The song "Great Green Gobs of Greasy, Grimy Gopher Guts" is a children's public domain playground song popular throughout the United States. Dating back to at least the mid-20th century, the song is sung to the tune of "The Old Gray Mare". The song, especially popular in school lunchrooms and at summer camps, presents macabre horrors through cheerful comedy while allowing children to explore taboo images and words especially as they relate to standards of cleanliness and dining. Many local and regional variations of the lyrics exist, but whatever variant, they always entail extensive use of the literary phonetic device known as an alliteration which helps to provide an amusing description of animal body parts and fluids not normally consumed by Americans.
Video Great Green Gobs of Greasy, Grimy Gopher Guts
Song versions
Smithsonian Folkways version
The song appears on the Smithsonian Folkways compilation release entitled A Fish That's A Song, a collection of traditional public domain children's songs from the United States performed by Mika Seeger. The Smithsonian release appears to be derived from an earlier 1959 release entitled The Sounds Of Camp.
The lyrics performed by Mika Seeger are as follows:
Canadian version
Indiana Version
California Version
Texas Version
Michigan Version
West Michigan Version
Massachusetts Version
Western Massachusetts Version
St.Louis Version
Connecticut Version
New York Version
Lyrics of a more extensive version from New York City was in use during the 1990s as follows:
Upstate New York version
Recalled from the 1970s is another verse including "quarts and quarts of all purpose porpoise pus"
Eastern Pennsylvania Version
Alternate Suburban Philadelphia Version
This version was popular in the western suburbs of Philadelphia (Delaware and Chester counties and probably beyond) in the 1970s and 1980s at least:
Pittsburgh version
The following version was sung in the mid-1950s in the Shadyside and East Liberty neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
This alternate Pittsburgh version was sung in the 1980s in the Shadyside and East Liberty neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as well as the eastern suburbs.
Another suburban Pittsburgh variant of the song dated near c.2005
Washington version
Seattle Version
Georgia version
As made popular by local Atlanta comedian Daniel Weinstein in 1970s
Florida Version
Sung in southern Florida circa 1990:
South Florida Version
Sung in South Florida in the 1970s.
New Jersey version
This version was sung in the 1960s and 1970s, in the Livingston area.
Northern New Jersey version (circa 1970s)
Bizarre Foods America rap version
Bizarre Foods America, a cooking show which began airing in 2012 on cable television's Travel Channel, uses a hip-hop version for its theme song. The rapped lyrics are backed by keyboards and electronically produced drum beats.
Northeast Ohio version circa 1970s-1980s
Northeast Ohio version circa 1990s
North Central Illinois version circa 1970s
Northern Illinois Version
Ren and Stimpy Version
Maps Great Green Gobs of Greasy, Grimy Gopher Guts
See also
- Children's street culture
- Dead Skunk
References
Further reading
- Josepha Sherman and T.K.F. Weisskopf, Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts: The Subversive Folklore of Childhood (August House, 1995).
- Pifer, Lynn."Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts: The Subversive Folklore of Childhood." review of book by Sherman and Weisskopf). Journal of American Folklore. Washington: Winter 1997.Vol.110, Iss. 435; pg. 105
- del Negro, Janice. "Professional reading--Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts: The Subversive Folklore of Childhood by Josepha Sherman and T. K. F. Weiskopt." book review in The Booklist. Chicago: April 15, 1996.Vol.92, Iss. 16; pg. 1448
- Ian Turner, June Factor, Wendy Lowenstein, Cinderella Dressed in Yella, 2nd Edition (Heinemann, 1978).
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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