"Miss Lucy had a baby...", also known by various other names, is an American schoolyard rhyme. Originally used as a jump-rope chant, it is now more often sung alone or as part of a clapping game. It has many variations, possibly originating from it, or from its predecessors.Henninger, Jessie. "Miss Susie Had a Steamboat: I. Structure" at The Raveled Sleeve. 29 November 2008. Accessed 16 January 2014.Henninger, Jessie. "Miss Susie Had a Steamboat: V. Versions of the Rhyme Used in This Essay" at The Raveled Sleeve. 29 November 2008. Accessed 12 January 2014.
The song is often combined or confused with the similar but cruder "Miss Susie had a steamboat", which uses the same tune and was also used as a jump-rope game.
Structure As in "Miss Susie", the rhyme is organized by its meter, an accentual verse, in trimeter. Accentual verse allows for set number of accents regardless of the number of syllables in the verse. It is a common form in English folk verse, especially in nursery rhymes and jump-rope rhymes. The song shares much of the same melody as the 1937 "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" used by Warner Bros. as the theme to their Looney Tunes cartoons.Smith, Ronald. Comedy on Record: the Complete Critical Discography, p. 634. Garland Publishing, 1988.
History The history of the Miss Susie similar rhyme has been studied, tracing it back to the 1950s, in Josepha Sherman's article published by the American Folklore Society.On Children's rhymes and changing sexuality perception throughout time However, several other books and articles show similar versions used as far back as the end of the 19th century.Cray, Ed. The Erotic Muse: American Bawdy Songs 2nd ed., p. 173 ff. UIP (Champaign), 1999. Accessed 13 January 2014.
"Miss Lucy" probably developed from verses of much older (and cruder) songs, although the opposite may also be true,The Erotic Muse, p. 174. Cray explicitly postulates his hypothesis of the sources for this theme, and states that in the case of many other crude songs, they were a parody on even earlier 'clean' songs. most commonly known as "Bang Bang Rosie" in Britain, "Bang Away Lulu" in Appalachia, and "My Lula Gal" in the West.Logsdon, Guy. The Whorehouse Bells Are Ringing and Other Songs Cowboys Sing, pp. 154 ff. 1995 reprint of UIP (Champaign), 1989. Accessed 13 January 2014. (NB: Logsdon's versions are set to the separate tune of the bluegrass traditional "Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms".) These songs were sometimes political, usually openly crude, and occasionally infanticidal.
In those songs, the baby, that was dropped in the chamber pot bathtub, was referencing an enormously popular mascot of Force cereal named Sunny Jim, introduced in the United States in 1902 and in Britain a few years later. Following his declining popularity, the baby is now usually encountered as Tiny Tim, once famous as a Depression-era comic strip and still well known as a character in Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. The verse was first recorded as a joke in the 1920s and as the modern children's song in New York in 1938. Although the song derives from lyrics about an unwed whore, few children consider that Miss Lucy might be unmarried; instead, the concern of the song has shifted to the appearance of new siblings. The opening lines now often change to "My mother had a baby..." or "I had a little brother..."
The variants including a woman with an alligator purse urging the baby's mother to vote have been seen as a reference to Susan B. Anthony, an American suffragette,Hollihan, Kerrie. Rightfully Ours: How Women Won the Vote, p. 78. Chicago Review Press (Chicago), 2012. Accessed 13 January 2014. It was later attributed to a social workerAbout the Miss Lucy rhyme on a lecture at the Australian College of Social Work: "How not to appear as a social worker". which was their typical dress code in the 1950sTake me to Connie Island, Miriam Packer, Guernica Editions, 1993, Page 35
A version of the song appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's 1964 film Marnie, about a woman overcoming a childhood trauma. Although the ending seems closed, some argue the song serves to ironically establish that nothing ever was wrong with the title character.Street, Sarah. "Hitchcockian Haberdashery" in Framing Hitchcock: Selected Essays from the Hitchcock Annual, p. 153. Wayne State University Press (Detroit), 2002. Accessed 14 January 2014. It also appears in country singer Chely Wright's song "Alligator Purse" from her 1996 album Right in the Middle of It.
In the 1990s the singer Lucy Peach popularized a version of the song with the words "I had a little turtle, its name was Tiny Tim". Following that, there have been versions of "Miss Suzy had a turtle, she called it Tiny Tim",Nursery rhymes (PDF, Early Childhood Development Center website) and an Egyptian Tortoise was named Tiny Tim at the Zoological Society of London Whipsnade Zoo.Tiny Tim the tortoise has grape expectations (at zooborns.com website) The Australian children's music group The Wiggles made a version called "Murray had a Turtle".
