May Day

[alixtii]

Hooray, hooray, it's the first of May!
Outdoor f---ing starts today!

[Anybody have a cite for this ditty? I learned of it from The ILLUMINATUS! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, but it incorporated much outside material and quick Google search seems to confirm that it's older and much more widely known.]

Comments

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

I know it as 'Outdoor sex begins today', which possibly scans better, and I believe it was a well-known piece of graffiti for many years in some parts of the UK.

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I'm abysmally bad at figuring out scansion, but it seems to be in trochaic pentameter (with the last foot in the line dropping its unstressed syllable), which fits the singsongy feel of the ditty:

HOOR-ay, HOOR-ay, IT'S the FIRST of MAY!

Which means:

OUT-door **** ing STARTS to-DAY.
OUT-door SEX be-GINS to-DAY.

At first, pronounce "begins" as a trochee struck me as awkward, but the more I think about the more natural "b'gins t'day" seems to be. So I think they're about even.

[jamaillith.livejournal.com]

Coming from a friendslist of a friendslist of a friend (mmm, internet surfing).

I know it from this song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO6NkjbD6l8) (NSFW lyrics, obviously) by Jonathan Coulton. I was listening as I saw your post, so thought I'd mention it. :)

[alchemia.livejournal.com]

alas alas the 1st of november
outdoor f---ing ends, remember

Sorry, i got nothing.

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

That one I hadn't heard of until my googling this morning. (And the scansion doesn't seem to work as well, either; iambs and trochees seem to be mixed together without reason.)

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link!

[alchemia.livejournal.com]

Just sharing amusement, but you lost me on scansion!