Posted by Dave Thewlis on August 08, 1997 at 04:21:17:
In Reply to: Re: Nice Sailors and Naughty Songs (WAS 'The Maid of Amsterdam') posted by Adam Quinan on August 08, 1997 at 02:23:05:
Adam, the two you mentioned "Do Your Ears Hang Low" and "Eeny Meany..."
are exactly the ones I would have thought of as songs which got mutated
over the years. Those mutations may even have been before the P.C. movement
(at least the first one was) as songs got 'adopted' into the general world
of children's camp songs (my wife remembers the 'Ears' version whereas I know
the more salty version).
On Whalers, in the early 1960s a very popular folk trio in the U.S. called
The Limelighters recorded "The Ballad of the Greenland Whalers" which is
recognizably (a variant of) the same song. It might even have been on a record
intended for young audiences; in any case nothing in it would have caused even
the GA's ears to burn red (or hang low, depending on your preference). I don't
think I have the record but I could probably recall the lyrics -- but it was
definitely a bowdlerized version and thus possibly of little interest to the
discussion.