# Scots Song/Poem. Identify, please. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 1, 2003, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-song-poem-identify-please/179009 "2003-06-01T22:06:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-song-poem-identify-please/179009/21 "2003-06-04T20:42:08Z")
FOks - if I click on one of the links above - would it play me the tune? Reason for asking is that my tiney old comp tends to freak out and disconnect if asked to play music, and I am chatting to 2 friedn just now and don’t want cut off. But I coudl try in a little while. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-song-poem-identify-please/179009/22 "2003-06-04T20:43:50Z")
eeek - that should have started off as “Folks…” OH well , could have been worse:( ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-song-poem-identify-please/179009/23 "2003-06-04T20:51:40Z")
eeek - that should have started off as “Folks…” OH well , could have been worse:( ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-song-poem-identify-please/179009/24 "2003-06-06T14:37:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Skott \* > \*\*Special features are sparse, only line art and previews. However, on recommendation of some site that I read the other day, I turned on subtitles, both to transcribe and to see the difference between the words used to match the mouths and the actual translation. > > Fujiko sings: > > Mother father please believe me > Every word is true > I just glimped a beast with two backs > through the foggy dew > I fear it swallowed Jack and Susie > For I heard the … > > While the subtitles say: > > A boy and a girl in a wheat field > smooching around, isn’t that cute? > Though I have no lover… \*\* Either the English lyrics may have been commissioned for the dub or (IMO more likely) provided from an existing piece, original or no, from some 3rd-party who does “traditional” style – say, a musician friendly with the producer. In various anime discussion boards, there has been much whining about the Lupin-III TV dub taking some major license in order to have the dialogue match the visuals AND make sense/be funny to American audiences. In this case, turning it into a pseudo-traditional Scots piece is a good call, given the setting. What we may need to ever figure it out is to find an Otaku Doper With No Life 😉 who will track down the production team (at the studio or a Con) and ask them. And **Bosda** , you lucky git… getting taken in by Fujiko… Yep, there’s a character I wouldn’t mind getting ripped off by and left by the side of the road 😃 ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-song-poem-identify-please/179009/25 "2003-06-06T17:40:45Z")
Well the melody is from “Comin’ Through The Rye”. Maybe that’s why it seemed so familar? Just a WAG. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-song-poem-identify-please/179009/26 "2003-06-06T20:26:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sugaree \* > **If the song is specifically about the Loch Ness monster, it’s not a folk song; it’s twentieth century.** I’m sorry, do you mean that if a song is from the 2oth century it’s _not_ a folk song? If so, I disagree. Are you saying that if it’s a song about _Nessie_ it’s not a folk song? If so then I sound silly, but I still disagree. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-song-poem-identify-please/179009/27 "2003-06-06T20:34:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by furryman \* > \*\*Well the melody is from “Comin’ Through The Rye”. Maybe that’s why it seemed so familar? Just a WAG. \*\* OK! GREAT! Now…_are there words to the tune?_ ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-song-poem-identify-please/179009/28 "2003-06-06T20:46:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sugaree \* > **If the song is specifically about the Loch Ness monster, it’s not a folk song; it’s twentieth century.** I’m sorry, do you mean that if a song is from the 2oth century it’s _not_ a folk song? If so, I disagree. Are you saying that if it’s a song about _Nessie_ it’s not a folk song? If so then I feel silly, but I still disagree. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2003, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-song-poem-identify-please/179009/29 "2003-06-06T21:53:42Z")
I have no idea if this is what you heard, but … [Comin’ Thru The Rye](http://ingeb.org/songs/rye.html) ---
**Author:** ![lachesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@lachesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lachesis)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-song-poem-identify-please/179009/30 "2003-06-09T18:40:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Skott \* > \*\*Fujiko sings: > > Mother father please believe me > Every word is true > I just glimped a beast with two backs > through the foggy dew > I fear it swallowed Jack and Susie > For I heard the … > > While the subtitles say: > > A boy and a girl in a wheat field > smooching around, isn’t that cute? > Though I have no lover… \*\* um, am i missing the part when everyone else finally “gets it”? if the tune is indeed “Comin’ Through the Rye”, then this may be a Engrish attempt at updating old semi-bawdy verses. the “beast with two backs” is a very old euphemism for two people, erm, ‘doing the nasty’. (think of what is actually visible when they are heavily interlocked.) that explains the following mention of Jack and Susie apparently disappearing, yet she can still hear their cries. (obviously a rousing session going on.) so Nessie is nowhere in the picture on this one. showing the shores of the Lock may have been a nod to good ol’ Robbie Burns. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-song-poem-identify-please/179009/31 "2003-06-09T19:15:34Z")
I just assumed that everyone else got the fact that the song had nothing to do with Nessie as soon as I posted my version of the lyrics–I was a little off, but I got the “beast with two backs” in there. It’s an old tradition to set new lyrics, often bawdy, to old tunes. I just don’t know if this is something they tossed together for the show, or if it’s a fragment of song that was already around. If these particular lyrics predate the show, I haven’t seen/heard them anywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-song-poem-identify-please/179009/32 "2003-06-16T12:39:19Z")
Seeks The Nessie, Walks by Nessie, Strolling through the Sea. Can’t find Nessie, Won’t Find Nessie, Why not let things be? Missing Nessie, Absent Nessie, How will he not drown? Long Lost Nessie, Mythic Nessie, How will he go pee? [http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s880259.htm](http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s880259.htm) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-song-poem-identify-please/179009/33 "2003-06-16T14:44:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BMalion \* > \*\*I’m sorry, do you mean that if a song is from the 2oth century it’s _not_ a folk song? If so, I disagree. > > Are you saying that if it’s a song about _Nessie_ it’s not a folk song? If so then I sound silly, but I still disagree. \*\* Okay, let me rephrase that: if it is about Nessie, it is not a _traditional_ song, where the identity of the original songwriter or songwriters is lost in the midst of history, and variations of the song may or may not exist. You know, when it is written down, credit is simply given to “traditional” or “anonymous.” If it is about Nessie, it is a 20th century song, and it should be possible to name the creators. I was using [the first dictionary definition of folk music given here](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=folk%20music) (think “Froggie Went A-Courtin”), not the second (think Woody Guthrie). But, since the lyrics aren’t about Nessie anyway, the point is moot. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-song-poem-identify-please/179009/34 "2003-10-10T13:09:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Balance \* > \*\*IIRC, the lyrics Fujiko sang were: > > Mother, Father please believe me, > Every word is true. > I saw a beast with two backs > Through the foggy dew. > > It must have swallowed Jack and Susie > For I heard their cries… > > I don’t think either Fujiko or Lupin ever got past that point in the song–possibly no more lyrics exist. I haven’t been able to find them on any of the folk/filk/parody sites. > > Maybe I’ll finish them. It would make a good, rude (but innocent-sounding) song to sing at a Faire. 🙂 \*\* Dear **Balance** – Did you ever finish the song? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scots-song-poem-identify-please/179009.md?page=1)