Roll Your Leg Over

DESCRIPTION: In this quatrain ballad, singers hypothecate that if the girls were ducks, rabbits, bricks, etc., they would be drakes, hares, masons, and euphemistically enjoy lustful pleasures.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: bawdy humorous nonballad animal
FOUND IN: Australia [from an American student] Canada US(MW,So,SW)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Cray-EroticMuse, pp. 301-309, "Roll Your Leg Over" (5 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Legman-RollMeInYourArms II, pp. 643-647, "Roll Your Leg Over" (2 texts)
Hopkins-SongsFromTheFrontAndRear, p. 167, "Roll Your Leg Over" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, ROLYRLEG
Roud #10410
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Hares on the Mountain"
cf. "Creepin' and Crawlin'"
cf. "The Twa Magicians" [Child 44]
NOTES [115 words]: This more or less recently composed bawdy song -- the earliest text recovered dates from the second world war -- is ultimately descended from "The Twa Magicians" (Child 44). See Cray-EroticMuse, pp. 306 ff.
G. Legman offers extensive notes in Randolph/Legman-RollMeInYourArms II. - EC
Paul Stamler suggests that this is a strongly bawdy version of "Hares on the Mountain." The dependence, in lyrics and form, is obvious, but this text apparently has taken on a life of its own in army circles. I must admit that I question the connection with "The Twa Magicians." Cray concedes there are no intermediaries between "The Twa Magicians" and the "Hares on the Mountain/Sally My Dear" complex. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: EM301

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