Trying to find words to an old song

[PamS]

My Daddy use to sing an old old song that we can't find. We've heard
it sung in an old western movie, in a Tom & Jerry cartoon, and once on
the radio. I have no idea how to spell these words but I'll sound
them out:

Kyman Nero Captain Kero - ribo licktum simalictum bowl meal kymeo

don't laugh - that's as close as I can get - anyone recognize it?

Thanks,

Pam

[12-stringer]

"PamS" <pamst...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:aebfe1c1.02110...@posting.google.com...

or King Kong Kitchie Kimeo.

Folkways Anthology of American Folk Music (at the Smithsonian Folkways
site), volume 3, by Charlie Parker (not the sax player), has a recording.
The chorus is nonsense syllables; I think his record company spelled it as
above. Don't remember if they have a sample audio on this track.

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[Peter S. Shenkin]

"Roll, Jenny Jenkins, Roll?"

-P.

"PamS" <pamst...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:aebfe1c1.02110...@posting.google.com...

[Joseph Scott]

[...]by Charlie Parker (not the sax player), has a recording.[...]

It's by Frederick "Chubby" Parker. The old-time musician Charlie
Parker was a different guy.

Joseph Scott

[Joel Shimberg]

>"Roll, Jenny Jenkins, Roll?"
>
>-P.

No. It's a song in the 'Froggie Went A-Courting' family. The words
about the Kitty are repeated in each verse, and they take a number of
forms, like the one approximated in this instance. Here's a URL for a
different version, ewhich will give an idea of how the words can go:

http://146.7.8.8/folksong/maxhunter/0159/index.html

Here's another from the same great resource:

http://146.7.8.8/folksong/maxhunter/0842/index.html

And yet another:

http://146.7.8.8/folksong/maxhunter/1324/index.html

Great stuff!

Joel Shimberg

[Joel Shimberg]

I wrote:

>It's a song in the 'Froggie Went A-Courting' family. The words
>about the Kitty are repeated in each verse, and they take a number of
>forms, like the one approximated in this instance. Here's a URL for a

>different version, which will give an idea of how the words can go:>

>http://146.7.8.8/folksong/maxhunter/0159/index.html>
>Here's another from the same great resource:>
>http://146.7.8.8/folksong/maxhunter/0842/index.html>
>And yet another:>
>http://146.7.8.8/folksong/maxhunter/1324/index.html

Here are some more examples, from the Frank C. Brown Collection
of North Carolina Folklore, vol.3:

Frog went a-courtin' and he did ride,
Ring ting bottom and a kymo
Sword and pistol by his side,
Ring ting bottm and a kymo.

Hello naro, he's my caro,
Hello caro naro,
Ring ting bottom ditty boat around,
Ring ting bottm and a kymo.
___________________

Frog went a-courtin'...,
Rain down bonny mish ki-me-oh,
Sword and buckler...,
Rain down bonny mish ki-me-oh.

Kero kiro gilt and garo
Kero kiro karo
Rap jack pennywinkle flammydoodle yellow buckle
Rain down bonny mish ki-me-oh.

Joel

[Carl Baron]

As 12-stringer noted, the song is "King Kong Kitchie Kimeo" or sometimes
as "Kemo Kimo"

from the Digital Tradition

Kemo Kimo

In South Carolina the darkies go,
Sing song, Kitty, can't you ki' me, oh!
That's where the white folks plant the tow.
Sing song, Kitty, can't you ki' me, oh!
Cover the ground all over with smoke,
Sing song Kitty, can't you ki' me, oh!
And up the darkies' heads they poke.
Sing song, Kitty, can't you ki' me, oh!

Chorus:
Kemo, kimo! There! oh where?--
With my hi, my ho, and in come Sally, singing
Sometimes penny winkle, lingtum, nipcat,
Sing song, Kitty, can't you ki' me, oh!

[similarly:]

Milk in the dairy nine days old,
Frogs and the 'skeeters getting mighty bold,
They try to sleep, but it ain't no use,
Their legs hung out for the chickens to roost.
Chorus.

