Knife & Fork, Like My Peaches & Shake My Tree (1944) and more

[Van Vertloo, Brian J. (UMR-Student)]

As I recall, Mr. Tucker did indeed clean his countenance in a frying pan.  I don't remember anything about a toothpick, though...
 
Old Dan Tucker was a mighty man,
Washed his face in a frying pan,
Combed his hair with a wagon wheel,
Had a toothache in his heel.
 
[Chorus]
Get out the way, ....etc.
 
I sang this song in grade school some 12 years ago; they may have left the death part out of the verse for the childrens' sake.

--On Tuesday, February 15, 2005 1:24 AM -0500 Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:

> Sam, Sam,
> The dirty man,
> Washed his face in a frying-pan,
> Combed his hair with the back of a chair,
> And danced with the toothache in the air.
>
> My son John is a nice old man,
> Washed his face in a frying-pan,
> Combed his hair with a wagon-wheel,
> And died with the toothache in his heel.

What are these verses, exactly, and the others quoted?  Some sound like
children's rhymes, but I know part of the second version of this one as
part of the song Old Dan Tucker.  I only remember that Old Dan Tucker
combed his hair with a wagon wheel, and as I understood it at the time,
died with a toothpick in his heel.  He probably washed his face in a frying
pan, but I wouldn't swear to it this many years later.  The chorus was:

Git out the way, Old Dan Tucker,
(repeat 2x)
You're too late to git your supper.

Peter Mc.

*****************************************************************
Peter A. McGraw       Linfield College        McMinnville, Oregon
******************* pmcgraw at linfield.edu ************************