# Uh...I always thought it went "bees do it, birds do it..."
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-i-always-thought-it-went-bees-do-it-birds-do-it/344438
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 14, 2006, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-i-always-thought-it-went-bees-do-it-birds-do-it/344438 "2006-02-14T13:11:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-i-always-thought-it-went-bees-do-it-birds-do-it/344438/1 "2006-02-14T13:11:44Z")
They were playing “Let’s Do It” on the Broadway station this morning, and the opening line was “Well, Chinks do it, Japs do it”. WTF?
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-i-always-thought-it-went-bees-do-it-birds-do-it/344438/2 "2006-02-14T13:29:50Z")
Original lyrics. It was before the days of PC.
“Chinks do it, Japs do it, up in Lapland even Lapps do it…”
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### Author:  [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-i-always-thought-it-went-bees-do-it-birds-do-it/344438/3 "2006-02-14T13:32:56Z")
No, it was definitely “Birds do it, bees do it/even educated fleas do it”, but there have been as many versions of this as of the Lord High Executioner’s “little list” song.
“Teenagers _squeezed_ into jeans do it/Probably we’ll live to see machines do it…” 😃
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-i-always-thought-it-went-bees-do-it-birds-do-it/344438/4 "2006-02-14T14:28:30Z")
Well, I have a version by Rudy Vallee that doesn’t get to “Birds do it,” until about 2/3rds of the way through, and it does start out with “Japs do it.” Later versions seem to have dropped the verse or moved it to the end, and put “Birds do it” as the first verse. But it’s clear from the [transcribed lyrics](http://tinyurl.com/9x89t) that “Japs” was intended: the next three verses involve nationalities.
Of course, things were different then, and I don’t know if “Jap” was pejorative prior to WWII\*. The lyrics do not have “Chinks do it,” however; it seems to be “In old Japan, all the Japs do it.”
\*The OED seems to confirm this.
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-i-always-thought-it-went-bees-do-it-birds-do-it/344438/5 "2006-02-14T14:35:27Z")
[A history](http://www.yuppiesofzion.com/2004/08/lets_not_do_it.php) of the first verse changes.
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### Author:  [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-i-always-thought-it-went-bees-do-it-birds-do-it/344438/6 "2006-02-14T14:41:31Z")
> [@pizzabrat](#):
>
> “bees do it, birds do it…”
Even educated nerds do it. :eek:
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-i-always-thought-it-went-bees-do-it-birds-do-it/344438/7 "2006-02-14T18:30:52Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#):
>
> Even educated nerds do it. :eek:
We try, anyway.
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### Author:  [@Cynical\_Optimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cynical_Optimist)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-i-always-thought-it-went-bees-do-it-birds-do-it/344438/8 "2006-02-14T19:25:33Z")
Doesn’t suprise me at all that ditties has been made more PC over the decades. Until the lawsuit against Southwest a few years ago I never knew “Einey Meiney Miney Moe” even mentioned race, let alone dropped the “N Bomb”.
Throw in some of Dr Seuss’ editorial cartoons and it’s no wonder some older folks grew up with unfortunate expressions.
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### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-i-always-thought-it-went-bees-do-it-birds-do-it/344438/9 "2006-02-14T19:34:07Z")
Am I the only one who’s never even heard of it? Am I too young or something?
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-i-always-thought-it-went-bees-do-it-birds-do-it/344438/10 "2006-02-14T20:02:22Z")
> [@Anaamika](#):
>
> Am I the only one who’s never even heard of it? Am I too young or something?
Maybe so.
there was a home hair color commercial on TV some 25 years ago that used the tune:
_Blondes do it;
Reds do it;
Brunettes who wouldn’t be caught dead do it…_
Ring any bells?
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-i-always-thought-it-went-bees-do-it-birds-do-it/344438/11 "2006-02-14T20:08:20Z")
Who originally wrote this song and when?
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### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-i-always-thought-it-went-bees-do-it-birds-do-it/344438/12 "2006-02-14T20:10:00Z")
No, **kaylasdad** , but 25 years ago I was only 5 and wasn’t paying much attention to hair…I had just learned English as a matter of fact, within the last year.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-i-always-thought-it-went-bees-do-it-birds-do-it/344438/13 "2006-02-14T20:10:28Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#):
>
> Who originally wrote this song and when?
