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silversurfer63 t1_j1sjhmg wrote

But also quickly forgotten after WWII by all but British.

This is the only part I learned 55 years ago:

Hitler has only got one ball,

the other is in the Albert Hall,

his mother, the dirty bugger,

Took the other when he was just small.

There are other verses as well as other versions of the part I know.

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Hellright t1_j1sq5yr wrote

Hey I remember this song too 🌝 (80s kid used to live in England, my grandad was a tank commander in WW2 served from 1939-1946). I actually know the rest of the lyrics too (as far as I remember them lol), I’ll paste them below with yours (albeit a little modified).

🎶 Hitler has only got one ball,

the other is in the Albert Hall,

his mother, the silly bugger,

cut it off when he was small,

she threw it, in the deep blue sea,

the fishes,

looked suspicious,

And had scallops and bollocks, for teaaaaaaaaaa!!!!! 🎶

I know another one too.

🎶 in the German nick,

where they hang you by the dick,

and the rats play snooker with your balls,

and you’re dying for a wank,

but your minds gone blank,

but they hang dirty pictures on the wall 🎶

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silversurfer63 t1_j1stozc wrote

Not sure if odd or not but I learned this in scouts. whilst camping in Welsh countryside, we learned it from a scout of another troop. When one boy learned it, we all eventually learned it. I heard all the verses, however, only learned the first. The 'German nick' verse doesn't fit with Hitler Goebbels Goering Himmler verses, it may have a very well crafted improvisation suited for teenage boys.

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Hellright t1_j1svqxr wrote

You know I was in the scouts too, could have easily heard it there.

Oh yeah sorry, should have specified that it was just another wartime song I’d heard.

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Hookton t1_j1uj4bp wrote

I know the second one as:

>In the Turkish jails

>Where they hang you by the nails

>And they paint dirty pictures on the walls

>Where your hair grown thick

>From your belly to your dick

>And the mice play billiards with your balls

Wonder where that one came from.

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Hellright t1_j1umqm1 wrote

Wow very interesting! Thanks for posting that. I’m really not sure, would love to know lol.

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PM_Me_British_Stuff t1_j1u8we4 wrote

That's basically the same as what I learnt (dirty bugger vs filthy bugger, and chopped it off vs took the other)

Although there was another version I heard:

Hitler, he's only got one ball

Gorring's got two but rather small

Himmler, is very similar

And Goeball's got no balls at all!

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silversurfer63 t1_j1ub5e1 wrote

I heard this version as well but my memory could only retain one

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dokuromark t1_j1upz5x wrote

This is the one I heard on the playground growing up in the American South in the 1970s.

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raptorrat t1_j1uvfuv wrote

It's the version presented by George Carlin. There might be an overlap there.

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dokuromark t1_j1v4ma4 wrote

Ah! Good call. I didn’t know Carlin had done that bit.

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Hurin88 t1_j1w87f3 wrote

This is the version I heard from my parents, both born in Glasgow during the war.

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rants_unnecessarily t1_j1tboal wrote

>chopped it off when he was small.

Chucked it over the chestnut tree,

It landed into the deep blue sea,

And then the fishes,

got out their dishes,

and had molluscs and bullocks for tea!

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sleepytoday t1_j1tsp3q wrote

Close to the version I know! We had:

Chopped it off when he was small
She threw it into a conker tree
It ended up in the deep blue sea
And then the fishes
Got out their dishes
And had scallops and bollocks for tea.

Though, I was never quite sure how it was in the Albert Hall if the fish had eaten it!

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silversurfer63 t1_j24p53c wrote

i hadn't heard the one version with conker tree but makes sense being a British tune.

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atomfullerene t1_j1t6vdh wrote

>But also quickly forgotten after WWII by all but British.

Not quite, I learned the stanza from wikipedia as a 90's kid in the USA. I have absolutely no idea where.

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Nukemind t1_j1tf73c wrote

I learned it as an American kid in the 2000’s in the Boy Scouts. We sang it all the time to the point even the Scoutmaster yelled at us to “Leave poor Hitler alone!”

To his credit he realized what he said afterwards and we all laughed.

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MetalSpider t1_j1txwyt wrote

That's close to the one I always heard. Didn't know the original dated all the way back to WWII though.

We sang a slightly different version:

Hitler has only got one ball,

The other is in the Albert hall.

His mother, the dirty bugger

Cut it off when he was small.

She threw it

Into the deep blue sea

Where the fishies

Had scallops and bollocks for tea.

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Verodimus t1_j1v00tp wrote

The version I learned was:

Hitler has only got one ball

Goering has two, but very small

Himmler's are very similar,

And Goebbels has no balls at all.

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LentilDrink t1_j1u83ck wrote

I learned it on the schoolbus in the US, didn't know any British kids

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