Go Get the Ax
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Lesley Nelson-Burns
Information
Lyrics
This nonsensical tune dates back to the early 1900s.

This page also includes another set of lyrics The Horses Run Around.

Peepin' through the knot-hole
of grandpa's wooden leg,
Who'll wind the clock when I'm gone?
Go get the ax
There's a flea in Lizzie's ear,
For a boy's best friend is his mother.

Peepin' through the knot-hole
of grandpa's wooden leg,
Why do they build the shore so near the ocean?
Who cut the sleeves
Out of dear old daddy's vest,
And dug up Fido's bones to build the sewer?

A horsey stood around,
With his feet upon the ground,
Oh, who will wind the clock when I'm gone?
Go get the ax,
There's a fly on Lizzie's ear,
But a boy's best friend is his mother.

I fell from a window,
A second-story window,
I caught my eyebrow on the window-sill.
The cellar is behind the door,
Mary's room is behind the ax,
But a boy's best friend is his mother.

The Horses Run Around

The horses run around,
Their feet are on the ground,
Oh, who will wind the clocks when I'm away, away?
Go get the ax,
There's a fly on the baby's chest
And a boy's best friend is his mother, his mother.

While peeping through a knot-hole
In grandpa's wooden leg,
Oh, who has put the shore so near the ocean, the ocean?
Go get the Listerine, sister's got a beau
and Grandma's false teeth will soon fit Jenny, fit Jenny.

While walking in the moonlight,
The bright and sunny moonlight
She kissed me in the eye with a tomato, tomato
A snake's belt slips because he has no hips
So he wears his neck tie around his middle, his middle.
From Folksongs of Britain and Ireland
See Bibliography for full information.
The Horses Run Around thanks to Mary Tyson!