Diddley Competition!

Poststructural Pub
1

Think you know diddley? Here’s your chance to test your mettle. I thought I’d contribute a selection of ITM basics –a double jig, a single jig, a reel and a hornpipe- as they might be lilted. These selections are well-known tunes. Well, the double jig may not be so well known by some, but don’t let that stop you! The idea is to see if you can figure out what tunes fit the mnemon…oh, just call them “diddleys”, already. Winner gets my recipe for a time-honored Minnesota specialty, lutefisk chili. I can’t begin to tell you how good it is, but I can say that it’s got enough cumin in it to make it smell like an armpit, and when we’re talking lutefisk, well, do the math. Advisory: try to get a tractable neighbor to prepare the lutefisk for you ahead of time. Trust me.


Double jig (hint: D Mixolidian, and the title suggests indignation):

Dydle dee Dum, dee Diddle dee Diddle dee
Diddle dee Dydle dee Diddle-ee Dum-a-dee
Diddle dee Dum, dee Idle dee Idle dee
Dydle dee Idle dee Deedle dee Dum-a-dee

Diddle dee Biddle dee Riddle dee Idle dee
Yiddle dee Idle dee Fiddle dee Dum, dee
Yippity Skippity Skitter dee Eider dee
Idle dee Dum-a-dee Rydle dee Dum (a-dee)

Single Jig, and an hommage to my cat (hint: Dmaj, and the title could suggest indignation):

Rufty Bufty Kitter dee Cat
She sure Knows that She’s where it’s At
Not too Skin-ny, and not too Fat, but
Yowzer, Wowzer, Hairball goes Splat.

Scritchety Scratchety Snitchety Snatchety
Nibbles the Kibble that’s There in her Bowl
Purry and Furry and In such a Hurry, she’d
Just as soon Waste a Mouse as a Mole.


Reel (hint: Gmaj, and the title is a proper noun possessive, which may or may not be cause for indignation):

Yow, biddle Deedle idle Dum, diddy Itty bitty
Wow, biddle Deedle idle Dum, diddle Bitty itty
Um, deedle Eedle idle Ow, diddy Itty bit—
Deedle idle Diddley iddy Yeedle idle Dye, diddle

Um, deedle Eedle idle Aye, beedle Eedle idle
Dum, diddle idle biddle Aye, diddle Iddle idle
Aye, itty Bitty kitty, Aye, iddy diddley biddy
Deedle idle Biddley idle Idy eedle Um (a diddle)

Hornpipe (hint: Gmaj, and the title could also be the result of indignation):

(yup-a-dee) Deedle dydle Eedle idle Iddy biddy Um, diddley
Yum a Dum a Hydee Hodee Up a Diddle O-rum yup-a-dee
Diddy biddy Yip a Dydle Up a Dydle O, tidy
Bider rider Eider deedle Eedle idle O (yup-a-dee)

Tighty whiteys Boxers socks or Pantyhose caNadian—
Laundry’s still aWaiting me but I’m not so hyGeineian, oh
Scruffy duffy Diddle idle Eedle idle O-rum diddley
Deedle idle Idle eedle Yup a diddley Ooh.


That’s it. To the winner goes the spoils. So to speak.
2

Okay, here’s a chance for you to do some community service. Is the timing really just based on the number of syllables? So “Dydle” and “Idle” both have two syllables and seem to take the same amount of time to say–so they represent notes of the same time value, is that right? So, some of the words you are just varying to make it more fun to say? Is there a rhythmic difference between “Diddle dee” and “Diddle-ee”? But is “dum” twice as long as “dee”? Is there some book that talks about this?

3

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

4

Cynth my dear,
The difference betwixt the two opposing rhythms is down to a conflict between the Minnesotan (sp?) accent,with its mouth full of Lutefisk, and the born in Ireland - Belly full of Guinness - accent, which tends to do all that diddle de dum a doh a dey de doudle dum a doh accent far better than those who really should have more sense.

I won’t even begin to get into the Semantics of it all.

Shlan,
D.


HIC…

5

… I thought as much! :laughing:

6

Pretty perceptive…for a Mod :wink:



Slan,
D.

7

Thenk yew, thenk yew berry mooch! :smiley:

8

I’d bet JES could distinguish between a hic, belch and a fart from well over 100 yards…meters even

You’re playin’ to his strong suit!