Cole Porter, 1928. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let's\_Do\_It%2C\_Let's\_Fall\_In\_Love](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let%27s_Do_It%2C_Let%27s_Fall_In_Love)
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2006, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-i-always-thought-it-went-bees-do-it-birds-do-it/344438/14 "2006-02-14T20:25:45Z")
And it wasn’t the only song of his to have lyrics we would consider questionable. [This blog](http://zvbxrpl.blogspot.com/2004/06/deservedly-unknown-cole-porter.html) cites several egregious examples from _The Complete Lyrics of Cole Porter_, including:
> [@](#):
>
> When the owl stops blinking
> And the lamb stops bleating,
> When the Irish cease drinking
> And the Scotch have begun treating…
> When the mad Duck Donald
> Gets over his crazy quirks,
> When Benito stops
> Giving the Wops the works…
> When the Chinks stop suey
> And the Tammany tiger stops Dewey,
> When it’s all over and through,
> That’s when Poppa stops loving you.
>
> (“When the Hen Stops Laying,” cut from _Leave it to Me_)
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### Author:  [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2006, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-i-always-thought-it-went-bees-do-it-birds-do-it/344438/15 "2006-02-15T00:16:51Z")
> [@](#):
>
> When the owl stops blinking
> And the lamb stops bleating,
> When the Irish cease drinking
> And the Scotch have begun treating…
> When the mad Duck Donald
> Gets over his crazy quirks,
> When Benito stops
> Giving the Wops the works…
> When the Chinks stop suey
> And the Tammany tiger stops Dewey,
> When it’s all over and through,
> That’s when Poppa stops loving you.
>
> (“When the Hen Stops Laying,” cut from Leave it to Me)
This really sounds like something out of _The Onion: Our Dumb Century_
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### Author:  [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2006, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-i-always-thought-it-went-bees-do-it-birds-do-it/344438/16 "2006-02-15T00:39:33Z")
Another “cleaned up” song is \*I get a Kick \* The original was “I get no kick from cocaine, flying too high with some guy in the sky is my idea of nothing to do.” At some point it was changed to “in a plane”
I had a Billy Holiday album with the original lyrics.
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### Author:  [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2006, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-i-always-thought-it-went-bees-do-it-birds-do-it/344438/17 "2006-02-15T00:54:33Z")
BTW, does anyone have a link to a lyrics site for very old music?
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-i-always-thought-it-went-bees-do-it-birds-do-it/344438/18 "2006-02-15T05:03:24Z")
> [@picunurse](#):
>
> Another “cleaned up” song is \*I get a Kick \* The original was “I get no kick from cocaine, flying too high with some guy in the sky is my idea of nothing to do.” At some point it was changed to “in a plane”
> I had a Billy Holiday album with the original lyrics.
When my sister was in 11th grade, the school musical was _Anything Goes_ (she had one of the leads). The girl who played Reno sang this song and they left the “get no kick from cocaine” lyric in. Amazing, isn’t it, when you consider how anal schools are about this sort of thing.
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### Author:  [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2006, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-i-always-thought-it-went-bees-do-it-birds-do-it/344438/19 "2006-02-15T05:50:18Z")
I’m surprised how many people on this thread and the links had never heard this original version of the song. The first time I heard the song was a great old Bing Crosby version that used the original opening. Like one of the links above mentions, the song makes more sense with the original lyrics, in spite of the un-pc\* words – each verse is supposed to cover different territory; with the birds and bees opening, you jump from animals to humans, only to go back to animals again later.
\*I say un-pc rather than racist, because I doubt it was intended to be racist – at least no more so than the references to any of the other nationalities.
> [@Anaamika](#):
>
> Am I the only one who’s never even heard of it? Am I too young or something?
I don’t think it has anything to do with age, unless you’re 80+ and heard it when it was first popular. I’m five years younger than you, but I wouldn’t expect most people our age to know the song. It’s just a matter of interests – it’s a song you’re likely to have encountered if you have any interest in old standards. Great song, though.
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### Author:  [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)
#### Post date: [February 15, 2006, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uh-i-always-thought-it-went-bees-do-it-birds-do-it/344438/20 "2006-02-15T06:21:21Z")
> [@picunurse](#):
>
> Another “cleaned up” song is \*I get a Kick \* The original was “I get no kick from cocaine, flying too high with some guy in the sky is my idea of nothing to do.” At some point it was changed to “in a plane”
> I had a Billy Holiday album with the original lyrics.
That was not the original lyric; you’re mixing up two different verses.
Some get their kicks from cocaine
I’m sure that if I took even one sniff
That would bore me terrifically too
But I get a kick out of you
. . . . .
I get no kick in a plane
Flying too high with some guy in the sky
Is my idea of nothing to do
But I get a kick out of you
I still hear it done that way; not sure I’ve ever heard a cleaned up version.
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