Inappropriate Songs of my Younger Days Part One

I read recently that the references in "Ring around the Rosy" - you know, the ones supposedly related to the Black Death of medieval times - are in fact, not.  I did not dig deep into the scholarly discussion because frankly I want it to be wrong.  I just like the idea of ideas being passed along for centuries in the lyrical version of children's songs.

It did get me to thinking about a few songs from my own childhood.  Ones that dealt with difficult concepts, things that would be highly inappropriate for children in these cossetted, PC times.  A few examples.

1. "Oh it was sad. So sad.  It was sad when that great ship went down. (to the bottom of the...) Uncles and Aunts, little children lost their pants, it was sad when the Great Ship went down...."

We used to sing this when I was small, and you still hear it once in a while.  It of course references the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.  The original version of the song was intended to be taken seriously.  It was being recorded as early as 1913, and exists in assorted versions.  Here's one from a few years before I was born.

2. "We're Uncle Charlie's Boudoir, Marauders in the Night, we're..(redacted!!!!).

This song was sung at the Charles Sommers Wilderness Canoe Base.  It has of course been altered to include Mr. Sommers, but the original version appears to have been sung quite commonly in military training camps here in the U.S. during WWII.  I recently re-watched part of Band of Brothers where they sang something very similar while running up the mountain during paratrooper training.  All versions of this song contain a fair amount of obscenity.

How this got to be sung at a Boy Scout canoe base it is impossible to say.  As scouts we sang lots of, well, camp songs.  This is the only one I can recall that was R-rated. And certainly not something we'd sing when the Scout Master was around.

Charles Sommers was not a WWII vet.  What little information I can find on him indicates that he was Chairman of Region 10 of the Boy Scouts of America since said region was established in 1921. He is said to have been a very "dignified" man.  I don't imagine he'd think much of being remembered - long after his death - as the ribald "Uncle Charlie" involved in this little ditty.

Ah, but I've saved the Worst for Last.  And for next installment.  Shameful gym class memories dredged up!