ID: 1566 Date: 1960s-2006 Title: Ladies and jellyspoons Gender: Male and Female Classification: Fun Rhyme: Ladies and jellyspoons I come before you to stand behind you, To tell you something I know nothing about. On Monday, which is Good Friday, There will be a mothers' meeting, for fathers only. Admission is free Pay at the door, Bring your own seats And sit on the floor. (Ashburton, 1960s) -- Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I come before you to stand behind you, To tell you something I know nothing about. Next Monday, which is Good Friday, We'll celebrate something That doesn't need celebrating. We will bring chairs and sit on the floor. It will be free but you pay at the door. (Ashburton, 2006) -- Background Info: Turner, 1978:120 records variations beginning: Ladies and jellyspoons, bald-headed babies. (Victoria, 1973) Ladies and jellyspoons, bald-headed children, I come to address you, not to undress you. (Melbourne, 1966) Ladies and gentlemen, tables and chairs, Bald-headed babies with curly long hairs, Next in the programme Will be a female gentleman, Sitting in the corner of a round table, Eating the wet end of a dry carrot. (Melbourne, 1964) == "Play and Folklore", Issue 8, 1985:11, records a version from 1910 Texas collected by Dorothy Howard, that she comments on as a satire of adult pomposity: Ladies and jellyspoons, little, big and bigger, Knives and forks, bedbug and chigger, I stand before you, but not behind you; I come to address you, but not to undress you. The next Wednesday, being Good Friday, There will be a mothers' meeting, for fathers only, If you can come, please stay at home. Wear your best clothes, if you have none. Admission free, pay at the door. Take a seat and sit on the floor. It makes no difference where you sit, The man in the gallery's sure to spit. The next number on the programme will be, The fourth corner of the round table. We thank you for your kind attention. == Keywords: word play, tangle talk Location: Ashburton Group size: 2 Incidence: 2