lyrics to "mallard" song

[Peter Dorman]

Many years ago I heard a group--I think it was Boys of the Lough--do a
naming song. It began, "Oh wait, oh wait, now what've I ate? I've
eaten the foot of me mallard!" Does anyone know the complete lyrics
to this song?
--
Peter Dorm

[Gary Martin]

I heard it once or twice back around 1980, done by a fun, but short-lived
group called How To Change A Flat Tire. A friend and I started singing
it ourselves, but I suspect we folk-processed it quite a bit along the
way. The way I recall it, the basic verse is:
Oh wait, oh wait, oh what have I ate?
I've eaten the __________ of me mallard
__________-__________-e (repeat for all previous parts)
and nippons (or nippers) and all
So good o' me was the mallard
That I am in debility house
So good o' me was the mallard.

The body parts are added from bottom to top as the verses progress:
toe-toe-e
foot-foot-e
leg-leg-e
knee-knee-e
thigh-thigh-e
rump-rump-e
back-back-e
breast-breast-e
wing-wing-e
neck-neck-e
head-head-e
bill-bill-e
(more or less detail as you like)

I've seen a printed version or two somewhere that were somewhat
different, but not too much.

--
Gary A. Martin, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, UMass Dartmouth
Mar...@cis.umassd.edu

[Greg Bullough]

Cliff Haslam does a fine job of this on his Folk Legacy album 'The German
Clockwinder.' As a matter of policy, Folk Legacy offers a full set of
words to everything on their recordings, generally for an extra buck.
(In booklet form, one for each album)

Greg

[Sean Goddard]

Peter Dorman (2321...@msu.edu) wrote:
: Many years ago I heard a group--I think it was Boys of the Lough--do a

The words to this song can be found in 'Songs of the West', by S.
Baring-Gould which was published in an edition around 1896, and a second
edition around 1904 where Cecil Sharp revised the tunes.
Songs of the West refers to songs collected in the West Of England, and
not the USA.

Sean Goddard
University of Sussex

[A.J. DAVIS]

In article <32g1v3$5...@infa.central.susx.ac.uk> al...@central.susx.ac.uk (Sean Goddard) writes:

>The words to this song (the Mallard) can be found in 'Songs of the West', by

S.>Baring-Gould which was published in an edition around 1896, and a second
>edition around 1904 where Cecil Sharp revised the tunes.
>Songs of the West refers to songs collected in the West Of England, and
>not the USA.

Years ago i learnt a version from a farmer on Exmoor in Somerset that started:

What 'av aa yet, what 'av aa yet,
Aa'v yet the (body part) of mi mallud.

(Which translates as "What have I eaten, what have I eaten, I've eaten the
(body part) of my mallard")

The rest of it goes much as in other versions that have been
posted/suggested/refered to -

bik (beak), yed (head), neck, back, wing, leg, foot, web, toe;

the end line is always 'toe toe nippins an' orl, so good it were mi mallud'

My 12 month old daughter likes it !

Andrew