One dark night in the middle of the day.
rainbird
"One dark night in the middle of the day
Two dead boys went out to play
drew their knives and shoot each other
a deaf policeman heard the noise
and went to investigate the two dead boys"
Can anyone tell me the author or give me a clue how to find them?
Thanks in advance!
CheriG7222
which it is very difficult to trace authors.
Susan C. Mitchell
: I'm looking for the author of this nonsensical poem.
It could just possibly be of folk origin. The version my mother taught
me went:
"One dark day in the middle of the night,
Two dead boys came out to fight.
Back to back they faced each other,
drew out their swords and shot each other.
A deaf policeman heard the noise,
and came to kill these two dead boys."
Later a friend taught me an additional couplet:
"If you don't believe this lie is true,
Go ask the blind man, he saw it too."
If you don't get enough responses here, you might try posting to
alt.folklore.urban. Good luck.
Think globally, act locally.
Susan
--
===========================================================================
"We, the people, are not free. Our democracy is but a name. We vote?
What does that mean? We choose between Tweedledum and Tweedledee."
-- Helen Keller
Bortz Alfred
: I'm looking for the author of this nonsensical poem.
: "One dark night in the middle of the day
: Two dead boys went out to play
: drew their knives and shoot each other
: a deaf policeman heard the noise
: and went to investigate the two dead boys"
: Can anyone tell me the author or give me a clue how to find them?
: Thanks in advance!
The version I remember was in an anthology called _A Rocket in my
Pocket_, which was one of many memorable books introduced to me by a
wonderful, now deceased elementary school librarian named Thusnelda Schmidt.
In tribute to Miss Schmidt, here's how I remember it about 43 years later:
"One bright day in the middle of the night
Two dead boys got up to fight.
Back to back they faced each other.
They drew their swords and shot each other.
A deaf policeman heard the noise,
And came and killed those two dead boys."
Fred Bortz
Pat Hanby
> rainbird (rain...@smartdocs.com) wrote:
> : I'm looking for the author of this nonsensical poem.
>
> : "One dark night in the middle of the day
> : Two dead boys went out to play
> : drew their knives and shoot each other
> : a deaf policeman heard the noise
> : and went to investigate the two dead boys"
>
> : Can anyone tell me the author or give me a clue how to find them?
> : Thanks in advance!
Can't help, but it sounds like one I knew as a child
I went to the pictures tomorrow,
I took a front seat in the back,
I fell from the pit to the gallery
And broke a front bone in my back
I can't remember if there was any more of it, but I don't think it is the
same one.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Pat Hanby Book Orders Librarian Reading University Library
PO Box 223 Whiteknights READING RG6 6AE UK
vlsh...@reading.ac.uk Tel. 01734 318777 Fax 01734 316636
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Patricia Reynolds
rain...@smartdocs.com "rainbird" writes:
> I'm looking for the author of this nonsensical poem.
>
> "One dark night in the middle of the day
> Two dead boys went out to play
> drew their knives and shoot each other
> a deaf policeman heard the noise
> and went to investigate the two dead boys"
>
> Can anyone tell me the author or give me a clue how to find them?
> Thanks in advance!
The best place, I find, to look up information about such things is
Iona and Peter Opie's _The Language and Lore of Schoolchildren_:
Sorry about the typos which will occur, without doubt, in this
transcript (pp. 25-6)
The best known of these travesties ['tangletalk'] is also probably
the oldest:
One fine day in the middle of the night,
Two dead men got up to fight,
Back to back they faced each other,
Drew their swords and shot each other.
A paralysed donkey passing by
Kicked a blind man in the eye,
Knocked him through a nine inch wall
Into a dry ditch and drowned them all.
This has been collected in twelve different schools; and fifty years
ago [i.e. c.1900] the rhyme was much the same except that usually
there were present at the combat:
One blind man to see fair play,
And two dumb men to shout hurray.
In William IV's time the verse children knew, according to an edition
of _Ditties for the Nursery_ printed about 1830, was:
Two dead horses ran a race,
Two blind to see all fair
Two dead horses ran so fast
The blind began to stare.
Just on five centuries ago, about 1480, a professional minstrel noted
down in his pocket book (now Bodleian MS. Eng. poet. e. I) the crude
rhyme:
I saw iij hedles playen at a ball
an hanlas man served hem all,
Whyll iij movthles men lay & low,
iij legles a-way hem drow.
--
Pat Reynolds
p...@caerlas.demon.co.uk
Ed Rudnicki
In article <u551584-1306...@mdp93a.md.dow.com> dal...@dow.com (David Allan) writes:
>In article <3rjl5h$l...@mercury.dur.ac.uk>, R A Burroughs
><R.A.Bu...@durham.ac.uk> wrote:
>> This reminds me of a poem Ir learnt as a child and now cannot remember
>> properly - anyone else know it?
>>
>> Ladles and jellyspoons,
>> I come before you
>> To stand behind you
>> And tell you something I know nothing about.
>> On Thursday,
>> The day after Friday,
>> There will be a ladles meeting
>> For jellyspoons only.
>>
>> And I can't remember the rest! Help!
>> Rosie
>
>Ladles and jellyspoons,
>I stand before you and sit behind you
>To tell you something I know nothing about.
>There will be a meeting tomorrow night right after breakfast
>To decide which color to whitewash the church.
>There will be plenty of seats, so sit on the floor.
>There is no admission, just pay at the door.
>[last four lines not seen in previous posts]
The version I recall was:
Ladles and jellyspoons,
As I stand here before you, sitting here behind you
I'm about to tell you of a matter I know nothing about
This Thursday, which is Good Friday
There'll be a Mother's Guild meeting for fathers only
Admission is free when you pay at the door
There's plenty of seats so you'll sit on the floor.
FWIW,
Ed Rudnicki erud...@pica.army.mil All disclaimers apply
"We tigers prefer to inflict excitement on others" --- Hobbes
R A Burroughs
Ladles and jellyspoons,
I come before you
To stand behind you
And tell you something I know nothing about.
On Thursday,
The day after Friday,
There will be a ladles meeting
For jellyspoons only.
And I can't remember the rest! Help!
Rosie
Oh, no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.
-- Stevie Smith
David Allan
> This reminds me of a poem Ir learnt as a child and now cannot remember
Here are some I remember:
One bright day in the middle of the night,
Two dead men got up to fight.
Back-to-back they faced each other,
Drew their swords and shot each other.
A deaf policeman heard the noise and
Came and shot those two dead boys.
If you don't believe this lie is true,
Ask the blind man: he saw it, too.
[last two lines differ from what was posted by others]
Ladles and jellyspoons,
I stand before you and sit behind you
To tell you something I know nothing about.
There will be a meeting tomorrow night right after breakfast
To decide which color to whitewash the church.
There will be plenty of seats, so sit on the floor.
There is no admission, just pay at the door.
[last four lines not seen in previous posts]
My gastronomical satiety admonishes me that I have arrived at a state of
deglutition inconsistent with dietetic integrity. (I've had too much to
eat.)
Have you the audacity to doubt my veracity and insinuate that I
prevaricate? (Are you calling me a liar?)
--
David Allan
Dow Chemical Company
*My opinions only*
Kathleen Jo Powell Hannah
: I'm looking for the author of this nonsensical poem.
: "One dark night in the middle of the day
: Two dead boys went out to play
: drew their knives and shoot each other
: a deaf policeman heard the noise
: and went to investigate the two dead boys"
: Can anyone tell me the author or give me a clue how to find them?
: Thanks in advance!
Can't help, but you left out a line. The version I know is also slightly
different from yours:
One dark night in the middle of the day,
Two dead boys got up to play.
Back to back they faced each other,
Drew their knives and shot each other.
A deaf policemen heard their noise,
Came and shot those two dead boys.
And if you don't believe this lie is true,
Go ask the blind man, he saw it, too.
Did you check the Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes by Iona and Peter
Opie? It might have something.
Rick Kephart
: a deaf policeman heard the noise
: and went to investigate the two dead boys"
Kathleen Jo Powell Hannah (kjph...@whale.st.usm.edu) wrote:
: A deaf policemen heard their noise,
: Came and shot those two dead boys.
In the version I knew when I was little (in Philadelphia),
the verse ended:
Two deaf cops heard all the noise,
Came and killed the two dead boys.
Rick Kephart Malvern, PA <r...@netaxs.com>
_L.P.H. Resource Center for Catholic Homeschoolers_
http://www.netaxs.com/~rmk
Bernie Wynne
>From: rmk@PROBLEM_WITH_INEWS_GATEWAY_FILE (Rick Kephart)
>Subject: Re: One dark night in the middle of the day.
>Date: 19 Jun 1995 12:45:09 GMT
Trivial, but may be of interest, I seem to remember it went like this in my
youth (though memory does play tricks):
One fine day in the middle of the night
Two dead men got up to fight
Back to back they faced each other
LynnWeber
One bright morning in the middle of the night
Two dead boys got up to fight
Back to back they faced each other
Drew their swords and shot each other
The deaf policeman heard this noise
And ran up to kill the two dead boys
If you believe this tale is tall
Ask the blind man, he saw it all
We all obviously have fond memories of this poem, as we all feel compelled
to tell our version.
Kathleen Jo Powell Hannah
: We all obviously have fond memories of this poem, as we all feel compelled
: to tell our version.
Here's a question for discussion: why do children (and adults) find
nonsense poems so intriguing and entertaining? What is it about them that
we like so much? Is it the same thing that makes Roald Dahl's
misplaced phrases funny (e.g., in _The BFG_, when the giant says things
like "Right or left?" when he means "Right or wrong?")? And Amelia
Bedelia's drawing the curtains? I wonder if it doesn't have something to
do with children's own speech and logical "errors" (e.g., "teached" for
"taught"). Any theories?
Katie
kjph...@whale.st.usm.edu
2 from the first issue of _Cricket_ (Sept. 1973):
As I was coming down the stair One fine October morning
I met a man who wasn't there; In September, last July,
He wasn't there again today: The moon lay thick upon the ground,
I *wish* that man would go away. The snow shone in the sky;
The flowers were singing gaily
And the birds were in full bloom,
I went down to the cellar
To sweep the upstairs room
Julie Dickinson
people who like nonsense poems liking Amelia Bedelia is valid.
I like the nonsense poems but dislike Amelia Bedelia. Why? I'm not
sure... I've got a better idea of why I don't like Amelia Bedelia than
why I do like the nonsense poems.
I think the nonsense poems are clever, but to me Amelia Bedelia is
clueless about the real world, and I find her irritating bordering on
stupid. Just my opinion, I know lots of people think the books are
great!
And what you call "children's speech and logical errors" - children
learn the grammar rules first, and the exceptions to those rules
later. Very young children will for a time say "foots" instead of
"feet" until they learn the exceptions. So I don't see this as a
related issue...
jules (julie dickinson, ju...@lilac.eng.sun.com
Darrell Phillips
I remember:
One bright day in the middle of the night,
Two dead men stood up to fight
Three blind men, to see fair play,
Forty minutes to yell Hurray,
Back to back they faced each other.
Drew their swords...and shot each other.
Darrell Phillips
kc...@bellsouth.net
lindaed...@gmail.com
No one remembers the way that my mom taught me. . .
"One dark night,
Twas so bright.
Two dead boys
Got up to fight.
Back to back,
They faced each other.
Took out their swords,
And shot each other.
Two deaf policemen,
Hearing the noise.
Ran outside,
And shot the two dead boys.
If you don't believe me,
Ask the blind man.
He saw it all!"
Please, somebody out there, tell me you TRULY recognize this version. WHERE does this come from? ? ?
kayladad...@gmail.com
knightfl...@gmail.com
> I'm looking for the author of this nonsensical poem.
>
> "One dark night in the middle of the day
> Two dead boys went out to play
> drew their knives and shoot each other
> and went to investigate the two dead boys"
>
> Thanks in advance!
two boys when out to play
they stood back to back from each other
drew there swords and shot each other
if you dont believe this lie is true
just ask the blind man, he saw it too
debb...@gmail.com
Rolf Taylor
One dark day in the middle of the night.
One dark night in the middle of the day.
One bright day in the middle of the night.
One fine day in the middle of the night.
It would seem that through the generations people can't recall the exact words, so the substitute "any old nonsense" which may or may not make a given line more nonsensical.
Unlike the days where every clan had a story teller who was tasked with specifically memorizing stuff (though undoubtedly changes and embellishments occurred) we have hear the case where amateurs recall it being funny, and most or all of the details.
I also found online a few cases were it would appears folks combined multiple nonsense poems to make a much longer one.
Thanks to all that shared.
Kimberley Richardson
> I'm looking for the author of this nonsensical poem.
> "One dark night in the middle of the day
> Two dead boys went out to play
> drew their knives and shoot each other
> a deaf policeman heard the noise
> and went to investigate the two dead boys"
> Can anyone tell me the author or give me a clue how to find them?
> Thanks in advance!
one was blind and the other couldn't see
so they chose a blind man to referee
a paralyzed donkey passing by
kicked the blind man in the eye
knocked him through a nine inch wall
into a dry ditch and drowned them all
if you don't believe this story is true
Frank Cummings
> If this poem is fairly old, it may be a take off on a nursery rhyme for
> which it is very difficult to trace authors.