Mmm, And a Little Bit More

DESCRIPTION: "I'd like to be a (friend) of yours, mmm, and a little bit more. (x2), I'd like to be a little flower, Blooming round your door... mmm, and a little bit more." Or "I'd like to be a college man, Umm, and a little bit more." Or "I want a little red canoe."
AUTHOR: original words: Alfred Brya / Muaic: Fred Fischer
EARLIEST DATE: Original form 1907; the first college and camp versions go back to at least 1921
KEYWORDS: friend bawdy campsong
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Harbin-Parodology, #202, p. 53, "I'd Like to Be a Friend of Yours" (1 text)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 236, 340, 389, "Mmm, and a Little Bit More"/"I want to be a friend of yours, mmm, and a little bit more" (notes only)
ADDITIONAL: _St. Andrews Cross_ magazine, volume 39, July 1924 edition (available on Google Books, which dates it 1923), p. 349, "A Typical Day at Camp Houghteling" (1 text, with the chorus adapted to Houghteling)
The _Indiana University Songbook_, Womans Self Government Association, 1921 (available on Google Books), p. 184, "I'd Like to Be a Friend" (1 text)
_Everygirl's: The Magazine of the Camp Fire Girls,_, Volume XIII, Number 9, May, 1926 ("Special Camping Number") (available on Google Books), p. 34 (in an advertisement for "Felt Swimming Symbols for Your Bathing Suit"), (no title; first ine is "I want to be a Pollywog") (ad also appears on p. 31 of the June 1926 issue)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
I Want to Be a College Man
NOTES [219 words]: This is a true chameleon of a song, recognized by form (in particular, the use of the second line "mmm/umm, and a little bit more") rather than by contents. In the camp song version, the singer wants to be a friend, and the "little bit more" is just to be a close friend. In the "college man" version, the singer wants to be not just a college man, but a fraternity man, and perhaps to date a sorority girl (and do a little bit more than dating! -- I don't know how bawdy the bawdy versions get, but the direction things can go is quite obvious). Another version has a girl wanting to go to college. The "red canoe" version could be a request for a toy -- or a way to court a girl.
The original "And a Little Bit More" was written by Alfred Bryan (words) and Fred Fisher (music), published by T. B. Harms in 1907; it was recorded by Arthur Collins and separately by Collins & Harlan; it was a fairly significant hit in 1907 (Edward Foote Gardner, Popular Songs of the Twentieth Century: Volume I -- Chart Detail & Encyclopedia 1900-1949, Paragon House, 2000, p. 276, estimates that this was the the #4 song in America in June 1907) -- but it was substantially changed to make it into the camp song (e.g. the "Mmm" replaces an instrumental chord). It's not clear what other changes happened in that process. - RBW
Last updated in version 7.0
File: Paro202

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