Bawdy Song: Difference between revisions

Such songs are sometimes used as a nod towards [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]], a character will be singing a well-known bawdy song and cut off a [[Last-Second Word Swap|split-second]] [[Orphaned Punchline|before actually singing anything obscene]]. Including snatches of bawdy songs in a scene indicates that characters are becoming relaxed and uninhibited (at the very least). If the song happens to be something as explicit as "[[wikipedia:Good Ship Venus|The Good Ship Venus]]" or "[[wikipedia:Barnacle Bill chr(28)songchr(29)|Barnacle Bill the Sailor]]," they are probably way past just "relaxed".

In order to indicate that an older character is a "bad influence" on children, a child may sing a bawdy song after visiting him/her. In such cases the chosen song is usually one of the less explicit examples, "Roll Me Over in the Clover," for example.

: These are often... in fact, almost always... [[Drunken Song|sung when the character doing the singing is totally plastered]].

{{examples}}

== [[Comic Books]] ==

== [[Fanfic]] ==

* In Rising Star (an adaption of [[Sonic the Hedgehog 2]]), [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2726841/10/Rising_Star Sonic suggests Tails should sing something during their trip through Casino Night Zone.] As it's revealed, Tails spent too much time hanging out behind the local bar...

* 'Galdwyn was a Shieldmaiden', in the ''Lord of the Rings'' fandom.

== [[Film]] ==

* A film parodying [[Awful British Sex Comedy|British sex comedies of the 1970s]] is titled ''[[Eskimo Nell]]'' after [[wikipedia:The Ballad of Eskimo Nell|the most notorious bawdy song of them all]].

** The song is called the "[[wikipedia:Colonel Bogey March|Colonel Bogey March]]," and has been a favorite for adding smutty lyrics to since 1914. It was supposedly inspired by an officer who whistled the first two notes instead of shouting "fore" on the golf course, so the song was insulting even when given its original title.

*** Or not, considering that a "bogey" then, was what we today call a "par". Being called a scratch-player is probably NOT an insult anywhere.

* In the movie ''[[Heartbreak Ridge]]'' [[Clint Eastwood]]'s platoon sing ''Model T Ford and a tankful of gas, mouthful of pussy and a handful of ass!" while jogging past their stuck-up CO, Major Powers, who is standing next to a female marine. She is a good deal more amused than he is.

* Mondain from ''[[Les Choristes]]'', being the resident [[Delinquent]], loves singing these in the face of the teachers. Maxence almost kicks him to the punishment room, before [[Save Our Students|cheerful music teacher]] Mathieu notices his baritone would be great for his choir.

{{quote| A big-bottomed sea witch may bob through the waves,<br />

And hope to lead sailors astray.<br />

* [[Charlie Chaplin]] is to sing one as part of a musical act in ''[[Modern Times]]''... only he loses the paper on which the lyrics are written, and has to use pantomime and gibberish. He brings the house down.

* The [[Jukebox Musical]] ''Oh! What a Lovely War'' included a version of the folk song "Christmas Day In The Cookhouse" where the dirty rhyming words are [[Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion|blatantly dodged]].

{{quote| Blessed be my darling / I loves you all to bits / I'll climb up to your chamber / And over your mountainous --}}

== [[Literature]] ==

* In A.N. Wilson's ''The Vicar of Sorrows'', an evangelical lady suggests to the vicar that modern, upbeat hymns would be better for the Easter procession than the traditional hymn he always uses. He responds that if they ditch the traditional hymn, then they can sing "Eskimo Nell" for all he cares. This leads to the lady, who has never heard of this song, asking various other parishioners about it and whether it would be a good song to sing in the Easter parade, spreading scandal about the vicar's morals and mental health. Eventually she finds a copy of the lyrics in a book of erotic poetry from the library; given that she is a self-appointed [[Moral Guardians|moral guardian]], the look on her face as she read it can only be imagined!

** Fans have of course written their own lyrics to Nanny Ogg's songs, some of which were printed in the aptly named fanzine ''The Wizard's Knob''. You really ''don't'' want to read them.

** This creativity on the part of the fans led to a priceless dedication in the UK edition of ''Witches Abroad'': "To all those people - and why not? - who, after the publication of ''Wyrd Sisters'', deluged the author with their version of the words of 'The Hedgehog Song'. Deary deary me..."

