> Mike Waterson > Songs > Rumpsy Bumpsy Toralee (Tumble and Cut Me Bum)

Rumpsy Bumpsy Toralee (Tumble and Cut Me Bum) / Wop She ’ad It-io

[ Roud 1212 ; Ballad Index CopSe241 ; DT WOPSHEAD ; trad.]

Bill Smith from Shropshire sang Ram She Ad-a-Dee in two recordings made in 1958 and on 7 September 1979 that were included in 2011 on his Musical Traditions anthology A Country Life,

George ‘Pop’ Maynard sang Rumpsy Bumpy on 18 May 1960 at The Cherry Tree in Copthorne. This recording by Brian Matthews was published in 2000 on Maynard’s Musical Tradition album Down the Cherry Tree and a year later on the Musical Tradition anthology Just Another Saturday Night: Songs From Country Pubs.

Bob, Ron and John Copper sang Wop She ’ad It-io in 1971 on their family’s 4 LP box on the Leader label, A Song for Every Season.

Mike Waterson sang Rumpsy Bumpsy Toralee on 14 March 1988 live at the Góilin, Dublin, Eire. This recording was included in 2004 on the Watersons’ 4 CD anthology Mighty River of Song. Is it Norma singing the chorus with him?

Andy Turner learned Wop She ’ad It-io from the Copper Family’s album and sang it on 14 July 2012 as the week 8 entry of his project A Folk Song a Week.

John Kirkpatrick sang Bum She Addity on his 2017 Fledg’ling CD Coat-Tails Flying, where he noted:

A handful of traditional singers have owned up to having a version of this glorious bit of naughty nonsense—usually under a title such as Rumpsy Bumpsy, or, in the case of the Copper Family, Wop She ’Ad It i-o. What you hear on this recording is a bit of a mixture (with a sparkling new verse to the glorification of turpentine), but it’s based largely on the way the South Shropshire singer Bill Smith had the song, calling it Ram She Ad-a-dee. He was born in Diddlebury in 1909 and used to go to some of the singing sessions in the local pubs that were such a feature of country life before the age of the jukebox. You can hear him singing it—twice, in recordings twenty-one years apart—on the Musical Traditions CD Bill Smith: A Country Life, released in 2011. Bill died in 1987.

Lyrics

Bill Smith sings Ram She Ad-a-Dee

Now I once did court a bonny lass and a bonny lass was Sue
Her name was Tittle-ma-tarra-ma-ti and mine was Tarra-ma-too
I once did go a courtin’ her when her old man was at home
He says if I catches you here again by gad I’ll tittle your …

Chorus (after each verse):
Ram she ad a dee, ad a dee, ad a dee
Ram she ad a dee ay
Ram she ad a dee, ad a dee, ad a dee
Ram she ad a dee ay.

So Kitty and I we made it up as a ladder I should being
We fixed it up to her window and by gad it was just the thing
We tittled and chaffed and chaffed and laughed until at last by gum
My foot slipped through her window and I fell and I caught me …

They took me to the doctor’s shop and there I told me case
By gad I couldn’t help but laugh when I looked the chap in the face
I thought I was making a fool of him but a fool of him by gum
I thought he was making a fool of me when he turpentined me …

So they wheeled me home in a wheelbarrow and they wheeled me home with care
The people they all laughed and they stared when they brought me there
’What ever have you been doin’ now?’ said my brother Tom
I said ’I’ve been a courting and I fell and I caught me …

Bob, Ron and John Copper sing Wop She ’ad It-io

Now once I courted a pretty girl I courted her quite well,
Her name was Kitty-mariga Maria and mine was Bobby Wells,
One night when I was courting Kit when her father was at home,
He said, “If I catch you here again I’ll tickle your bot-tum.”

Chorus (after each verse):
With a wop she ’ad it I tell you I ’ad it O wop she ’ad it-io
O wop she ’ad it I tell you I ’ad it O wop she ’ad it-io.

Now Kit and I we did agree a ladder for to bring,
We placed it under the window and by gum, it was just the thing.
We laughed and chattered and chattered and talked when all at once, by gum,
My foot slipped through the ladder and I fell and cut my bot-tum.

They wheeled me home in a wheelbarrow they wheeled me home with care,
And when I got to the farmyard gate, oh, didn’t the old folks stare.
My brother Jim came running out and said what have you done,
“I’ve been a-courting Kit,” said I, “and fell and cut my bot-tum.”

They took me to the doctor’s and there I showed my case
And didn’t they do a grin when I showed ’em my Sunday face.
They thought I was making a fool of them, but a fool of them, by gum,
I thought they were making a fool of me when they turpentined my bum.

Now Kit and I we did agree for to get wed,
She made me a sling to put my bum in and through it I cocked my leg.
As we were walking down the street the kids did shout, “By gum,
There goes the man with his bum in a sling that fell and cut his bot-tum.”

Mike Waterson sings Rumpsy Bumpsy Toralee

First time I went to courting, why, I didn’t do too well.
Anny Mick was skinny malink and [mine were?] Tommy Bell.
Why, her father catched me courting her and after me he run
And he says, “If I catch thee with her again I shall whack thee round the …”

Chorus (after each verse):
Bumpsy tooralee me titty falloora lee me,
Rumpsy bumpsy diddledee umpsy rumpsy tooralee.

So me and the lass, while we chit and we chat, we thought about a plan
And I got meself a ladder, it were twenty rungs and ten.
I put it up at her window sill and says, “Now, me love, I’ve come,”
And then me foot slipped through the window and I tumbled and cut me …

So they took me to the surgery that been so very near
Well, she says, “Whatever have you done?”, I says, “I’ve cut me rear.”
Well, she says, “You’ve cut your [ache?], lad, however was it done?”
I says, “Me foot slipped through the window and I tumbled and cut me …”

So she took me into the doctor, there I told me case
While he looked so very gloom as he stared me in the face.
Well, he thought I was making a fool of him, a fool of him by gum,
But he made a far bigger fool of me when he turpentined me …

So they took me home in a wheelbarrow, for that I didn’t care
For as we tumbled down the street the people at me stared.
And all the kids formed chorus and after me they run
Shouting, “Here comes a man with his leg in a sling and he’s only got half a …”

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Wolfgang Hell for the transcription of Mike Waterson’s verses. He comments: It is the same song basically as the Copper Family’s Wop She ’ad It-io that is already in the DT. However it is so different that I do not understand all even with the DT lyrics for comparison. This is my attempt at a transcription, full of errors and missing bits. I’d be glad for any corrections.