[358] Abdul Abulbul Amir
The sons of the Prophet are brave men and bold
And quite unaccustomed to fear,
But the bravest by far in the ranks of the Shah,
Was Abdul Abulbul Amir.
If you wanted a man to encourage the van,
Or harass the foe from the rear,
Storm fort or redoubt, you had only to shout
For Abdul Abulbul Amir.
Now the heroes were plenty and well known to fame
In the troops that were led by the Czar,
And the bravest of these was a man by the name
Of Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.
One day this bold Russian, he shouldered his gun
And donned his most truculent sneer,
Downtown he did go where he trod on the toe
Of Abdul Abulbul Amir.
Young man, quoth Abdul, has life grown so dull
That you wish to end your career?
Vile infidel, know, you have trod on the toe
Of Abdul Abulbul Amir.
So take your last look at the sunshine and brook
And send your regrets to the Czar
For by this I imply, you are going to die,
Count Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.
Then this bold Mameluke drew his trusty skibouk,
Singing, "Allah! Il Allah! Al-lah!"
And with murderous intent he ferociously went
For Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.
They parried and thrust, they side-stepped and cussed,
Of blood they spilled a great part;
The philologist blokes, who seldom crack jokes,
Say that hash was first made on the spot.
They fought all that night neath the pale yellow moon;
The din, it was heard from afar,
And huge multitudes came, so great was the fame,
Of Abdul and Ivan Skavar.
As Abdul's long knife was extracting the life,
In fact he was shouting, "Huzzah!"
He felt himself struck by that wily Calmuck,
Count Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.
The Sultan drove by in his red-breasted fly,
Expecting the victor to cheer,
But he only drew nigh to hear the last sigh,
Of Abdul Abulbul Amir.
There's a tomb rises up where the Blue Danube rolls,
And graved there in characters clear,
Is, "Stranger, when passing, oh pray for the soul
Of Abdul Abulbul Amir."
A splash in the Black Sea one dark moonless night
Caused ripples to spread wide and far,
It was made by a sack fitting close to the back,
Of Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.
A Muscovite maiden her lone vigil keeps,
'Neath the light of the cold northern star,
And the name that she murmurs in vain as she weeps,
Is Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.
-- Percy French
|
Ah, the wonders of the World Wide Web.
I first read this poem a good 15 years ago, in one of those marvellous
rainy-day activity books that noone seems to buy any more [1]. Abdul and
Ivan then dropped off my radar screen [2] for many years, and it was
only after starting the Minstrels that I remembered the doughty duo.
From remembrance to recovery, though, was a step both short and sweet,
thanks to 'the invisible dragons of the electronic night' [3]. I love
technology.
I also love the poem. I think that's partly due to the fact that I
discovered it when I was precisely the right age - eight years old - to
get the most out of reading it out loud. And make no mistake, it _is_ a
poem to be read out loud (or sung by drunken sailors) - with a large
crowd of people joining in on the last line of each stanza.
The simple pleasures of life, neh?
thomas.
[1] You know, those big colourful tomes with titles like 'Superbook' and
'The Book Of 1001 Things To Do', chock full of poems and puzzles and
stories and pictures and do-it-yourself projects and recipes and
histories... back when all the world and time was young :-)
[2] If you must know, I lost the book which housed them. It still causes
me trauma, that.
[3] William Gibson's phrase for search engines in general and arbitrage
trackers in particular... written a good decade before Mosaic was
created.
[Links]
Like all good anonymous poems, there are dozens of versions of the
ballad of good Abdullah. One of the more famous ones is called (not
unsurprisingly) 'Ivan Petrofsky Skevar'; you can read it at
http://contemplator.com/folk3/ivan.html
The contemplator website also has MIDI files which will let you listen
to the tune as she was meant to be sung. I'd be grateful if someone
would do the needful and let me know what it's like (my computer,
unfortunately, is not MIDI-enabled).
Martin's last few posts (Tennyson's famous 'The Charge of the Light
Brigade' and Kipling's not-so-well-known sequel, 'The Last of the Light
Brigade') have also been about the Crimean War; you can read them (and
much much more) at the Minstrels website,
http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/
'Abdul Abulbul Amir' has that touch of lighthearted bloodthirstyness [4]
which children (of a certain sort, at least) so enjoy [5]. In that, it
reminds me irresistibly of Gilbert's 'Yarn of the Nancy Bell', at
poem #161
[4] The accompanying illustration showed Abdul and Ivan skewering each
other. Gruesome, but oh, so much fun :-)
[5] Roald Dahl, anyone?
[About Abdul and Ivan]
This song was written in 1877 by Percy French at Trinity College for a
college concert. His original title was Abdulla Bulbul Ameer. He sold it
to a publisher for five pounds. It was published without credit to him
and he never received royalties for its later success. Many sources
still list the author as anonymous.