There was a frog lived in a pool,
Sure he was the biggest fool,
For he could dance, and he could sing,
And make the woods around him ring.
Chorus.

Note: This is a late avatar of "The Puddy and the Mouse".MS

a kids version
http://www.festivalfive.com/songs/king_kong_kitchie.shtml
king kong kitchie

a froggie went a courting and he did ride
king kong kitchie kitchie ki-me-o
with a sword and a pistol by his side
king kong kitchie kitchie ki-me-o

ki-mo-ke-mo ki-mo-ke
way down yonder in a hollow tree
an owl and a bat and a bumble bee
king kong kitchie kitchie ki-me-o

he rode 'til he came to miss mousie s door/king kong...
and there he knelt upon the floor/king kong......

ki-mo-ke-mo.....

he took miss mouse upon his knee....
and he said little mouse will you marry me...

miss mouse had suitors three or four...
and there they came right in the door...

they grabbed mr. frog and began to fight...
in the hollowed tree it was a terrible night...

mr. frog brought the suitors to the floor...
with the sword and the pistol he killed all four...

they went to the park on the very next day...
and left on their honeymoon right away...

now they live far off in a hollow tree...
where they now have wealth and children three...

from The Library of Congress, Amercian Memory
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/S?ammem/collections:@field(FLD003+@band(origf+Sheet+Music)):heading=Original+Format%3a+Sheet+Music

multiple listing when searching "Kimo"
Nineteenth-Century Song Sheets and also sheet music

examples of sheet music
Keemo Kimo / arranged by [A.] Sedgwick.
Keemo Kimo : Geo Christy and Wood's celebrated banjo song / arranged by
[A.] Sedgwick

one example from a song sheet
LYRICS
KITTY KIMO.

Composed and arranged by Charles White, and sung nightly, by Old Dan
Emmit, with thunders of Applause. If you want to spend a pleasant evening
and enjoy a hearty laugh, go to White's Melodeon, 53 Bowery.

Dar was a frog lived in a spring,
Sing song, Polly, won't you ki me, oh.
He had such a cold dat he could not sing,
Sing song, Polly, won't you ki me, oh.
I pull'd him out and frow'd him on de ground,
Sing song, Polly, won't you ki me, oh.
Old frog, he bounced and run around,
Sing song, Polly, won't you ki me, oh.

CHORUS.

Camo, kimo, daro, war, my high, my ho, my rumsti-pumididdle,
Soot bag, pidly-winckem, linck 'em, nip cat,
Sing song, Polly, won't you ki me, oh.

Milk in de dairy, nine days old,
Sing song, &c.

Rats and skippers are getting bold,
Sing song, &c.

A long tailed rat in a bucket of souse,
Sing song, &c.

Just come down from de white folks house,
Sing song, &c.

In South Carolina the niggers grow,
Sing song, &c.

If de white man only plant his toe,
Sing song, &c.

Water the ground with 'bacca smoke,
Sing song, &c.

And up de nigger's head will poke,
Sing song, &c.

Way down South--in Cedar street,
Sing song, &c.

Dar's where de niggers grow ten feet,
Sing song, &c.

Dey go to bed, but 'taint no use.
Sing song, &c.

Dar feet hang out for a chicken's roost.
Sing song, &c.

H. DE. MARSAN
PUBLISHER OF SONGS AND BALLADS
PAPER DOLLS TOY BOOKS
38 & 60 CHATHAM. ST N.Y.

Carl

[Paul Mitchell]

Many moons back, Bosco, I, Bud, and a few others, had this interchange:

> What are the two little notes to win his freedom?
> Bosco

> I always thought it was the drawn out notes at the end of the 3rd line
> of the B part. Paul

> Which is G and F#?
Bosco

Sounds like the G and F# to me. I managed to find my french Carpenter
tape. You can hear French explain the notes himself at:

http://www.unc.edu/~pmitchel

towards the bottom of the page.

