Rhymes [limerick song]

AKA Sing us another one do
First Published 1931
Writer/composer Leslie Sarony Roud RN10247

Music Hall Performers Leslie Sarony
Folk performances Collected from the singing of:
Crumit, Frank; USA : New York 1932
Easton, Robert; USA : California; 1960
Lewis, Clayton; Canada : Nova Scotia; 1970
Barrington, Wayne; Canada : Newfoundland 1971
Hall, Gordon; England : Sussex ; 1989		 

I'm just about to hold the competition,
It's just a little bright idea of mine,
I'm going to write a rhyming composition'
And then leave you to add the ending line;
I'll sing the whole thing first in case of doubt,
The second time I'll leave the last line out.

There was a young lady of the Ealing
Who walked upside-down on the ceiling,
She fell on her neck
And she shouted "By heck!
It's a very peculiar feeling!

That was a cute little rhyme,
Sing us another one do...

There was a young fellow of Cosham,
Who took out his false teeth to wash 'em,
His wife said "Oh Jack!"
If you don't put them back
La da da da da da  da da da da.

That was a cute little rhyme,
Sing us another one do...

There was a young man of Calcutta,
Who was having a sleep in the gutter,
The heat from the sun
Burnt him up like a bun
La da da da da da  da da da da.

That was a cute little rhyme,
Sing us another one do...

There was a young man from Kildare,
Who was playing at golf on a chair,
On the very last stroke,
Why the blessed chair broke,
La da da da da da  da da da da.

My limericks must have met with approbation
The fact you listened to them tells me so
I hope to win still further admiration 
By giving you a few more that I know;
And let me say my motto's always been
I may not be clever, but I'm clean..

[EXTRA CHORUSES]

There was a young man of Saint Pauls 
Who once did a turn on the Halls, 
His favourite trick
Was to stand on a stick 
La da da da da da  da da da da.

That was a cute little rhyme,
Sing us another one do...

There was a young fellow named Skinner 
Who once took a girl out to dinner,
At a quarter to nine
They sat down to dine, 
La da da da da da  da da da da.

That was a cute little rhyme,
Sing us another one do...

There was a young man of South Wales 
Who lived upon fruit juice and snails, 
When he couldn't get these—
He lived upon cheese,
La da da da da da  da da da da.

That was a cute little rhyme,
Sing us another one do...

There was a young lady of Hitchin,
Who was scratching her nose in the kitchen, 
Her mother said "Rose,
Gnats I suppose?"
La da da da da da  da da da da.

That was a cute little rhyme,
Sing us another one do...

There was a young lady of Gloucester 
Who's parents thought they had lost her, 
But it came to pass
She was found on the grass
La da da da da da  da da da da.

That was a cute little rhyme,
Sing us another one do...

There was a young man of Belgrave 
Who was having a rest in a cave, 
He said "I admit 
I'm a bit of a nit" 
La da da da da da  da da da da.

That was a cute little rhyme,
Sing us another one do...

There was a young girl of Cathcart 
Who made a most wonderful tart, 
Clay from a pit,
Donkey's harness and grit, 
La da da da da da  da da da da.

That was a cute little rhyme,
Sing us another one do...

There was a young lady of Kent
Who was always behind with the rent, 
The landlord said "Miss,
Give me a kiss—"
La da da da da da  da da da da.

That was a cute little rhyme,
Sing us another one do...


There was a young fellow of Chislehurst
Before he could sing had to whistle first
One hot day in June
He forgot the darn tune
La da da da da da  da da da da.

That was a cute little rhyme,
Sing us another one do...

Another comic dance song from the 1930s composed, written and sung Lesley Sarony …

Although limericks have been around since the early 1700s or earlier, it’s often been suggested that their modern popularity started when Edward Lear championed them in the late 19th century. The origin of the term Limerick is a bit obscure – one theory is that they were popularised  in the 1750s by a group of Irish poets who composed Gaelic poems in their drinking sessions at a pub in Croom, County Limerick. I suspect this is just a nice story and the form certainly goes back much further.

One factor which may be relevant and help to contextualise Sarony’s first verse: Britain in the first 40 years of the 20th century there were thousands of regular limerick competitions, inviting readers to write or complete limericks. For 12 months in 1907/08 there was a national limerick craze that didn’t completely subside until the late 30s. Competitors often had to pay a small entrance fee with the prospect of a large prize and the suspicion was that winners were randomly selected, the “competitions” were a way of bypassing gambling laws – lotteries in all but name ….

The history of songs based on limericks is, I suspect, yet,to be written, but songs of this type were fairly common in the halls. This one is relatively well-known and later appeared in the repertoire of Albert Whelan, Jimmy Edwards, Max Bygraves and the cast of the TV series It Ain’t Half Hot Mum. Other examples of songs constructed from limericks are George Lashwood’s Fol-the-rol-lol from 1902 and Wilkie Bard’s Limerick Mad from 1907 but I suspect there are many others.

This song has been collected from a number of named traditional singers, but is equally likely feature in anonymous collections of bawdy songs, as limericks have proved such a fruitful vehicle for such material… It appears in the following collections of bawdy songs and many others:

Sarony sings it:

Sources: