I met friends for coffee yesterday. One of our party was full of Gloom and Doom. He kept singing 'folkie songs', songs from the first World War and quoting gloomy poetry.The rest of us were trying to start the new year with a lighthearted atmosphere. To make everyone laugh I quoted:
"I went to the pictures tomorrow
And sat in the front row at the back
I fell from the pit to the gallery
And broke a front bone in my back"
I wanted to know whether anyone knew where it came from. The older members in our group looked blankly at me and said they'd never heard it before. One other, Jenny who is the same age as I, knew it. Neither of us know it's origins. I had wondered over the years whether it was something my
father and uncle had made up to amuse us as children. But obviously not.
I also remember a bit more of nonsense verse and am not sure if it is connected to the first verse or a separate rhyme
"I went round a straight crooked corner
To see a dead donkey die
I pulled out my knife to shoot him
And he kicked me right in the eye "
I'm also groping around in my memory for another verse along the lines of "sixpence and a crooked house"? Does anyone remember them and any other similar rhymes.