once, and that was at a private Catholic school holiday mass. It fit right in with the ambient guilt quotient, IMHO. [/QUOTE] I love that verse actually- it puts Christmas in context. Many hymnals just follow “The silent Word is pleading” with “This, this is Christ the King…”- even the one we use in my Assembly of God, and we are not at all squeamish about “Blood” hymns. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relatively-unknown-later-verses-to-well-known-songs/413598/31 "2007-07-31T18:05:45Z")
[QUOTE=Eonwe] A verse not recorded on the studio take of this song is: _Now the years are rolling by me, they are rocking even me,_ [/QUOTE] I thought that was “rocking evenly.” It’s Simon & Garfunkel, “The Boxer.” Reminds me of this one, which is found in the sheet music (and some live performances), but not the record: She said I’m home on shore leave Though in truth we were at sea So I took her by the looking glass And forced her to agree Saying you must be the mermaid Who took Neptune for a ride But she smiled at me so sadly That my anger straight’way died And so it was that later As the miller told his tale That her face at first just ghostly Turned a whiter shade of pale. (There is also another, even more obscure, “lost” verse to this song.) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relatively-unknown-later-verses-to-well-known-songs/413598/32 "2007-07-31T18:30:23Z")
[QUOTE=Biffy the Elephant Shrew] I thought that was “rocking evenly.” It’s Simon & Garfunkel, “The Boxer.” [/QUOTE] I thought it was “rocking endlessly” which I think makes more sense. (Life is not even, but seems endless). ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relatively-unknown-later-verses-to-well-known-songs/413598/33 "2007-07-31T18:43:40Z")
How about a tune that most people would recognize, but very few people know that it even has words. I give you the _Star Trek_ theme (TOS): Beyond the rim of the starlight, my love is wandring in star flight. I know he’ll find In star clustered reaches Love, strange love A star woman teaches. I know his journey ends never. His Star Trek will go on forever. But tell him while He wanders his starry sea, Remember, Remember me. These lyrics were written by Gene Roddenberry, the creator of _Star Trek_, allegedly for the sole purpose of getting royalties every time the theme song was performed. AFAIK it has never been recorded or publicly performed with the lyrics. ETA: I know we’re not supposed to post complete lyrics, but this one is so short I couldn’t really excerpt it in any meaningful fashion. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relatively-unknown-later-verses-to-well-known-songs/413598/34 "2007-07-31T18:48:15Z")
Generations of children have passed on the chorus “He flew the air with the greatest of ease, The daring young man on the flying trapeze” to their younger friends and siblings, but one hardly ever hears the entire song. Unless, that is, they’ve just been watching the 1934 classic, _It Happened One Night_, where the song is performed in full, in the back of a Greyhound bus, by a guitarist and violinist, with vocals. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relatively-unknown-later-verses-to-well-known-songs/413598/35 "2007-07-31T19:44:17Z")
From “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear,” this verse is actually not at all contrary to the spirit of Christmas, but you hardly ever hear it: > [@](#): > > Yet with the woes of sin and strife > The world has suffered long; > Beneath the angel-strain have rolled > Two thousand years of wrong; > And man, at war with man, hears not > The love-song that they bring; > O hush the noise, ye men of strife, > And hear the angels sing. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relatively-unknown-later-verses-to-well-known-songs/413598/36 "2007-07-31T20:32:27Z")
Hy Zaret’s _[Unchained Melody](http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/unchained.htm)_, as originally written for the movie _Unchained_, included the seldom-heard verse: > [@](#): > > Lonely mountains gaze > at the stars, at the stars, > Waiting for the dawn of the day. > All alone, I gaze > at the stars, at the stars, > Dreaming of my love far away. The Righteous Brothers and most subsequent performers left out the extra verse. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relatively-unknown-later-verses-to-well-known-songs/413598/37 "2007-07-31T20:39:31Z")
I’m just a good ol’ boy You know my momma loves me but she can’t understand why they’re showing my hands and not my face on tv Good Ol’ Boys (theme from the Dukes of Hazzard), by Wayon Jennings ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relatively-unknown-later-verses-to-well-known-songs/413598/38 "2007-07-31T20:57:29Z")
[QUOTE=Biffy the Elephant Shrew] I thought that was “rocking evenly.” It’s Simon & Garfunkel, “The Boxer.” Reminds me of this one, which is found in the sheet music (and some live performances), but not the record: She said I’m home on shore leave Though in truth we were at sea So I took her by the looking glass And forced her to agree Saying you must be the mermaid Who took Neptune for a ride But she smiled at me so sadly That my anger straight’way died And so it was that later As the miller told his tale That her face at first just ghostly Turned a whiter shade of pale. (There is also another, even more obscure, “lost” verse to this song.) [/QUOTE] I quote this one, because I’m wondering (slightly off-topic) if anyone knows where the heck I can -find- the full version of the song? A friend of mine has been looking for it -forever-. The song I was going to add, though, was ‘The Thunder Rolls’ by Garth Brooks. The radio edit stops at the discovery of the infidelity. The live version goes into the… Reprocussions of it. And the thunder rolls. Last verse is positively chilling… She runs back down the hallway To the bedroom door She reaches for the pistol Kept in the dresser drawer Tells the lady in the mirror He won’t do this again Cause tonight will be the last time She’ll wonder where he’s been ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relatively-unknown-later-verses-to-well-known-songs/413598/39 "2007-07-31T21:41:20Z")
[QUOTE=ArrMatey!] I quote this one, because I’m wondering (slightly off-topic) if anyone knows where the heck I can -find- the full version of the song? A friend of mine has been looking for it -forever-. [/QUOTE] All releases worldwide of the studio recording are the two-verse version. The three-verse version can be heard on the _Live at the Union Chapel_ DVD. The four-verse version has never been recorded AFAIK. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2007, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relatively-unknown-later-verses-to-well-known-songs/413598/40 "2007-07-31T22:15:18Z")
[QUOTE=Freddy the Pig] _White Christmas_–We nitpicky types hate the reference to “Beverly Hills, L.A.” because Beverly Hills isn’t part of L.A. [/QUOTE] It’s part of L.A. County. 🙂 Here’s the last verse to Little Rabbit Fru Fru (which I suspect my kindergarten teacher just made up). It tells the story of what happened to Fru Fru after the good fairy turned him into a “goo” for the crime of bopping field mice on the head over three successive days: \*\* And the next day … Little Gooey Fru Fru Hopping through the forest Picking up the field mice And bopping them on the head The good fairy came down, and she said: “I give up!” \*\* [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relatively-unknown-later-verses-to-well-known-songs/413598.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/relatively-unknown-later-verses-to-well-known-songs/413598.md?page=3)