Kaiser Bill Went Up the Hill

DESCRIPTION: Jump-rope rhyme. "Kaiser Bill went up the hill, To see if the war was over; General French got out of his trench And kicked him into Dover. He say if the bone man come, Stick your bayonet up his bum."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (Opie, according to Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes)
KEYWORDS: war royalty jumprope | Kaiser Bill Wilhelm II Sir John French trench Dover
FOUND IN: Britain(England) Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes, #293, "Kaiser Bill went up the hill" (1 text)
Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood, p. 181, "Kaiser Bill" (1 very short text)
Roud #10798
NOTES [139 words]: Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes makes the obvious observation that "Kaiser Bill" is the British Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1949; ascended 1888, abdicated 1918). He fails to realize that "General French" is Sir John French (1852-1925), who commanded the British Expeditionary Force in 1914 and stayed in command of the British army in France until December 1915, when his inability to work well with the French or to come up with any original ideas caused him to be replaced by Sir Douglas Haig (who was no more original and even more prone to ordering bloodbaths, but at least was better at working with others).
Whether the mention of French -- and the fact that the rhyme approves of him -- means we can date the song to 1914-1915 (or, even more specifically, to 1914, before French's incompetence in his job became evident) I do not know. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: AJRR293

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