I've been a-courting Mary-Jane

[venta]

So, an important point, I'm sure you'll agree.

Please fill in what, if anything, you would sing/shout between verse and chorus:

(Edit: sorry, polls play merry hell with formatting and can't be edited after the fact.)

[Poll #1304903]

I think I learned this song from my parents. They sang an extra line in between the verse and chorus, but not one between the chorus and the verse.

Years later, singing this round a campfire with the Scouts, I learned a new set of fill-in lines. These are now the ones I'd sing without thinking (and the ones I filled in on the poll[*]). I thought no more about it, and decided it was another strange thing my parents had made up to fool me.

Recently (at oxfordgirl and mejoff's wedding, no less) someone started singing On Ilkley Moor and I was quite astonised to hear libellum yelling[**] something quite different in between the verse and the chorus.

I was talking to someone else recently, who came up with a third set[***] (which I have annoyingly now forgotten) and it got me wondering. How many variants are there ? Are they geographically distributed ? If you have friends who like a bit of a sing and might know On Ilkley Moor, send 'em along here to fill this poll in and I'll be most grateful.

I'm sure that there will be a moral to this tale.

[*] By which, of course, I mean will have filled in, since at the time of writing the poll doesn't yet exist.
[**] That's a bit unkind. It was quite a melodious noise. Not quite singing, though, so let's go with yelling.
[***] Though, interestingly, despite knowing the song she didn't know that the words to While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks fit really well to the tune. If you didn't know this either, give it a try. While glory shone around, while glory shone around, while glo-ry shone a-round.

Comments

[venta.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. valkyriekaren's answer reminds me. I expect the chorus, when properly performed, to go:

On Ilkley Moor Baht 'at
[Where's that?]
On Ilkley Moor Baht 'at
[On a map!]
On Ilkley Moor Baht 'at
[Where the ostriches play football]

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

Ah, I'd forgotten about the last bit - though we sang "where the pigs fly backwards"

[venta.livejournal.com]

There does seem to be a general consensus that the last bit should be:

Where the [cats|ducks|cows|pigs|ostriches] [play football|fly backwards].

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

How many syllables does "ostriches" have, the way you sing it?