My father was a Navy captain and this was one of his favorite songs.
According to the Book of Navy Songs, "This song is reresentative of the
non-nautical and non-naval songs that frequently become a favorite of
the wardrooms in the fleet. An English correspondent writes that
originally it was a ballad of the Russo-Turkish Wars." Given the date
and author, the Crimean War (1853-1856) is more likely the setting than
the earlier Russo-Turkish Wars.
This tune is also known as The Ballade of Ivan Petrofsky Skevar, for
which there are a few variations in the lyrics.
-- Lesley Nelson, www.contemplator.com
[Brief Bio]
William Percy French was born on May 1, 1854 near Roscommon, Ireland.
(William would be known as Willie until taking the name Percy as his
stage name much later). His father was a landlord and his mother's
father was a clergyman.
Despite the lack of music background in his family, Willie demonstrated
talent for music and entertaining early in life. He performed as a child
in the district and when he was a student at Trinity College. It was at
Trinity College in 1877 that he wrote Abdulla Bulbul Ameer. He wrote the
song for a concert and sold it to a publisher for five pounds. The
publisher never credited French with authorship, and despite its later
popularity, French never received any royalties. French did not publish
another song (although he wrote many) until 1888 when Andy McElroe was
published.
French graduated from college as an engineer and worked for seven years
in Cavan as the Inspector of Drains. During that time he wrote numerous
songs and painted, which he considered his true talent.
In 1891 French's wife died and he was jobless. He toured the country on
his bicycle with a box of paints, painting and performing. He developed
a one-man show, where he sang the songs he composed. Then in 1891 he
began a partnership with Houston Collisson. Thereafter Collisson wrote
much of the music for the operas they produced, including The Irish
Girl. At the age of fifty French moved to London and worked and
performed on stage until his death in 1920.
Although Mountains of Mourne is his most famous song, Percy French is
best remembered for his comedic songs.
-- Lesley Nelson, www.contemplator.com
[Endnote]
The one stanza of the poem which doesn't end in either of the
protagonists' names is also (imo) the one with the weakest final couplet
of all.
'They parried and thrust, they side-stepped and cussed,
Of blood they spilled a great part;
The philologist blokes, who seldom crack jokes,
Say that hash was first made on the spot.'
Oddly, although I quite distinctly remember the first line, I'm pretty
sure that the second read 'Of blood they both spilled a great deal', and
the third and fourth were completely different from the published
version. If anyone out there knows of a variant form, I'd be glad of an
pointer.
From: Don Laughery <laughery@>
Re: Ivan Skavinsky Skavar: I remember my mother singing this song when I
was not more than a toddler. (I'm now 71)
Don Laughery
Brooklyn, MD USA
From: Abraham Thomas <thomas@>
Hi,
Interestingly enough, I received another personal email saying just
the same thing, from an English gentleman also in his seventies. I
wonder if the poem was far more well-known in the 1930s?
cheers,
thomas | The Wondering Minstrels
From: "Jan Barham" <rab@>
I too first heard this sung as a child of about nine. I used to spend
my Christmas holidays with relatives on a farm on the western Darling
Downs. Just before Christmas each year I would go with my two uncles up
the paddock to select the Christmas tree. It became traditional for
them to entertain me and my cousins by singing Abdul Abulbul Amir, The
Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze, and The Quartermasters Store. I
am now 64, one uncle has long gone, and the other is 94. I was
delighted to find the words to this old song. Hope I can locate the
words to the others. Jan Barham..
From: Normflormiller@
My 86 year old father sung this to me as a child. I wanted to find the
lyrics in print while he is still here to enjoy them. I would also like to
find the printed music. The link to the Midi File has a good reproduction of
the way it should sound. As stated, I would like to have the notes so someone
in the family could play it again. Florence Miller
From: Adam Chace <adamc@>
I'm confused by that one stanza, the first line is OK. But the rhyme
between the second and fourth is pathetic and out of the established
pattern, also the last two lines are completely off topic. I have
difficulty believing that the author would write a well thought poem/song
like this and include that poorly written stanza.
From: Anne Simpson <anne-simpson@>
My family loved Abdul Abulbul Ameer, and we also had
a record of Abdul's return, which I remember as follows
The Return of Abdul Abulbul Ameer
---------------------------------
(As remembered by Anne Simpson at age 72 from
a childhood record)
By the sea of Sargossa I wandered one night,
The moon it was shining quite clear.
for no reason at all I heard someone call
for Abdul Abulbul Ameer.
Now Abdul Abulbul I knew to be dead,
the story had spread near and far,
how he lost his life while plunging his knife
into Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.
