Life on the West Island - Nonsensical

A few months ago, a senior friend of Life on the West Island was given a budgerigar to keep her company. She has since been trying to teach it to talk, without much success. But each time we call to see her, we repeat over and over: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

So far, the cute little blue bird has remained mute, but we remain hopeful that one day Paulie will open his little beak and squawk the biggest word you’ve ever heard: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

You might remember the nonsense song from Mary Poppins which introduced us to this phenomenal word:

It's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious
If you say it loud enough, you'll always sound precocious
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I
Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I
Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I
Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I

Because I was afraid to speak when I was just a lad
Me father gave me nose a tweak, told me I was bad
But then one day I learned a word that saved me achin' nose
The biggest word you ever heard and this is how it goes

Oh, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious
If you say it loud enough, you'll always sound precocious
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious…and so on for several verses.

Is it possible that the nonsense song has gone out of fashion? We can recall the good old days (even as long ago as the time when cars did not have radios – much less the myriad of electronic gizmos of today) and we all sang along together with the windows down. For instance:

Om pa, om pa, tiddly pom. Om pa, om pa, tiddly pom

Two blue pigeons...one was black and white, pom!

Sandy he belonged to the mill, the mill belonged to Sandy still.

Sandy he belonged to the mill, and the mill belonged to Sandy.

Om pa, om pa, tiddly pom…(repeat endlessly).

Then there was the naughty but ill-fated doggie:

A dog he stole a sausage ‘cos he was underfed.
The cook she saw him steal it,
And now the dog is dead.

Now all the other doggies were very sad that night.
They raised a little tombstone and on it they did write:
A dog he stole a sausage’cos he was underfed…(repeat over and over)

Along with the Girl Guides and Boy Scouts, we rendered hearty versions of:

Ging gang, goolie goolie goolie goolie watcha / Ging gang goo, Ging gang goo

Ging gang, goolie goolie goolie goolie watcha / Ging gang goo, Ging gang goo
Heyla, heyla sheyla / Heyla sheyla / ho!
Heyla, heyla sheyla / Heyla sheyla / ho!
Shallawalla, shallawalla! / Shallawalla, shallawalla!

Oompah-oompah! / Oompah-oompah!

Ging gang, goolie goolie goolie goolie watcha / Ging gang goo, Ging gang goo…(etc.)

Back at home, we had The Goons on the wireless with The Ying Tong Song:
There's a song that I recall my mother sang to me,
She sang it as she tucked me in when I was ninety-three:
Ying tong, ying tong, ying tong, ying tong, ying tong yiddle i po,
Ying tong, ying tong, ying tong yiddle i po, yiddle i po,
Ying tong, ying tong, ying tong, ying tong, ying tong yiddle i po,
Ying tong, ying tong, ying tong yiddle i po, yiddle i po...(this went on for many more verses).

Perhaps it’s not politically correct now, but we all knew the magic words in the chorus of The Witchdoctor:

Ooh ee ooh ah ah ting tang walla walla bing bang
Ooh ee ooh ah ah ting tang walla walla bang bang
Ooh ee ooh ah ah ting tang walla walla bing bang
Ooh ee ooh ah ah ting tang walla walla bang bang…

Who wouldn’t sing along with that? Then there was that party favourite cautionary tale:

It was early last September, As near as I remember,

When I wandered down the street in tipsy pride

Not a soul was I disturbing, as I fell down by the kerbing

And a pig came up and sat down by my side.

Not a word then did I utter, as I lay there in the gutter

When a high-toned lady came up and I heard her say:

“You can tell someone who boozes by the company he chooses” –

And the pig got up and slowly walked away…

Surely there’s joy to be had for all West Islanders who can join boisterously in the nonsense words of these great classics of the past? Admittedly, many of the hit songs of today sound like nonsense, but they have been written as serious works, not deliberately composed in gibberish. If you disagree, we say (in the great words of Gilbert and Sullivan):

Sing hey to you – good day to you

Sing bah to you, ha! ha! to you

Sing boo to you, pooh, pooh to you

And that’s what we would say!