"I must, I must, I must increase my bust" (1970)

[Wendalyn Nichols]

In the interests of historical accuracy (yeah, right), I submit the full
rhyme as I learned it, circa 1972:

We MUST
We MUST
We MUST increase our BUSTS
The BIGger the better the BOYS will love us we MUST increase our BUSTS!

-WRN

At 04:05 AM 1/5/05, you wrote:
>On Jan 4, 2005, at 10:40 PM, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       Bapopik at AOL.COM
>>Subject:      "I must, I must, I must increase my bust" (1970)
>>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>--------
>>
>>I MUST INCREASE MY BUST--688 Google hits, 299 Google Groups hits
>
>FWIW, my wife remembers this chant from early in her adolescence,
>ca.1958, in Kingston, a town in the Wyoming Valley region of NE Penna.
>
>-Wilson Gray
>
>>...
>>Ben Zimmer is doing "must-see," but he leaves out another "must."
>>Gotta  keep
>>Fred Shapiro abreast of these things. Is this from the late
>>1960s?..Nowadays, of course, people don't chant this and do stretching
>>exercises  to increase
>>bust size. Alas.
>>...
>>...
>>(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
>>_The  Young Teen Scene_
>>(http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?
>> > index=0&did=90628448&SrchMode=1&sid=1&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=3
>> > 09&VName=HNP&TS=1104895579&cl
>> > ientId=65882)
>>By DOROTHY BRODERICK. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York,
>>N.Y.: Nov
>>8,  1970. p. 325 (3 pages)
>>Third page:
>>The best book of the seven and a good book by any terms, is _ARE YOU
>>THERE
>>GOD? IT'S ME, MARGARET_ by Judy Blume (Bradbury, $4.50). (...) The
>>chant, "I
>>must--I must--I must increase my bust!" accompanied by the appropriate
>>exercises  will evoke in older females memories of similar
>>experiences.