The tawdry and sordid tale of Miss... what was her name again?

[kjpepper]

game goes like this. Fill in the poll at the bottom with what you think should go in each numbered blank

Miss (1) had a steamboat, the steamboat had a bell
Miss (1) went to Heaven and the steamboat went to

Hello operator, please give me number nine
And if you disconnect me, (2),

Behind the 'fridgerator, there was a piece of glass
Miss (1) sat upon it and (3)

Ask me no more questions, tell me no more lies
the boys are in the (4), (5) their

flies live in the (6), the bees live in the park
(7) are kissing in the (8)

The dark is like a movie, a movie's like a show
a show is like a TV (9), and that is all I know (10)

I know i know my mother, I know i know my Pa
I know i know (11), with the (12) (13)

i saw her in the ocean, i saw her in the sea
i saw her skinny dipping, woops pardon me! (14)


[Poll #1082595]


I'm making this post public, and anyone with LJ can vote, so pass around a link back to this. I'm actually really interested in what different versions people know/have heard. also if you want to point out any differences that aren't indicated by a blank, do so... LJ will only let you put in 15 questions so I had to pick the more pertinent ones.

Comments

[kjpepper.livejournal.com]

My "other" answer: I've always sang "the boys are in the bathtub but that could be a misremembering/mishearing.

[athene.livejournal.com]

no, that's what I remember too.

[kittikattie.livejournal.com]

We also went to this verse....

"The flies are in the stadium,
The (something)'s in the rain,
The r****es and the redbugs,
are in a baseball game.
The score was 19-nothing
The r****es were ahead,
the rebugs hit a homerun
and knocked me outta bed.
I fell into the sewer,
and there I died,
They didn't call it murder,
they called it sewer-cide.

(Sorry, can't type that word. Also, the something may have been the fleas.)

[supremegoddess1.livejournal.com]

roaches?

[kittikattie.livejournal.com]

yeah, I'm terrified of those things, and can't stand even typing the word. It's a deep phobia.

[athene.livejournal.com]

nice to know someone else with an irrational fear of those things!

[kittikattie.livejournal.com]

It's kinda rational. One got stuck in my ear when I was 11.

[athene.livejournal.com]

ewwww. ewwww. ewwww.

Re: Oh, and for the part where Suzie sat behind the fridge

[supremegoddess1.livejournal.com]

that was what we had, too

Re: Oh, and for the part where Suzie sat behind the fridge

[growing-wise.livejournal.com]

ditto for me. Makes no sense!

Re: Oh, and for the part where Suzie sat behind the fridge

[kittikattie.livejournal.com]

Same here.

Re: Oh, and for the part where Suzie sat behind the fridge

[extrajoker.livejournal.com]

Actually, now that I see this, I do think I've heard this version as well. What I first remembered, though, was "cut her little," so I selected "cut her on the," as the verb is the same.

Re: Oh, and for the part where Suzie sat behind the fridge

[dotty-alice.livejournal.com]

I learned, "and broke her little". Different variation on a theme.

Re: Aww, I missed the last bonus questions! :o(

[kjpepper.livejournal.com]

you can go back and fix them. Click on the poll number and choose "fill out poll."

[lomundra.livejournal.com]

Lets see, the operator breaks off her little ass (or ask, as it is), the flies are in the meadow, and also the bees are in their hives. Then the version I know is that it goes d a r k d a r k dark dark darker then the ocean darker then the sea, darker then the underwear my mother puts on me!

The other verses are part of a different rhyme I used to know...

[mad-cow666.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the way I know it the last verse is "d a r k d a r k...", except I've heard the flies are both in the city and the meadow, the bees are always in the park, and Miss Lucy sits upon a piece of glass...

[dionethoughts.livejournal.com]

We always used the name Suzy.

others/variations:

[athene.livejournal.com]

4. Bathtub
6. Meadow
9. The dark is like a movie, the movie's like a show. The show is almost over and that is all I know...
10. I know my Ma I know I know my Pa. I know i know my sister with the 40 acre bra.

I feel like there was a verse after bra, but it wasn't the one that you said. hmm...maybe not.

[somechicksings.livejournal.com]

6 - the flies are in the meadow, the bees are in the park
10 - know know know! (continues)
12 - forty-nine inch bra

what an interesting study! i've always wondered about this, as well, and who made it up, and how many different versions there are, and how it travelled from schoolyard to schoolyard. it would be great to know where everyone who answers grew up... CT for me.

[supremegoddess1.livejournal.com]

For #3, it was "and broke her little"

for #9, it was just "like a TV," with nothing else after it.

Oops coding errors

[mad-cow666.livejournal.com]

For me the variations start at the 5th verse:


Flies are in the city, bees are in the park
Miss Lucy and her boyfriend are kissing in the
D-A-R-K-D-A-R-K dark dark dark dark

Darker than the ocean, darker than the sea
Darker than the underwear my mommy puts on me!

And that's where it ended.

Some of the other options sound familiar from other songs...like the alligator reminds me of the one of the lady with the alligator purse (I think that was a jump-rope song).

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

For me, it was always, "Miss Lucy sat upon it and broke her little--ask me no more questions," and "the flies live in the meadow".

Although I don't really understand how you can break your ass from sitting on something, but this is a kid's song here, not Plato's Republic. ;-D

[futurebird.livejournal.com]

The last verse I never sang because it was vaguely racist

"Darker than the ocean darker than the sea darker than the naked boys chasing after me!" (scream)

That's how the white girls sang it. God that brings back bad memories.

