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.
A recording of the song by
Mika Seeger
Mika Seeger is an American ceramic artist. Although not primarily a musical artist, she did record a definitive version of " Great Green Gobs of Greasy, Grimy Gopher Guts". She is the daughter of filmmaker Toshi Seeger and Pete Seeger, a legendar ...
was included in a 1959 Folkways release entitled ''The Sounds of Camp'',
as a short track titled "Jingle" in the digital version.
This recording was subsequently rereleased on a 1990
Smithsonian Folkways compilation titled ''A Fish That's a Song'', a collection of traditional
public domain children's songs from the
United States, with liner notes that include the lyrics:
Great green globs of greasy, grimy gopher guts,
Mutilated monkey
Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...
meat.
Dirty little birdie feet.
French fried eyeballs rolling down a dirty street,
And me without my spoon.
See also
*
Children's street culture
*
Dead Skunk
References
{{reflist
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
Wendy Lowenstein (born Katherin Wendy Robertson Lowenstein; 1927—2006) was an Australian historian, author, and teacher notable for her recording of people's everyday experiences and her advocacy of social activism. She pioneered oral history ...
, ''Cinderella Dressed in Yella, 2nd Edition'' (Heinemann, 1978).
Traditional children's songs
Children's street culture
American folk songs
English children's songs