re left, left, left my wife etc.

[Rowan McMullin]

The version I'm familiar with goes
"Left, left, left, right, left
He had a good job but he left
He had a good job but he left
First they hired him, then they fired him
That's the reason he
left, left, left, right, left."

-Rowan

On 2/18/07, Judith Marie <Judith_H_Marie at compuserve.com> wrote:
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Judith Marie <Judith_H_Marie at COMPUSERVE.COM>
> Subject:      re left, left, left my wife etc.
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Hi, I'm a new member and thrilled to find you.. I found out about your
> organization when I was searching for the exact words to the old marching
> ditty: "Left, left, left my wife, etc."
>
> And Google came up with an exchange of mail in your organization (dated
> from sometime last year) reciting a transcription somewhat different from
> the one I remember which is:
>
> Left, left, left my wife and 49 kids an old gray mare and a peanut stand.
> Did I do right, right, right from the country where I come from, hayfoot,
> strawfoot, shift by jingle (you make a little jump from right foot to left
> foot at this point and start the ditty over) left, left "
>
> This is from Akron, Ohio, in the 1940s. Are any of you familiar with this
> version? And what do hayfoot and strawfoot mean anyway?
> Judith Hamilton
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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