Four-balls

[Jonathon Green]

I recall the 'one-ball' song at a British preparatory (i.e. age 8-13) school
in 1959 (I was 10/11). We always used the present tense in all lines,
despite the 14 years that had passed since the Fuhrer's demise. I don't, on
the other hand, recall any reference to the testicle in question being
'left' (or indeed 'right'); the song began (to the tune of 'Colonel Bogey'):
'Hitler / Has only got one ball...'. I do have a vague (and possibly
incorrect) memory of 'The other is in the Albert Hall' - although that
rather screws upo the scansion once we get to Goering.

WW2 was still relatively 'contemporary' (our fathers - and sometimes
mothers - had in many cases been involved in the fighting) and we were also
aware of a number of other once-popular bawdy songs of the period, notably
'Parlez-vous' (starting: 'The German officers crossed the line,
parlez-vous...' which also, as I recall, involved testicular deprivation,
although I believe that song may date to WW1. That said I think it was sung
to a modified version of the tune of 'The Runaway Train', which should allow
someone with better musical knowledge than myself to provide a proper
dating. And again, at 42 years distance, even that general memory - the
music, though not the song itself - may be wrong.).

Jonathon Green