# The Batmobile lost a wheel, and .... ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 23, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-batmobile-lost-a-wheel-and/607204 "2011-12-23T18:35:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-batmobile-lost-a-wheel-and/607204/1 "2011-12-23T18:35:00Z")
A companion to the thread about different mutations of altered children’s lyrics to “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”: the variations on “Jingle Bells”. As I recall from childhood, \* Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg The Batmobile lost a wheel, and the Joker got away!\* I’ve read of different versions where instead of the Joker getting away, “the Commissioner broke his leg” (which seems awfully dark). My own kids, in elementary school right now, have inexplicably picked up this variation which MAKES NO SENSE: \* Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin laid a gun Shot a bee and made it pee in 1981! \*Laid a gun? The whole point was that “robin” is the name of a kind of bird, ha ha, that lays eggs. And of course, the Joker always seems to get away. And made a bee pee in 1981? Bees do not now and never have “peed”, and listen missy, I could tell you about 1981, and it never happened like that! Why, back in 1981, gasoline was so expensive, it cost a dollar a gallon! I mean, that’s not a lot at all now, I’d kill for a dollar a gallon for gas, but back then it was like ridiculous! And there was this guy named Reagan who got elected partly because the previous President admitted to being attacked by a swimming rabbit! There used to be a phone booth on the corner of our block, too - you ever see a phone booth? Like where Superman changes clothes? Oh, you don’t know about that do you. Well you see, — _snore_ ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-batmobile-lost-a-wheel-and/607204/2 "2011-12-23T18:41:35Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > A companion to the thread about different mutations of altered children’s lyrics to “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”: the variations on “Jingle Bells”. > > As I recall from childhood, > \* > Jingle Bells, Batman smells, > Robin laid an egg > The Batmobile lost a wheel, > and the Joker got away!\* > > I’ve read of different versions where instead of the Joker getting away, “the Commissioner broke his leg” (which seems awfully dark). Dark? - when I was a boy, it was “And the Commissioner is Dead” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-batmobile-lost-a-wheel-and/607204/3 "2011-12-23T18:44:41Z")
… and now they can-not peel! (as in “peel away”) ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-batmobile-lost-a-wheel-and/607204/4 "2011-12-23T18:48:56Z")
For us, it was …“and the Commissioner broke his leg.” ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-batmobile-lost-a-wheel-and/607204/5 "2011-12-23T18:54:21Z")
“Joker got away” for me. No bee pee. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-batmobile-lost-a-wheel-and/607204/6 "2011-12-23T18:55:00Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > For us, it was …“and the Commissioner broke his leg.” Which I only now just realized after all these years, actually rhymes with Robin laying an egg. Huh. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-batmobile-lost-a-wheel-and/607204/7 "2011-12-23T18:55:18Z")
“Commissioner broke his leg” was the variant when I first heard it, circa 1977. I don’t think I heard “Joker got away” until the first _Simpsons_ episode, which was originally broadcast in 1989, but which I probably first saw in '91 or '92. But bees don’t pee? Really? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-batmobile-lost-a-wheel-and/607204/8 "2011-12-23T18:57:15Z")
“Joker got away” is the version I’m familiar with, pre-Simpsons. I would estimate having first heard it circa 1984. ETA: I have never heard any of the other variants. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-batmobile-lost-a-wheel-and/607204/9 "2011-12-23T19:03:00Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Dark? - when I was a boy, it was “And the Commissioner is Dead” and I should provide a date - let’s say 1974… both the Commissioner version and the “Joker got away” version were in common use. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-batmobile-lost-a-wheel-and/607204/10 "2011-12-23T19:03:51Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > But bees don’t pee? Really? Well, putting on my thinking cap for a second - they surely secrete waste, and probably some kind of liquid is involved, but “peeing” as we know it involves expelling a stream of liquid and it seems to me that insects lack the internal pressure to do so. And OMG, entering “do bees pee?” in Google yields the fact that this is on a list of pollinator related FAQs. [See Question 12…](http://www.pollinatorparadise.com/solitary_bees/FAQ.htm) The given answer: > [@](#): > > Insects that live on land usually need to save or conserve water in their bodies to prevent themselves from drying out. They cannot afford to lose much water when they eliminate wastes from their bodies and thus do not urinate. They eliminate a waste called uric acid that doesn’t contain much water. … > [FONT=Arial] > > Insects produce their wastes with organs called Malpighian (_mal-pig-he-in_) tubules (named after a man named Malpighi). … Uric acid and ammonia are dumped into the insects’ hind gut and mixed with other waste products instead of traveling out the body through a separate tube, as urine does. [/FONT] So no, no peeing for bees. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-batmobile-lost-a-wheel-and/607204/11 "2011-12-23T19:26:01Z")
“Joker got away” is what I heard when I was child of the 60’s. Seems like Alfred breaking his leg (less syllables than “The Commissioner”) makes more since. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-batmobile-lost-a-wheel-and/607204/12 "2011-12-23T19:30:54Z")
“Joker got away” for me, however my son has been hearing from school “Joker did ballet”. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-batmobile-lost-a-wheel-and/607204/13 "2011-12-23T19:37:33Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > “Joker got away” for me, however my son has been hearing from school “Joker did ballet”. Also rhymes, and frankly a pleasantly disturbing image 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-batmobile-lost-a-wheel-and/607204/14 "2011-12-23T19:38:14Z")
ballet for me, as a child of the 90’s. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-batmobile-lost-a-wheel-and/607204/15 "2011-12-23T19:38:42Z")
Oh, and my daughter has just “corrected” me and said it’s not a bee that gets shot and pees, it’s a TREE. Which if possible makes even less sense. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-batmobile-lost-a-wheel-and/607204/16 "2011-12-23T19:39:50Z")
“The Joker got away.” I had no idea this parody was Dadaist, but it seems to be getting weirder and weirder over the decades. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-batmobile-lost-a-wheel-and/607204/17 "2011-12-23T19:45:34Z")
Robin laid an egg Joker got away- Hey! Was how we sang it, mid 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-batmobile-lost-a-wheel-and/607204/18 "2011-12-23T19:54:50Z")
Circa 1967, I heard “the Commisioner’s eating hay”–which made no sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-batmobile-lost-a-wheel-and/607204/19 "2011-12-23T19:59:22Z")
“Joker got away,” in my neighbourhood back in the 60s. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-batmobile-lost-a-wheel-and/607204/20 "2011-12-23T20:33:54Z")
In the 70s, the first version I heard had _and the commissioner ran away_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-batmobile-lost-a-wheel-and/607204.md?page=2)