Bang Away, Lulu (II)

DESCRIPTION: A teasing-song version of "Bang Away, Lulu I," i.e.: "Lulu's got a rooster. / Lulu's got a duck. / She put them in the bathtub / To see if they would --." Chorus: "Bang, bang Lulu," etc. (Note that the last line of each verse is left unfinished)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (recording, Bang Boys?)
KEYWORDS: bawdy humorous wordplay
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Cray-EroticMuse, pp. 180-182, "Bang Away, Lulu II" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Legman-RollMeInYourArms I, p. 353, "Bang Away, Lulu" (the "F" text is this piece; the others are "Bang Away, Lulu (I)")
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, Gloria Dickens, "Childhood Songs from North Carolina" Vol. XXI, No. 1 (Apr 1973), p. 5, "Lulu had a steamboat" (1 text, which ends with stanza that doesn't have a hidden word and doesn't mention Lulu)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 131, "(Lucy had a steamship)" (notes only)
Roud #4835
RECORDINGS:
Bang Boys [pseud. for Roy Acuff] "When Lulu's Gone" (Vocalion 03372/OKeh 03372, c. 1937; Conqueror 9123, 1938; rec. 1936)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Bang, Bang Lulu" (on NLCREP3)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bang Away, Lulu I, III"
cf. "I Had a Little Monkey" (lyrics)
NOTES [118 words]: I am guessing, on circumstantial evidence, that the Bang Boys recording falls under this entry rather than the other "Bang Away, Lulu" songs -- but you should look there, too. - PJS
Robert A. Heinlein, in To Sail Beyond the Sunset (p. 144 of the Ace paperback edition) claims that this song was in existence some time before 1918. This seems likely enough, but of course (it being a work of fiction) Heinlein does not document it. And the book was written some seventy years after that, and Heinlein was only 11 years old in 1918. Sure, he might have learned it by then -- but I wouldn't bet on it. I mention it because it *might* be an earliest date, but I want to point out how tenuous that dating is. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.3
File: EM180

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