paper of/and pins

[Jonathan Lighter]

They used to make us sing it ("paper of") in third grade.

Let me check my archives.

JL




On Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 11:02 AM, Barbara Need <bhneed at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Barbara Need <bhneed at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: paper of/and pins
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Arnold,
>
> I don't know this particular song, but I am familiar with a paper of
> pins. It is a sheet of paper with pins stuck through it. I don't know
> if they come that way anymore, but I certainly remember using pins
> stuck through a piece of paper. The paper had been folded so that the
> pins had little ridges to go through, and I remember being very
> careful to put the pins back through the holes.
>
> Barbara
>
> Barbara Need
> Chicago
>
> On 2 Mar 2009, at 9:47 AM, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
>
> > there's a folksong that occurs in several variants, including a
> > variation between "a paper of pins" and "paper and pins".  a man is
> > wooing a woman, and promises her:
> >
> > I'll give  thee/you/to you  X ... if  you'll/you'll but/you will
> > marry me
> >
> > the "a paper of pins" version is sometimes called "the Bus Stop song",
> > because the recording of it by the Four Lads was featured in the movie
> > Bus Stop (though the song is much older than that).  the "paper and
> > pins" version has been recorded several times by the Clancy Brothers
> > and Tommy Makem.
> >
> > both versions are somewhat opaque to me.  anyone know anything about
> > the interpretation, or the history, of the song?
> >
> > arnold
>
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