Mademoiselle from Armentières

DESCRIPTION: The mademoiselle "hasn't been kissed [or other appropriate verb] for forty years." The soldiers complain about her or cajole her to do their laundry; they complain about their superiors (and their relations with the lady?) and grouse about army life
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1919
KEYWORDS: bawdy soldier humorous nonballad
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1914-1918 - First World War, during which this ballad clearly arose
FOUND IN: US(So) Canada(Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES (19 citations):
Randolph/Legman-RollMeInYourArms I, pp. 513-515, "Mademoiselle from Armentieres" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, pp. 440-442, "Hinky Dinky, Parlee-Voo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morgan/Green-RugbySongs, pp. 72-73, "Three German Officers" (1 text)
Hopkins-SongsFromTheFrontAndRear, pp. 26-27, "Mademoiselle from Armentières" (1 text, 1 tune); p. 139, "Three German Officers Crossed the Rhine" (1 text, tune referenced; Hopkins implies this is a separate song, but most of the verses are standard "Madamoiselle")
Brophy/Partridge-TommiesSongsAndSlang, pp. 48-50, "Mademoiselle from Armenteers"; "Madame, Have You...?"; "The Sergeant-Major's having a time" (3 texts)
Arthur-WhenThisBloodyWarIsOver, p. 76, "Mademoiselle from Armenteers"; p. 77, "Farmer Have You Any Good Wine"; pp. 102-103, "Madamoiselle from Armenteers" (3 texts)
Scott-TheBalladOfAmerica, pp. 331-333, "Mademoiselle from Armentieres" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-FolkSongUSA 38, "Mademoiselle from Armentieres" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-AmericanBalladsAndFolkSongs, pp. 557-560, "Hinky Dinky Parley-Voo?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Shay-BarroomBallads/PiousFriendsDrunkenCompanions, pp. 78-79, "Mademoiselle from Armentieres" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett-IHearAmericaSinging, pp. 152-153, "Hinky Dinky Parlay-Voo!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Johnson-BawdyBalladsAndLustyLyrics, pp. 110-111, "Hinky Dinky" (1 text)
Niles/Moore-SongsMyMotherNeverTaughtMe, pp. 15-22, "Mad'moiselle from Armentieres (40,000 Marines Can't Be Wrong") (1 very long composite text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 277, "Mademoiselle from Armentieres" (1 text)
Fuld-BookOfWorldFamousMusic, pp. 344-345, "Mademoiselle from Armentieres"
Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes, #325, "Mademoiselle from Aremetieres, parley vous" (1 text)
Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood, p. 188, "Mademoiselle from Armentières, parlez-voo?" (1 text)
LibraryThingCampSongsThread, posts 12-13, 23, 35, "Parley-vouz" (2 mentions, from users Crypto-Willobie and John5918, posted August 28, 2021; Crypto-Willobie offered the verse "The French they are are funny race, parlyvouz"; John5918's was "Three German officers crossed the line... shagged the women and drank the wine")
ADDITIONAL: George Allan England, _Vikings of the Ice: Being the Log of a Tenderfoot on the Great Newfoundland Seal Hunt_ (also published as _The Greatest Hunt in the World_), Doubleday, 1924, p. 128, "(no title)" (1 short text, probably partial)
Roud #4703
RECORDINGS:
Benny Bell, "Hinky Dinkey Polly Voo" (Cocktail Party Songs 101, n.d.)
Bell Record Quartet, "Hinky Dinky Parlez Vous" (Bell 285, 1924 - but it's possible this is Benny Bell's post-WWII recording for his similarly-named label)
Broadway Quartet, "Hinky Dinky Parlez Vous" (Banner 1382/Regal 9678, 1924)
Jan Garber & his Orch. "Hinky Dinky Parlay Voo" (Victor 19405, 1924)
Happiness Boys [Billy Jones & Ernest Hare] "Hinky Dinky Parlay Voo" (Columbia 132-D, 1924)
Lawrence Loy & Wilbur Waite, "Hinky Dinky Parlez Vous" (Columbia 20638, 1949)
[Billy] Murray and [Ed] Smalle, "Hinky Dinky Parlay Voo" (Victor 19388, 1924)
Sweet Violet Boys, "Hinky Dinky Parley Voo, Part 1/Part 2" (Vocalion 03281, 1936; this number was also used for Part 1 only, with the reverse side another song; Part 1 is also on Conqueror 9067, 1938; Columbia 20283/Columbia 37704, 1947. Part 2 was also issued as, "Hinky Dinky Parley Voo #2", Vocalion 03327, 1936; Columbia 20284/Columbia 37705, 1947)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (approximate tune)
cf. "Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye" (approximate tune)
cf. "Johnny, Fill Up the Bowl" (approximate tune)
cf. "Snapoo" (approximate tune; theme)
cf. "The Little Red Train" (tune)
cf. "Three Pirates" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Laff It Off ("If you find your bank roll's, bent, Just laff it off") (Harbin-Parodology, #94, p. 27)
What's Become Of Hinky Dinky Parlez Vous? (What Has Become of Hinky Dinky Parlez Voo?) (Al Bernard & J. Robinson, Cameo 572, 1924; Carl Fenton & his Orch., Brunswick 2618, 1924; Billy Jones, Vocalion 14817, 1924); (Billy Jones & Ernest Hare, OKeh 40128, 1924)
One Grease Ball (Niles/Moore-SongsMyMotherNeverTaughtMe, p. 38)
I Bought a Scab for Fifty Cents (by Odell Corley, then 11 years old) (Kristina Horton, _Martyr of Loray Mill: Ella May and the 1929 Textile Workers' Strike in Gastonia, North Carolina_, McFarland & Company, 2015, p. 199. For background, see the notes on "Chief Aderholt")
NOTES [183 words]: Both plot and tune of this song show a relationship with "Snapoo" (indeed, they sometimes mix, and Roud lumps them); it is reasonable to ask which came first and which influenced the other. As both appear at about the same time, however, it is effectively impossible to settle the matter.
Fuld has extensive notes about the origin of this song, with some interesting folkloric twists; the legends, while possible, are not convincing.
I have a very strange suggestion, which may be completely irrelevant, but it looks as if this might be relative to a shanty. "On Shanties," article in E(neas) S(weetland) Dallas, editor, Once a Week, New Series, Number 31, August 1, 1868 (published by Bradbury and Evans and available on Google Books), p. 92, refers to a song "All you Ladies now on Land,"
Have you got, lady, a daughter so fine,
Slapandergosheka,
That is fit for a sailor that has crossed the line,
Slapandergosheka, etc.
Which sort of seems like a cross between this and "Lady of the Land (Here's a Poor Widow)." I won't claim to be sure they're related, but I thought I would mention it. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: RL513

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