While I pondered the moonbeams descended quite low
casting shadows suffusely, and then,
I discovered that I was standing close by
the tombs of those two famous men.
Then in the tombs shadows there rose from a grave
the form of a Russian Hussar,
and my skin nearly peeled, as he stood there revealed,
it was Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.
'Twas he who was calling, I hardly dared breathe,
my heart 'most stopped beating from fear,
when out of a grave, in need of a shave,
arose Abdul Abulbul Ameer.
"Well, wouldst speak with me Ivan?", quoth Abdul quite low.
"I wouldst", replied Ivan quite clear.
"That quarrel we had, 'twas all to the bad.
friend Abdul Abulbul Ameer.
"I've lain here for ages with that on my mind,
and that's why I called you tonight".
"Well, I'm in the same state", quoth Abdul the great,
"Twas foolish for we two to fight".
"Oh friend, thou art blameless", cried Ivan in haste,
"The fault lies in my hands alone".
But Abdul said "Nay, 'twas never that way, the fault
was no one's but mine own."
"Well, dost think I'm a coward?", quoth Ivan Skavar,
"Step forth and I'll slice off thine ear."
"Oh, son of a cat, you'll never do that",
quoth Abdul Abulbul Ameer.
So once more they battled and fought as before,
the multitudes came from afar,
and lauded with cheers these bold buccaneers,
this Turk, and this Russian Hussar.
Twas just at that moment each sword found its mark
and I heard a blood-curdling scream,
I opened my eyes and to my surprise
I found it was only a dream.
From: Jftatom@
I happened to think idly of parts of this ballad/poem and remembered studying
it in Byrd High School in Shreveport, Louisiana, committing most of it to
memory back in 1940--I believe. I couldn't quite remember all of it, and had
been looking for a book containing it. I put it aside in my mind and then
decided to take a look on the Internet. I'm still around in my 75th Year.
Thanks for your site and the preservation of this memory.
Jim Tatom, Woodland Hills, California
From: "CHARLES A WALKER JR" <cwalker@>
For some unknown reason this song returned to my memory yesterday. I
hadn't thought of it for years. I am 82 years old and remember singing
it when I was 10 or 12 years old. Thanks for bringing back days of my
childhood.
Charles Walker
From: Ward Hardman <ward.hardman@>
That suspicious quatrain was probably amended from something like this:
They parried and thrust, they sidestepped and cussed,
The blood they shed cost them dear,
But each injury dire just augmented the ire
Of Ivan and Abdul Amir.
This balances the next quatrain, which ends with "Of Abdul and Ivan
Skevar." That stuff about "philology" doesn't ring true to the
rest of the poem.
--Ward Hardman, San Diego, CA
Ward Hardman
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.
Phone: (858) 455-4352, FAX: (858) 455-2252
E-Mail: ward.hardman@
From: "La Linda" <linda711@>
Hello
I read the poem Abdul Abulbul Amir in high school in the sixties. It
was in a book of poems. I just liked the sound and the rocking singsong
tones. I did not know until this website that it was a song. Thank you
all. Oh, by the way, I thought it was elbullbull....childhood
perceptions!
Linda in Los Angeles
From: "billrsmith" <repecat@>
Thank you for posting the lyrics and information. My dad used to sing
this ballad to me when I was a little kid about 7 or 8 years old. That
would have been in 1940 or '41. It brings back lots of memories.
Bill Smith
From: "oregonmacduff" <oregonmacduff@>
The Looney Tunes cartoon of Abdul the Bulbul Amir was my childhood first
exposure to the ballad... Darn, I wish I had it on tape! My
father-in-law, a Naval aviator in WWII, would sing the only verse he
knew while washing dishes, differing slightly than the one listed above,
but rhyming better (at least I think so)... As he sang it:
"Oh, they fought all that night 'neath the pale moonlight,
The din it was heard from afar,
Huge multitudes came for so great was the fame,
Of Abdul and Ivan Skavar"
After studying Ottoman history, Arabic, Turkish and Osmanli, I always
thought it interesting that as fierce a warrior as Abdul was in the
song, he was still just the Nightingale Prince :)
Thanx for the site. It brings back great memories!
Randy Dodds
From: Gene Lynch <w7ybv@>
This actually was a song not a poem. I'm 71 years young and used to
listen to this Abdul Abulbul Amir on my folks old Victrola. This is a
great site.
Gene
From: JKV2001@
I was nine or ten years old when I first heard the song at summer camp at
Tannersville, NY. I've been looking for it ever since, these 60 years. (Have
you done the math? I'm almost 70.) Like Linda in L.A., I remembered it as
Abdul el Bulbul Amir (and Ivan Skavitzky Skivar) (close), although I once saw
it in a song book as the out-of-meter Ivan Skizavitzky Skivar. I agree with
Ward Hardman's improvement on the "suspicious quatrain" and I would suggest
the line to rhyme "They fought all that night neath the yellow moonlight."
