Can Anyone Give Info about a Song about a Mother Bathing Her Baby and the Baby Goes Down the Drainpipe?
Bettina wrote to me asking about a song:
20 years ago I was in Sale, Manchester as an Au Pair. Lorraine, the Mom in “my” family sometimes sang this song to her two boys Zac and Jake when they had their bath. I have never seen or heard it since then. Can anyone tell me something about this song? I didn’t ask her at the time and they don’t live at the address from back then anymore so I can’t ask her now.
Here it comes:
A mother was bathing her baby,
Bathing her baby one day.
The mother was fat, and the baby was thin,
Just like a skeleton wrapped up in skin.She only turned ’round for a minute,
To fetch some soap of the rag.
She only turned ’round for a minute,
But oh when she turned back…The baby had gone down the plughole,
The baby had gone down the plug.
He wasn’t too small to be bathed at all,
But should have been bathed in a jug.Now sailing away down the drainpipe,
Happy as happy can be,
Sailing away down the drainpipe,
Into the deep blue sea.I hope to get wiser on this quite dramatic song.
Bettina Damm
Sydals, Denmark
If anyone knows anything about this song, please let us know about it in the comments below. If anyone would like to sing this song for us, we’d love to hear it!
Thanks in advance!
Mama Lisa
July 23rd, 2008 at 10:02 am
The song was recorded in about the 1950’s by a singer named Dorothy Shay.
Coincidentally, the 4 record 78 rpm album is for auction on ebay.
The lyrics are not nearly as dark as the ones you heard, but perhaps hers were a more acceptable version.
July 26th, 2008 at 5:13 am
A mother was bathing her baby one night
the poor little thing was a terrible sight
the mother was poor and the baby was thin
was only a skeliton covered in skin
The mother turned round for the soap on the wrack
was only a moment but when she turned back
her baby had gone and in anguish she cried
Oh where is my babe? and the angels replied
Your baby has gone down the plughole
your baby has gone down the plug
the poor little thing was so thin and so small
he should have been bathed in a jug
your baby is perfectly happy
he won’t need a bath any more
he’s floating away down the drainpipe
not lost but gone before
——————————————-
I thought that the ending was too sad so ai added a further couple of verses
The mother then cried to the angels above
oh how can I live without Arnald to love?
the angels said Gladys don’t make such a fuss
don’t go out and throw yourself under a bus
Arnald is perfectly happy
and things aren’t as bad as they seem
and when you wake up in the morning
you’ll find that it’s only a dream
don’t go out and throw yourself under a bus
July 18th, 2009 at 8:21 am
OMG my dad used to sing this to us when we were kids, I didn’t realise it was a real record but thought it was made up, brings back many memories of the early 70’s when I was only young
September 3rd, 2009 at 8:50 pm
I heard this song sung in 1998 and it was quite a few verses long. The version I got from my (English) dad was only two verses long but the pommy bloke I heard it from either made up a lot more but it did sound genuine.
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:54 pm
there was a version of this song played on the dr demento radio show back in the 80’s.. i have a tape of it.. perhaps searching through the dr demento archives online might locate it & it’s history?