Yon Yonson

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Yon yonson is an infinitely recursive poem or nursery rhyme, perhaps best known from the novel Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut.

It consists of the phrase "My name is Yon Yonson, I live in Wisconsin. I work in a lumber mill there. The people I meet when I walk down the street, they ask me my name and I say: My name is Yon Yonson, I live in Wisconsin..." repeated again and again. It was not originally written by Kurt Vonnegut.

Often sung with a pseudo-Swedish accent (e.g. j pronounced as y, w pronounced as v). The reason of this Swedish accent is revealed by the name 'Yon Yonson' which, translated into modern English, is the equivalent of 'John Johnson'. This dates the origin of the song back to the time when Swedes arrived in the New World[1].

The Canadian band The Dave Howard Singers released an industrial/punk version of "Yon Yonson" in 1987.

The Children's Band Ralph's World released a version of this on their 2003 album Peggy's Pie Parlor. The lyrics were somewhat different from what is quoted above:

"My name is Yon Yonson, I live in Wisconsin. I work in a lumberyard there. When I walk down the street, the people I meet say [spoken] 'What is your name?' and I say ..." [repeat]

The phase was also used for making a TV promotion ("Altered States") for perfume by Calvin Klein.