Jill sent this rhyme with this note: "I am a Londoner from Camberwell, and this little rhyme (Not Last Night But the Night Before) was told to me by my parents along with "Nobody Loves Me, Everybody Hates Me, Think I'll go and eat worms" etc. which I am sure most people know. We also loved..."
Little Fly Upon the Wall,
Ain't you got no clothes at all?
Ain't you got a shimmy shirt?
Lummy, ain't you cold?
Notes
Emma Ives wrote:
"Another version of 'Little Fly' taught to me by my mum in the 60s and passed down from her Mum (in the thirties):
Little fly upon the wall
Ain't you got no friends at all?
Ain't you got no father, mother?
Ain't you got no sister, brother?
Ain't you got no shabby shirt?
Ain't you got no petticoat?
Little fly, d'you want to die?
Squishy squashy - bye bye!
(And then you'd pretend to squish the fly on the wall)."
Thanks and Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Jill for contributing this rhyme and to Emma Ives for her mum's version!
Image from "A First[-fifth] Reader, Book 1" (1888) by Jenny H. Stickney, Robert Irving Fulton, Thomas Clarkson Trueblood (graphically edited by Mama Lisa).