** A version of "A Wizard's Staff" appears on the ''From The Discworld'' CD (words by Heather Wood, music by Dave Greenslade).

{{quote| It's in May, it's about sex.}}

{{quote| Four and twenty virgins<br />

Came down from Inverness,<br />

And when the ball was over<br />

There were four and twenty less. }}

* There's a passing mention in ''[[The Once and Future King]]'' of an old song about an Old King seeing with each verse more and more of a fair maiden. We only hear the (heavily-accented) first verse:

{{quote| "Whe-an Wold King-Cole / was a / wakkin doon-t'street,<br />

But if you desire dames like consuming flames,<br />

Try a Caladanin daughter! }}

{{quote| A Lugard girl, she came to town, to see what she could see.<br />

With a wink of her eye, and a smile on her lip,<br />

* Danilo Thann, a bard from [[Forgotten Realms]] novels by Elaine Cunningham, used to sing these as a part of his [[Rich Idiot With No Day Job]] image and even wrote some himself. The books include a few fragments of the ''Ballad of the Zhentish Raiders'' who "[[But You Screw One Goat!|kill off all the women / For they much prefer the sheep]]" and "[[Be Careful What You Wish For|Elminster's Jest]]" ([http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1888&whichpage=22#61128 see its full lyrics]).

** She wrote more of these just for fun. Such as ''[http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13887&whichpage=14#351427 The Elf Lover]'' ("The Wild Rover" tune).

{{quote| ''Oh I was the strangest kiddie that you ever have seen''<br />

''[http://www.thebards.net/music/lyrics/The_Orange_And_Green.shtml My mother, she was orange and my father, he was green...]'' }}

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

{{quote| '''Captain Mainwaring''': Well, at least it was a religious song.<br />

'''Private Frazer''': (rolls eyes meaningfully) It wuznai' rrreligious! }}

** And the more explicit "<s>Penis Song</s>Not Noel Coward Song".

* And "Anything Goes" - the "Anything Goes" by Cole Porter, that is.

** Edmund's goblin song. Think about it: the "nosey-wose" is a certain something found between men's legs, and the "feet" are two certain somethings on each side of it...

*** And, of course, "Isn't the goblin (gobbling) sweet?" - "YES!!!"

** In the third series, Blackadder warns Prince George that when wooing a lady with poetry, "Harold the Horny Hunter" might not be such a good idea. ("Harold the horny hunter/Had an enormous horn...")

** Jazz trumpeter Bix Biederbeck made a film called ''The Boy with the Big Horn'' which for similar rreasons had to be renamed on release in the UK...

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0wRStGT1Bg Sometimes] it [[Gone Horribly Right|fails to be a parody]].

* Period drama ''[[Upstairs, Downstairs]]'' has one of these, and it's a [[Theme Tune Cameo]], at that! In her music hall act, Sarah performs the stately march of the opening theme as a rollicking [[Bawdy Song]], "What Are We Going to Do with Uncle Arthur?"

And a riddle-diddle Donegal!<br />

THE ENGLISH ARE ALL... BOLLOCKS. }}

{{quote| '''Servo, Servo, Servo and Girl-Servo:''' I love to mush me buggles in me sweetie's Christmas pie...}}

* ''[[Frasier]]'' and Niles:

Do you get a funny feeling when they're hanging from the ceiling?<br />

Oh you'll never be a sailor if your balls hang low! }}

== [[Music]] ==

* [[Steeleye Span]]'s "Drink Down The Moon" uses "cuckoo's nest" as an [[Unusual Euphemism]]. "She said young man you blunder/ And he said it isn't true/ And he left her with the makings of a young cuckoo ..."

** [[Folk Music]] is usually pretty filthy. Fairport Convention recording the song Bonny Black Hare in which a young hunter goes in search of the titular hare, which happens to live under the apron of a fair maiden.

* Samantha Fox's songs are definitely this trope. The titles of her songs might be enough to clarify.

** "[[Double Entendre|Big Balls]]".

{{quote| The balls held for pleasure<br />

* Probably the songs Dropkick Murphys are best known for, including "Kiss Me, I'm Shitfaced" and "The Spicy McHaggis Jig" ("Spicy was big, burly, and strong / His pipes were gigantic and so was his schlong / From city to city, running around / Always looking for chicks over [[American Customary Measurements|four hundred pounds]].")

* Kevin Bloody Wilson. Go and look him up on [[YouTube]].