Paul
==============================================================================
Paul Mitchell
email: pmit...@email.unc.edu
phone: (919) 962-9778
office: I have an office, room 14, Phillips Hall
==============================================================================

[Robert Palasek]

> "PamS" <pamst...@hotmail.com> wrote in message

> > My Daddy use to sing an old old song that we can't find. We've heard
> > it sung in an old western movie, in a Tom & Jerry cartoon, and once on
> > the radio. I have no idea how to spell these words but I'll sound
> > them out:
> >
> > Kyman Nero Captain Kero - ribo licktum simalictum bowl meal kymeo
> >
> > don't laugh - that's as close as I can get - anyone recognize it?
>

It might be Froggy Went a Courtin'.

On his Folkways album
Whoever Shall Have Some Good Peanuts ...
Sam Hinton writes this about that

"The first time this song was mentioned in a book, as
far as we know, was in 1549, so we know that people
have been singing it for at least 400 years. It started
in England but is now sung in many other countries, and
there are dozens and dozens of ways of singing it in the
United States. Because of the nonsense words in the
chorus this version is often called "Keemo Kimo"

"Froggy went a courtin and he did ride,
Rinctum body mitchy cambo.

Sword and pistol by his side,

Rinctum body mitchy cambo."

"CHORUS:
Kemo kimo Domineckerino,
Kemo Kimo Nero,
Straddle addle addle bobba laddle bobba linctum,
Rinctum body mitchy cambo."

Go to http://www.folkways.si.edu/
and do a catalogue search on Last Name: Hinton

(The search mechanism there is finicky about capitalization.)

[Ray Banks]

When I was a little boy in South Wales in the forties, my mother used to
sing:
Koi me ne'er oh
Kil to ker oh
Koi me ne'er oh koi me
Strim strim strammer little arab on a ring ting a rig dum bully dee ma koi
me
That's all I know about it!
Cheers
Ray

[Kosuke Takaki]

Thank you,Paul.Are those Carpenter tunes from old Kanawha LP?I have
that one but I don't have a turntable for a decade.The LP was a one of
my first old time fiddle experience.Are there any other tunes by Frech
like "Paddy on the Turnpike""Pretty Little Shoes""Boatin' Upo Sandy"
and "Little Rose"(the Carpenter anthem,as Willson Douglas said)
available somewhere? Bosco

[Paul Mitchell]

You're welcome. Yep, the tunes are selections from the Kanawha recording.
One would hope that there were more recordings of Carpenter, but I have no
knowledge of any.

[Gillespie Gail]

Hi Bosco!
I'm sure others will be right along to answer your questions about French
Carpenter. I believe that the piece we call "Pretty Little Shoes" comes
from the fiddling of Ward Jarvis of Stewart, in Southeastern Ohio
(originally from Braxton Co., W. Va. I believe). I may be mis-remembering
here, but I think the name took hold when Wilson Douglas recognized the tune
from Jeff Goehring's playing it at Glenville one year. Jeff and Susie had
done field recordings of Jarvis around the late 70s and early 80s and both
fiddled quite a few of his tunes.
g.

473b1be.02111...@posting.google.com, Kosuke Takaki at
bzk0...@nifty.ne.jp wrote on 11/12/02 10:47 PM:

[Kerry Blech]

Gillespie Gail wrote:
> Hi Bosco!
> I'm sure others will be right along to answer your questions about French
> Carpenter. I believe that the piece we call "Pretty Little Shoes" comes
> from the fiddling of Ward Jarvis of Stewart, in Southeastern Ohio
> (originally from Braxton Co., W. Va. I believe). I may be mis-remembering
> here, but I think the name took hold when Wilson Douglas recognized the tune
> from Jeff Goehring's playing it at Glenville one year. Jeff and Susie had
> done field recordings of Jarvis around the late 70s and early 80s and both
> fiddled quite a few of his tunes.

Ward Jarvis played it and called it "Frank Santy's Tune" after
the fellow he learned it from. Doc White, who lived near Wilson
Douglas, played a similar-sounding (but not identical) tune
he called "Pretty Little Shoes," which might be the one
that Wilson was referring to, as Wilson's tune by that name
doesn't sound remotely similar to Ward's playing of the tune
that got called that. Confusing? Me too.
Best,
Kerry

[Kosuke Takaki]

Howdy Gail
I'm little confused here,because of my disability of understanding
English.You mean Wilson Douglas got the tune from Jeff's playing? Or
he remembered the name after hearing Jeff? Anyway,it's very
interesting.
Mentioning about Jeff and Ward Jarvis,I remember Jeff played the "Down
In the Willow Garden" in 4/4 times.He said he got the version from
Ward Jarvis.I heard Ward's banjo recording of " Down in the Willow
Garden" recently. It was in 4/4. Did Ward play the tune on fiddle,too?
Bosco

Gillespie Gail <gai...@mindspring.com> wrote in message news:<B9F7C280.21809%gai...@mindspring.com>...

[Kosuke Takaki]

Kerry Blech <Kerry...@attbi.com> wrote in message news:<3DD27A13...@attbi.com>...
> Confusing? Me too.
> Kerry

Hey Kerry
I'm more confused now!!What's the relationship between Doc White's and
French Carpenter's?

[Gillespie Gail]

in article 473b1be.02111...@posting.google.com, Kosuke Takaki at
bzk0...@nifty.ne.jp wrote on 11/13/02 6:54 PM:

> Howdy Gail
> I'm little confused here,because of my disability of understanding
> English.You mean Wilson Douglas got the tune from Jeff's playing? Or
> he remembered the name after hearing Jeff? Anyway,it's very
> interesting.

Hi Bosco,
Hey, it's not your English that's the problem! It's just a typically
confusing tune history. As Kerry pointed out Wilson Douglas' tune that he
called "Pretty Little Shoes" really didn't sound much like the Ward Jarvis
tune with no name that Jeff played. However, we used the "Pretty Little
Shoes" name for it instead of "Unnamed Tune" which is what Jeff had written
on the field tape. Another reason the "Pretty Little Shoes" name stuck is
that the common verses that begin "Where'd you get those pretty little
shoes/shoes you wear so fine? (etc)" fit it nicely. However, Jarvis said
that got the tune from a Frank Sandy so maybe it should be "Frank Sandy's
Tune" after all as Kerry has suggested.
Gail

[Kerry Blech]

Hi Bosco,

Kosuke Takaki wrote:
> Hey Kerry
> I'm more confused now!!What's the relationship between Doc White's and
> French Carpenter's?

They both lived in Clay County, WV, near Ivydale, were of about the
same generation, so they most likely played a lot of the same tunes,
though they had different styles.

>Howdy Gail
>I'm little confused here,because of my disability of understanding
>English.You mean Wilson Douglas got the tune from Jeff's playing? Or
>he remembered the name after hearing Jeff? Anyway,it's very
>interesting.

Gail's answer is absolutely correct about this.

>Mentioning about Jeff and Ward Jarvis,I remember Jeff played the "Down
>In the Willow Garden" in 4/4 times.He said he got the version from
>Ward Jarvis.I heard Ward's banjo recording of " Down in the Willow
>Garden" recently. It was in 4/4. Did Ward play the tune on fiddle,too?

No, he only played it on banjo. He pretty much had a totally separate
repertoire for banjo and fiddle, not much (if any) crossover between
them. Jeff Goehring made the conversion from banjo tune (Ward did it
as an instrumental only) to fiddle tune and song. This is not to say
that Ward did not sing it, he may have, but to my knowledge no one
ever recorded (or heard) him sing it (or anything else for that matter).

Bosco, do you ever get to the West Coast of the US? If so, come and
visit.
Best regards,
kerry

[flossi...@gmail.com]

Went something like this (don't laugh)
My older sisters had me memorize this. No idea how to spell it.

Kiamo, nero, Captain Cairo, Stream, Strattle on the diddle Da, Ricked on the bottomy Ciamo.

Why on earth did they have me memorize this. One sister has died and the other is 95 and can't remember why she had me learn this.

Flo

[Ryan McNabb]

The classic Gary Cooper film "Sergeant York" starts with a mailman riding into the valley singing this song...

[wal...@bigpond.com]

My grandmother used to sing the same song, I made up words ( actually nonsense) to sing to a tune so that it fit. I can still hear nan in my head. I'm sure it's the same I would love to know what it is too.

[jrd...@aol.com]

my grandad sang it to us also in the 1950s .... looking for info, like you are ....

[jrd...@aol.com]

On Saturday, August 22, 2015 at 9:24:27 PM UTC-5, jrd...@aol.com wrote:
> my grandad sang it to us also in the 1950s .... looking for info, like you are ....

Reading all these responses--- Hinton was my grandad's last name .... mentioned in response above .... he was raised in southwestern Oklahoma ....

[jrd...@aol.com]

The crude spelling of words as I remember ------

"Kie-mo nero, delph and sero, kie-mo nero ....
Tum a rig tum, pop goes a little boat a latchtum, a rigtum a bully midee kie-mo"

[sjpog...@gmail.com]

my mom, recently passed at 92, was trying to remember an old song - she wrote the following;

Keemo Kymo Daro Ware
Kang Thang puppy doodle
suppa beg a penny winkle
milk in the dairy nine days old
suppa beg a penny winkle kymo

[sjpog...@gmail.com]

On Saturday, November 9, 2002 at 10:13:57 AM UTC-8, PamS wrote:

My mom,who passed recently at 92, was trying to remember the words to a childhood song and she wrote the following;

Keemo Kymo Daro Wae
Kang Tang Puppy Doodle
Suppa beg a penny winkle

[dancesynergy]

On Saturday, November 9, 2002 at 1:13:57 PM UTC-5, PamS wrote:
> My Daddy use to sing an old old song that we can't find. We've heard
> it sung in an old western movie, in a Tom & Jerry cartoon, and once on
> the radio. I have no idea how to spell these words but I'll sound
> them out:
>
> Kyman Nero Captain Kero - ribo licktum simalictum bowl meal kymeo
>
> don't laugh - that's as close as I can get - anyone recognize it?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Pam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNx351Y6jf0

[Chris]

> my mom, recently passed at 92, was trying to remember an old song - she
> wrote the following;
>

> Keemo Kymo Daro Ware
> Kang Thang puppy doodle

> suppa beg a penny winkle
> milk in the dairy nine days old
> suppa beg a penny winkle kymo

Well,

Kymo keemo kymo kee,
Way down yonder in a hollow tree,
With an owl and a bat and a bumble bee,
Kymo kitchee kitchee ky-me-o.

is one variant of the chorus to an old, old folksong that goes back to
Elizabethan England, "Frog Went A-Courting," or "The Frog's Courtship,"
or "Sir Frog," or just "Froggy." Here's Chubby Parker's version,
recorded in the 1920s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9piXcC7o_qk

I did notice the original query was dated 2002! And then that you can't respond to posts by email! Is anyone still reading this list?

Chris

[docd...@panix.com]

In article <85718d7a-0a5a-44e3...@googlegroups.com>,
Chris <tr...@tributaries.info> wrote:

[snip]

>Is anyone still reading this list?

No! Now keep it quiet up there, some folks have to work in the morning.

DD

[rose...@icloud.com]

Song is titled Kitty Wells & is about the darkies , first line of song "You ask what make the darkie cry "

[John Albert]

On 7/4/17 2:02 PM, rose...@icloud.com wrote:
> Song is titled Kitty Wells & is about the darkies , first line of song "You ask what make the darkie cry "

http://web.lyon.edu/wolfcollection/songs/riddlekitty1259.html

[jsu...@gmail.com]

Sounds like what my mother sang to me as a boy. It was the usual Froggy Went a Courtin’ verses, but each line was followed by “Rink tum boddy mitch ee kahm bo,” and the chorus was:

Kahm a Nero down to Cairo,
Kahm a Nero Cai-ro
Straddy laddy laddy
Bob a laddy bob a link tum.
Rink tum boddy mitch ee kahm bo.