The nicknames 'Miss Lucy' and 'Tiny Tim'
The nickname 'Miss Lucy' has been used in the context of literature and art: Miss Lucy is the main character in the song "Miss Lucy Long", introduced in 1843, which has the same meter and rhythmic structure of a repeated couplet, and a very similar tune. The song was popular at blackface minstrel shows.Miss Lucy Long introduction and song at the Midwest Banjo Camp's Faculty Concert (2011, YouTube)Mahar, William J. (1999). Behind the Burnt Cork Mask: Early Blackface Minstrelsy and Antebellum American Popular Culture. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. Listed in Appendix C as the second most popular blackface song throughout the end of the 19th century. 'Miss Lucy Neal' was a popular African-American song published in 1854.Miss Lucy Neal sheet music at the Johns Hopkins University online music collection 'Miss Luce Negro' - was the nickname of a brothel owner hypothesized to be the Dark Lady in several of William Shakespeare's writings.
A version of the song has been "Miss Lucy had a steamboat". A famous steamboat disaster tied to the name Lucy occurred in 1844, when the Lucy Walker steamboat, a ship named after a race-horse owned by a Cherokee native American and run by a team of his African American slaves, blew up.
In Western Africa, the name "Miss Lucy" is the nickname of an endangered species of fish Chrysoblephus gibbiceps.New anglining contest raises species fears, Guy Rogers, 28 August 2017, Herald Tribune
The nickname 'Tiny Tim' has been used in the context of art and literature; Tiny Tim is the nickname of a fictional character Timothy Cratchit in 'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens from 1843. Herbert Khaury, the American singer and ukulele player began using the stage name Tiny Tim in 1962.
Lyrics Several versions exist, varying across time and regionally:
America (early version)
Miss Susie had a baby His name was Tiny Tim She put him in the bathtub To see if he could swim.
He drank up all the water. He ate up all the soap. He tried to eat the bathtub But it wouldn't go down his throat.
Miss Susie called the doctor. The doctor called the nurse. The nurse called the lady With the alligator purse.
Out ran the doctor. Out ran the nurse. Out ran the lady With the alligator purse.*
And now Tiny Tim Is home sick in bed, With soap in his throat And bubbles in his head.
(Also: "With a baby in her purse.")
Britain (1970s)
The Johnsons had a baby They called him Tiny Tim, Tim, Tim They put him in a bathtub To see if he could swim, swim, swim
He drank up all the water He ate a bar of soap, soap, soap "Mummy, mummy, I feel ill "Send for the doctor down the hill"
In came the doctor In came the nurse In came the lady With the alligator purse
"Doctor, doctor, will I die?" "Yes, my son, but do not cry. "Close your eyes and "Count to ten."
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10
Out went the doctor Out went the nurse Out went the lady With the alligator purse
Miss Lucy had a baby, she called himor: his name was or: she named him Tiny Tim! She put him in the bathtub to see if he couldor: to teach him how to swim.
He drank up all the water, he ate up all the soap. He tried to eat the bathtubor: and then when he was finished but it wouldn't go downor: he had bubbles in his throat.
Miss Lucy called the doctor, Miss Lucyor: the doctor called the nurse. Miss Lucyor: The nurse called the lady with the alligator purse.
In cameor: walked the doctor, in came the nurse. In came the lady with the alligator purse.
'Mumps'or: Measles - said the doctor. 'Measles'or: Mumps if the doctor said Measles- said the nurse. 'Nothing' - said the lady with the alligator purse.
or
'Cough'- said the doctor. 'Cold' - said the nurse. 'Pizza' - said the lady with the alligator purse.
Miss Lucy hit the doctor Miss Lucy slapped the nurse Miss Lucy paid the lady with the alligator purse
Out went the water. Out went the soap, Out went the bathtub,or: bubbles that wouldn't go down his throat.
Out went the doctor, Out went the nurse. Out went the lady with the alligator purse.
See also "Miss Susie had a steamboat..." "Bang Bang Lulu..." "Miss Lucy Long" See Tiny Tim (disambiguation) for several real and fictional people, institutions and projects called Tiny Tim after this song.
References
External links a mother singing and showing a book and her daughter attempting to sing as well clapping game seen - first part shows the clean Miss Lucy, and then moves to the profanity versions. teaching guitar chords with Miss Lucy (first "nice" then "naughty" versions) a band playing Miss Lucy for deaf children I had a little turtle - readout version (no tune), with movements.