{"id":24356,"date":"2024-04-26T10:17:40","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T10:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=24356"},"modified":"2024-04-26T10:17:42","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T10:17:42","slug":"there-was-two-legs-sitting-on-three-legs","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/there-was-two-legs-sitting-on-three-legs\/","title":{"rendered":"There was “two legs” sitting on “three legs”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Two Legs<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1903<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>FW Carter and RP Weston<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN20142<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Fred Lincoln<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
White, Horry ; England : Suffolk ; 1964\/5
Griffiths, May ; England: Lancashire; 1986 <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Now one dry night I went to have a \"wet\"
In the \"Whale and Winkle Arms;\"
I'd got a quart pot near my chin 
When a bloke who was \"potty on the can\" came in. 
Poor old chap! he wanted a shave, 
His pants had whiskers too; 
Stood upon his head - he did, no kid!
And he crowed like a cock-a-doodle-doo! 
When I turned my face away 
He drank up all my ale,
But I thought it great when he pinched my change,
And then told me this tale

There was two legs sitting on three legs
One leg in his hand, - 
Up came four legs, he bit two legs,
Then grabbed one leg - understand?
Two legs missed his one leg, -
Picked up three legs, followed five legs,
Threw three legs after five legs
Gave four legs a smack;
Four legs felt that three legs,
Hopped on three legs, dropped that one leg, -
That's how poor old two legs 
Got his one leg back<\/em>

When I wont out, he followed me about,
Till a man in uniform,
Captured the bloke with just one grab,
And he said, as he put him in a four-wheeled cab, 
\"From our mad-house he's done a bunk, \u2014
He's cracked, as sure as eggs
When he's in the town the kids ain't safe, 
He's got such a mania for legs.
All day in the padded room
He sits and catches flies,
And the old crackpot, with a pair of tongs,
Pulls out their\tlegs and cries, -

Now, this poor man he kept a butcher's shop, 
And he had two legs, you see;
Once, on a three-legged stool he sat,
With a nice leg of mutton that was not too fat. 
While he scraped that meat with a knife,
A four-legged dog came by,
Bit him in the legs, then up the street
With the one leg of mutton did a guy.
Now, of course, you know the rest, \u2014
He claimed his leg again;
When he hit that dog with the three-legged stool 
He got legs on the brain.
<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
According to the Opies “leg riddles are as old as the Sphinx” – so this Music Hall song from 1903 was already drawing on some very old material! It was performed by Fred Lincoln and  written by \u00a0RP Weston<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0FW Carter\u00a0<\/a> using their version of the nursery rhyme\/riddle as a chorus. Weston and Carters wording – the rhyming of “hand” with “understand” in the second and fourth lines of the chorus may have influenced later 20th century performers like Horry White who also starts his chorus in this way – you can hear his version on the\u00a0Helions Bumpstead CD, (NLCD8\u00a0\u2018Comic Songs of the Stour Valley<\/a>\u2018).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n