Tongue Twister Song (One Flea Fly Flew; A Flea and a Fly)
DESCRIPTION: "One flea fly flew up the flue, the other flea fly flew down (x3), Oh glory, glory how peculiar." "One sly snake slid up the slide, the other sly snake slid down." "One big bug bled black blood, the other big bug bled blue." And so forth
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1988 (Pankake/Pankake-PrairieHomeCompanionFolkSongBook)
KEYWORDS: wordplay bug campsong derivative | snake
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Pankake/Pankake-PrairieHomeCompanionFolkSongBook, p. 106, "Glory, Glory, How Peculiar" (1 text)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 167, "Tongue Twister Song" (notes only); p. 130, "([One] Blue beetle was bleeding blood)" (notes only)
DT, GLORYPEC
Roud #19921
RECORDINGS:
Judy Cook, "How Peculiar" (Piotr-Archive #379, recorded 12/07/2022)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "John Brown's Body" (tune) and references there
ALTERNATE TITLES:
One Slick Snake
File: ACSF167T
Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List
Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography
The Ballad Index Copyright 2025 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.