Miss Suzy!

[idothattopeople]

I was just talking to some Californians about Miss Suzy. It's a fascinating topic: a song in American culture that has no true codification. We learned it in school in the 80s and early 90s, before the internet. So, there was no way to truly verify what the "official" version of the Ms Suzy song was. Thus, regional variation abounds

Comments

[joaniechachi]

My version was mostly the same as yours until you get to "Please tell me no more lies". (The most notable difference up until then is that we said "nine" three times: "number nine-nine-nine".) But after "no more lies", it went

[idothattopeople]

The Californians I was talking to had the first additional verse you mentioned. But I've never heard the European verse. Cool!

Duck, Duck, Grey Duck made me laugh, because of the subset-superset relationship involved. I mean, aren't grey ducks just a type of duck? Why do you have to be specific for the last duck? That sounds like some true duck racism to me ;-)

[boixboi]

I never heard this song until it was aired on The Simpsons. In certain ways it makes me think of "The Hedgehog Can Never Be Buggered At All."

[idothattopeople]

Did they sing much of the song on The Simpsons? If they did, then that episode could have served a standardizing role when no other medium could...

[boixboi]

I had the same thought. Of course, since some of the appeal of the song is that it has a 'naughty' element, it could also make it less popular (because if it is on TV, maybe adults approve of it; it is robbed of its credentials as a kids-only thing).

It was a long clip, I would dare say the 'whole song' depending on whose version you are talking about.

I've been looking at this now, because you got me curious; apparently they devoted an entire episode of Hey, Arnold! to this song as well.

[idothattopeople]

I was under the impression that, when we were kids, The Simpsons was considered irreverent and obscene. Hell, my mom wouldn't let me watch it for a long time. So maybe that could mitigate some of the anti-naughtiness from airing the song...

I found a page about that Hey Arnold! episode.

Miss LUCY, geeze! (New Jersey)

[ataralas]

Miss Lucy had a steamboat
The steamboat had a bell (ding ding)
Miss Lucy went to heaven
And the steamboat went to

Hello operator
Please give me number nine
And if you disconnect me
I will shove you in

Behind the fridgerator
There was a piece of glass
Miss Lucy sat upon it
And it went right up her

Ask me no more questions
Please tell me no more lies
The boy are in the girls room
Pulling down their

Flies are in the meadow
The bees are in the park
Miss Lucy and her boyfriend
Are kissing in the

D-A-R-K, D-A-R-K, D-A-R-K
dark, dark, dark

The dark is like a movie
A movie's like a show
A show is like a TV set
And that is all I know, know, know

I know I know my mother
I know I know my pa
I know I know my sister with the
80-meter, 80-meter, 80-meter bra, bra, bra!

My mother had a student at one point who had written her master's thesis on New England variations of hand games. The other one, apparently, that has a lot of variation is Miss Mary Mack.

Re: Miss LUCY, geeze! (New Jersey)

[idothattopeople]

Wow, a person actually studied variations of hand-clap games?! I'm impressed. It's always been random talk for me, but I'm glad someone went out there and methodically studied the variations!

A quick look at Google Scholar leads me to the conclusion that most academic pursuits related to hand-clap games investigate the social side of it, especially the gender differences (all girls) and their use in socialization.

Re: Miss LUCY, geeze! (New Jersey)

[ataralas]

Yeah, I know nothing about the thesis-the student was a change-of-careers student when my mom was teaching church polity! My impression was that it was about the propagation of variations through social group mixing, e.g. at camps, churches, etc, outside of the school environment.

Also, it looks like my version is the only when where the boys are pulling DOWN their flies, which I find an interesting, and, in retrospect, somewhat disturbing variation.

Florida

[satyreyes]

My school's version followed joaniechachi's, with respect to the boys in the bathroom, zipping up their flies. That makes more sense to me, since the "sink" connection between verses five and six of the version you posted isn't very risqué.

My school's version, gruesomely enough, also had, in the second verse: "And if you disconnect me, / I'll chop off your / Behind the 'fridgerator . . ."

And I don't remember anything about a ninety-meter bra. In point of fact, I don't remember how we got from "bees are in the park" (or was it "hives?") to "my mother is Godzilla." :(

Re: Florida

[idothattopeople]

You're right about "sink" not being at all risqué. That makes me think that whoever came up with that verse did not completely understand the rules of the game. It might have been something local to my school or town, as opposed to something more regional.

The "chop off your behind" lyric also appears to be popular on the internet!

Re: Florida

[kitsuchan]

The version I learned (in Atlanta in the late '80s, for reference) is pretty close to joaniechachi's, with a couple exceptions:

Hello operator
Please give me number nine
And if you disconnect me
I'll cut off your

which always made more sense to me, since your phone call is getting cut off. My version didn't have the European verse.

I don't remember the song being any different when we moved to Anchorage, but it was less popular. Instead most of the kids sang the one about the bullfrog.

Re: Florida

[idothattopeople]

Perhaps we can propose a progression for this song, where each stage of the process is motivated (somewhat like Neogrammarian sound change analyses

[purple_chalk]

My version's longest so far! It's got the boys/flies thing, and instead of the Godzilla/King Kong verse, I've got:

My ma gave me a nickel
My dad gave me a dime
My sis(ter) gave me her boyfriend
Who kissed me all the time

My mom took back the nickel,
My dad took back the dime
My sis(ter) took back her boyfriend
And gave me Frankenstien (stein, stein)

He made me wash the dishes
He made me wash the floor
He made me wash his underpants
So I kicked him out the door (door, door)

I kicked him over London
I kicked him over France
I kicked him over Hawaii where he learned to hula dance, dance, dance

[purple_chalk]

Also it should be noted that the bra is forty acres.