9

Experience is everything…a fine man to moderate the Board is our Joe.

Slan,
D. :laughing:

10

Ya vel, ya tink dem Scots hav trubl vit da haggis
you should try lutefisk…

…aw, never mind…nobody should try lutefisk…

11

Rather Lutefisk than a misplaced sense of where the diddles go in relation to the dee de dum de doodle doh de doodle dum de do.

Each to their own.

Slan,
D. :wink:

12

diddly dee de di de do
we don’t do lutefisk
don’t ya know

I have a feeling I’m gonna regret this! :astonished:

13

All bets are now off

Thank you very much.

Slan,
D. :laughing:

14

Well, let’s see some guesses, O wise guys! :laughing:

15

The single jig works for Tripping Up The Stairs…

16

I believe I have figured it out. ITS A TRICK! These are all variations on the same song tune. Here are the lyrics:

Bo Diddley done had a farm,
On that farm he had some women,
Women here, women there,
Women, women, women everywhere.
But one little girl lived on a hill,
She rustled and tustled like Buffalo Bill,
One day she decided she’d go for a ride,
With a pistol and a sword by her side.
She rolled right up to my front door,
Knocked an’ knocked ‘til her fist got sore,
When she turned and walked away,
All I could hear my baby say:
Hey Bo Diddley, Oh Bo Diddley,
Hey Bo Diddley, Oh Bo Diddley.
Saw my baby run across the field,
Slippin’ and slidin’ like an automobile,
Hollerin’, my baby got towed away,
Slipped on from me like a Cadillac-8.
Hey Bo Diddley, Oh Bo Diddley,
Hey Bo Diddley, Oh Bo Diddley.

djm

17

It’s a trick, all right. And I don’t see why hidehi hodeho isn’t just as good, if not better, than diddley diddley. There is a problem with the accent, but you would just take that into account.

These are the real lyrics:
Minnie The Moocher

(words & music by Cab Calloway & Irving Mills)

Hey folks here’s the story 'bout Minnie the Moocher
She was a lowdown hoochie coocher
She was the roughest toughest frail
But Minnie had a heart as big as a whale

Hidehidehidehi (Hidehidehidehi)
Hodehodehodeho (Hodehodehodeho)
Hedehedehedehe (Hedehedehedehe)
Hidehidehideho (Hidehidehideho)

She messed around with a bloke named Smokie
She loved him though he was cokey
He took her down to Chinatown
and showed her how to kick the gong around

Hidehidehidehi (Hidehidehidehi)
Whoah (Whoah)
Hedehedehedehe (Hedehedehedehe)
A hidehidehideho (Hidehidehideho)

She had a dream about the king of Sweden
He gave her things that she was needin’
He gave her a home built of gold and steel
A diamond car with platinum wheels

A hidehidehidehidehidehidehi (Hidehidehidehidehidehidehi)
Hodehodehodehodehodehodeho (Hodehodehodehodehodehodeho)
… (…)
… (…)

He gave her his townhouse and his racing horses
Each meal she ate was a dozen courses
Had a million dollars worth of nickels and dimes
She sat around and counted them all a million times

Hidehidehidehi (Hidehidehidehi)
Hodehodehodeho (Hodehodehodeho)
Hedehedehedehe (Hedehedehedehe)
Hidehidehideho (Hidehidehideho)

Poor Min, poor Min, poor Minnie

18

Cynth…

Ye just don’t get it ..do ye?

De deh do doodle de diddly doh doodle de doh
Doh de doodle de diddle doh do de de doodle
De doh diddle de doodle de doh do de
Diddle de doh da de do de doh de.


Now Cynth my dear,

Exactly what part of that do you have a problem with?

Slan,
D.

19

Bollocks. I thought this was a test of our knowledge of Bo Diddley. Thought I was in with a chance too. :imp:

20

Well, pretty much the whole thing. :laughing: I mean I get that when the syllables roll trippingly off the tongue you will have a nice bouncy rhythm of some sort. I think I would have to hear it. It seems like there are so many single syllables in a row in your example. I think that is a trick one. :laughing: I can see that diddley would be for a triplet. What would be for a quarter note—would that be dum? And do for an eighth note?

I do notice that not a lot of guessers have come forward. This is not making me think that this is something like the Greg Shorthand System that everyone has studied but me. :laughing: