Great Green Gobs of Greasy, Grimy Gopher Guts

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"Great Green Gobs of Greasy, Grimy Gopher Guts" is an anonymous folk song popular among school children. It is usually sung to the tune of "The Old Gray Mare."

There are many local and regional variants among the lyrics, although most of them feature the phrase "greasy grimy gopher guts" in the opening line. The song derives its power to amuse children through alliterative description of disgusting foodstuffs, usually parts of human or animal bodies not customarily eaten in the areas in which it is sung.

The song appears on the Smithsonian Folkways collection A Fish That's a Song, a collection of traditional children's songs from the United States, where it is performed by Mika Seeger.^[1] The Smithsonian recording came from an earlier recording called The Sounds of Camp, originally released in 1959. No author nor copyright in the song is credited on the Smithsonian recording. The lyrics performed by Mika Seeger are:

Great green gobs of greasy, grimy gopher guts,
Mutilated monkey meat
Dirty little birdies' feet.
Great green gobs of greasy, grimy gopher guts,
And me without my spoon!^[2]

Additional popular camp-fire lyrics include:

Dirty little pidgeon's feet (instead of birdies' feet)

All mixed up with a pile of poison possum pus.

1 See also
2 Notes
3 Other references
4 Trivia

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

^ A Fish That's a Song, Smithsonian Folkways recording no. SFW45037.
^ Booklet notes to the Smithsonian Folkways recording (PDF)

[edit] Other references

Josepha Sherman and T.K.F. Weisskopf, Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts: The Subversive Folklore of Childhood (August House, 1995).
Pifer, Lynn."Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts: The Subversive Folklore of Childhood." review of book by Sherman and Weisskopf). Journal of American Folklore. Washington: Winter 1997.Vol.110, Iss. 435; pg. 105
del Negro, Janice. "Professional reading -- Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts: The Subversive Folklore of Childhood by Josepha Sherman and T. K. F. Weiskopt." book review in The Booklist. Chicago: Apr 15, 1996.Vol.92, Iss. 16; pg. 1448
Ian Turner, June Factor, Wendy Lowenstein, Cinderella Dressed in Yella, 2nd Edition (Heinemann, 1978).

[edit] Trivia

This song was was sung by Bloo from the animated televison show Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends to calm down an imaginary friend named Cheese. It calmed him down for a moment, but when he sung "and I don't got a spoon", Cheese started screaming as he did before.