[gal-montag.livejournal.com]

The version I know went either Miss Suzie and her boyfriend are kissing in the dark or mom and dad are having fun kissing in the dark and then we'd end it with DARK DARK D-A-ARK!

[carolatina.livejournal.com]

Fun poll!

(3) and she broke her little
(6) in the meadow
(12) 48-inch (sounds remarkably like "40-acre," now that I think about it...which do you think came first?

Also, since I do believe it matters in regard to differences in games/songs like these, I grew up in a suburb of Boston. It's also interesting to hear what people say for the last line of the line-and-response version of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." That is, "You'll go down in history!" "Like [name of famous historical figure here]!" We always sang, "Like the Pilgrims!", dorky Puritans that we are. :-)

[keeni84.livejournal.com]

We say that, too, and I'm from the Midwest.

[carolatina.livejournal.com]

Really?! Interesting! I'd never met anyone outside of New England who used that line, too! Cool! :-D

[ticasdaze.livejournal.com]

I'd only ever heard people say "Like Columbus!" which used to piss me off to no end. LOL!

[carolatina.livejournal.com]

I'd forgotten that one--pissed me off, too! :-)

[jaicat.livejournal.com]

I always sang "Like George Washington..." with everyone else, and then added "...Carver" just to stand out from the rest. :)

[carolatina.livejournal.com]

Awesome. :-)

[keeni84.livejournal.com]

Mine ends "Flies are in the city, the bees are in the park, Mrs Lucy and her boyfriend are kissing in the D-A-R-K-D-A-R-K-Dark! Dark! Dark!

Darker than the ocean, darker than the sea, Mrs. Lucy and her boyfriend are kissing over me!

my "others"

[littledrummrboy.livejournal.com]

3) Broke her little...
6) Meadow
8) It was D-A-R-K^3 dark, but the song continued.

my versionnever went beyond that is all I know, but I seem to remember having heard the version that continued to the big-ass bra, and I think it was a something-gallon bra.

[kshandra]

1. Missy
3. ...cut her little...
4. So help me, the verse ended here the way I knew it:

Ask me no more questions, tell me no more lies,
And if you disconnect me I'll paddle your behind

[innostrantsa.livejournal.com]

You're not the only one-- I remember the "ask me no more questions" bit too, but on another version of The Misadventures of Miss Suzie.

[innostrantsa.livejournal.com]

So, answers. When "Miss Susie sat upon it,", she "...broke her little ask me no more questions..." and then: "The flies are in the meadow, the bees are in the park..."

Heh. I remember, one of the last times I saw my friend David, we got hella drunk and played this in the kitchen while I was making linguine and meatballs.

Good times.

[misadventurelad.livejournal.com]

We always sang "Miss Susie sat upon it and broke her little ass(k) me no more questions..."

[nireena.livejournal.com]

hate to say it, but the version i learned for (3) was "Miss Suzy sat upon it, and broke her big fat as(k)".

and (5) was "zipping down". yeah, i know, weird. but oddly logical. if you zip up, why not zip down?

(6) was "The flies are in the meadow, the bees are in their hive". after that verse, here be dragons because i don't remember what comes after. but i definitely don't remember the other verses you have listed. i just remember the song ended with D-A-R-K^3 DARK!

remember the one: "Miss Sue, Miss Sue, Miss Sue from Alabama / Sitting in her rocker, eatin' Betty Crocker / Watching the clock go tick-tock..." there was something about a doctor, but that may have been a different rhyme.

[kjpepper.livejournal.com]

oh I remember Miss sue from alabama! I was singing it for Carole this morning. Though there isn't a doctor in it... at least not the way I learned it.

[dotty-alice.livejournal.com]

5) was "zipping up their"
6) was "Flies live in the meadow, the bees live in the park..."

And the song ended with DARK.

[dyvinesweetness.livejournal.com]

(12) 18-hour (bra).

[extrajoker.livejournal.com]

I remember the threat to the operator as "kick you in the ass...k me no more questions" -- Because of the extra syllable, the words would have to be sped through in order to keep the scansion.

I don't remember anything after "flies," really...though seeing "meadow" in the above comments seems vaguely familiar.

As for the "D A R K dark dark dark" bit, I know that from another rhyme, more than a little bit racist, which begins "My boyfriend's name is Chico...."

[austingoddess.livejournal.com]

6) Pretty sure the flies are in the garbage.

[richirch2.livejournal.com]

My next door neighbors were two girls...

[willow-kat.livejournal.com]

The way I learned it, it wasn't behind the fridge, but "behind the yellow curtain".

Also, when I was a kid, it only went to "D-A-R-K SPELLS DARK!", but when I was in high school, the kids I knew sang it up to the sister, which they sang as "I know I know my sister with the 40-metre bra!"

[htl-1126.livejournal.com]

#3 I had broke her too.

[queenlyzard.livejournal.com]

This is so cool! Plus, two verses I didn't know (the 6th one and the last one). Also, we thought it was a "90 acre bra"-- which always struck me as a bit much!

It's interesting, I was trying to remember this recently, and it came back to me in bits and snatches at a time. For the longest time, I thought the sister had a "something-something jaw"...

ps

[queenlyzard.livejournal.com]

3. "broke her little..." which makes even less sense than chopping off someone's behind.
6. "The flies are in the meadow, the bees are in the park"