** "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DYrlt3CyaE Sexy Data Tango]"

* There is a famous bawdy parody of Cole Porter's "You're the Top," including such lines as, "You're the burning heat of a bridal suite in use."

* The [[Sex Pistols]]' "Friggin' In The Riggin'" which is perhaps the best-known version of the old song "The Good Ship Venus."

* There are ''loads'' of bawdy songs from older times; many were "catches" - rounds which, when all the parts were added in, had [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|dirty lyrics start to pop out of otherwise clean verses]]. Others were just blatantly filthy; still others were "clean"-ish when explained, such as [http://www.theweebsite.com/ragnar/songs/my_man_john.html My Man John].

* Any number of rap songs, infamously. (Not all are this, but many are.)

* [[Jonathan Coulton]]'s "First of May." "Celebrate spring with a crazy little thing called...{{spoiler|"fucking outside"}}

** Beautifully [[Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion|Subverted Rhyme]] - the expected word would be "Love," to rhyme to "grass below you, sky ''above''".

* ''The [[Howard Stern]] Show'' has [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf9n9a7QROU a whole bunch] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEE6AyK85j8&feature=related of these] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXunV8gDYGU&feature=related about Robin Quivers.] A notable one is "I Want Robin's Bunghole" to the tune of "Welcome to The Jungle".

* A fairly mild verse or two of one of these these (well, compared to some of the others) is used in the radio play ''All Is Calm''. Since everything else in the play is based off of actual historical text from the time period, which is the very beginning of World War One, it's probably legit, but surrounded by all the other Christmas hymns and accounts of trench life it's one of the funniest moments in the entire thing. The loud Christmas songs drowning out the dirty bits of each verse don't help either.

* And then on [[Round the Horne]] there was Kenneth Williams' character of Rambling Syd Rumpo, an itinerant folk singer of questionable old English ballads packed with double entendre and general murkiness.

== [[Theater]] ==

{{quote| '''Verse:''' Here's to the charmer whose dimples we prize; Now to the maid who has none, sir; Here's to the girl with a pair of blue eyes, And here's to the nymph with but one, sir.<br />

'''Chorus:''' Let the toast pass, Drink to the lass, I warrant she'll prove an excuse for a glass! }}

* In ''[[Hamlet]]'', after Ophelia goes insane, she starts singing these to Hamlet (who broke her heart).

* Speaking of Shakespeare, the Elizabethan bawdy song "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svdvMz7RJNg Watkin's Ale]" {{spoiler|(That's just the tune, you pervs)}} became so popular that "a tale of Watkin's ale" was used to denote the entire genre.

* [[Gilbert and Sullivan]] of all people manage to slip one of these in to ''[[Princess Ida]]'' as Cyril (plastered and in drag while infiltrating a womens university) sings to an audience of startled students and teachers. Surprisingly this isn't the incident that actually gets him found out either.

* And then there's the infamous Earl of Rochester and his 1673 ode to a [http://ethnicity.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Texts/dildo.html Signior Dildo].

** Of course, as it's Simlish, it could be incredibly sexually explicit and ''nobody would know.''

*** That's a [[Stealth Pun]]. It's a Row-dy Song.

* Oblivion has "A Less Rude Song". Someone transcribed it at http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:A_Less_Rude_Song

** And [http://www.imperial-library.info/dfbooks/b068_rudesong.shtml the song it's less rude than] appeared in Daggerfall, an earlier game in the Elder Scrolls series.

{{quote|I don't know but I've been told <br />

Deirdre's got a Network Node <br />

== [[Web Comics]] ==

{{quote| ''She's got shoo-fly pie / Apple pandowdy / Makes your balls rise up and your pecker say howdy / You can huff and you can puff and you can strut your stuff / But you can't eat enough of her wonderful muff!}}

== [[Western Animation]] ==

** While a rarely-sobered up Barney Gumble manages to cartwheel all the way up through the first verses of the "Major-General's Song" from [[Gilbert and Sullivan]]'s Savoy Operetta ''[[The Pirates of Penzance]]''.

** The same limerick is referred to in another episode:

'''Buster''': Sure! There once was a man from Nantucket -- <br />

'''Babs''': No, no! The ''other'' song! }}

{{quote| It's a long, long way to Ba Sing Se / But the girls in the city they look so pretty / And they kiss so sweet that you've really got to meet / The girls from Ba Sing Se! }}