Thank you for making my ... year!
Jerry Burnam, New York to Los Angeles
From: "Norman Yearley" <normyear@>
I heard a rather naughty version of this poem in 1947. Danny Morgan
recited it to me.Are you out there ,Dan?
e-mail address:
normyear@
Can anyone else help me please?
Norman Yearley
From: "Page Stephens" <hpst@>
This Return of Abdul was written and performed by Frank Crumit who also
wrote The Grandson of Abdul Abulbul Amir and Minnie Skavinsky Skavar. In The
Grandson the fight occurs on the golf course and in Minnie it occurs at the
bridge table. He may have written other sequels but these are the only ones
I have copies of. The B side of The Return was I'm Betting the Roll on
Roamer.
Crumit was a vaudeville, broadway and radio star who is today unfortunately
long forgotten even probably by Ohio State University alumni who no doubt
sing the OSU fight song with no knowledge of the name of the person who
wrote it.
--- Page Stephens
--- hpst@
From: "Isarel Schneiderman" <israelsch@>
I onece saw a cartoon version of this poem.When was t made by whom?
Israel Schneiderman
From: "Timothy S. Hamilton" <hamilton@>
Hi,
A comment about your lyrics for Abdul Abulbul Amir. There are variant
lyrics quoted by characters in P. C. Wren's book _Beau Sabreur_, the
prequel to his famous _Beau Geste_. Wren knew Arabic, and he writes the
name as "Abdul, the Bul-bul Emir," which I believe would be a translation
of the variant "Abdul el Bulbul Amir," quoted by another person on this
site. He also cleans up Abdul's battle cry into what is probably proper
Arabic, "Allah Akbar!"
More importantly, the lyrics quoted in _Beau Sabreur_ are quite
different in many places than any of the versions I've seen listed on your
website. _Beau Sabreur_ was written in 1926, and if it had anything like
the fame of _Beau Geste_, that might account for some of the popularity of
this song ~70 years ago, as mentioned by several posts. Wren weaves the
lyrics (and even the written tune) into the plot of his novel, and the
name of "Major Ivan" becomes a constant reference to his main character.
Sincerely,
Tim Hamilton
From: charles eisenhart <patchaz@>
After hearing the poem from Dad about 50 years ago, I memorized it
myself. There are two other verses missing: Said Ivan, my friend,
your remarks in the end will avail you but little, I fear--for you ne'er
shall survive to repeat them alive, Mr. Abdul Abulbul Amir." And later,
after the sultan comes in, Czar Petrovitch too, in his spectacles blue
drove up in his new crested car-he arrived just in time to exchange a
last line with Ivan Skavinsky Skavar. Note also, that I did som
research and found that Peter the Great used to wear glasses of various
colors because he enjoyed the alternative views of the world they gave
him. Also a Mameluke is sort of a Turkish Special Forces soldier. A
poem with little literary merit, I'm afraid, but like the works of
Robert Service, lots of fun for people of all ages.
From: "Jerry Clerc" <gclerc@>
It has been over sixty years since I have heard or read this poem. I was working in the Montgomery Ward warehouse in Chicago, and a fellow worker there who was studying to become a doctor, recited this poem. I still remember a couple of verses. But because I
could only spell phonetically having never seen the words in print, I could not find it until
I was able to contact your web site with the incorrect spelling of Abdul
Abulbul Ameer (sic). Thank you, thank you very much. It is like finding a long lost friend.
Jerry Clerc
From: "Jerry Clerc" <gclerc@>
Thank you for site listing. Very well done and very much enjoyed.
Jerry Clerc
From: "GREGORY BRAMLET" <gregory_bramlet@>
Can anyone confirm that this was sung by gary cooper in one of his
films? I have been searching for some time now, but to no avail. I
recollect this song from my 1950's childhood. gregory_bramlet@
From: "warren rote" <wrote@>
He could imitate birds, play poker or pool
Or strum on the Spanish guitar
In fact, quite the cream of the Muscovite scheme
Was Ivan Skavinsky Skavar
From: bwanacushing@ (Richard Cushing)
Wonderful to recoup this ballad, which I
learned 65 years ago, but it was Ivan
Skavitsky Skavar and Abdul el Bulbul
Amir. Some changes over the years
since the Crimean War, one would presume.
From: "Frank Carroll" <fcarrolls1@>
This is a wonderful old song and a favorite of my Dad's. He asked me
the other night if I could find the words to "Betting the Roll on
Roamer." You mentioned that Betting the Roll on roamer is the B-side to
Abdul....Do you have the words to Roamer posted anywhere?
From: phs1926@
Like many of the commentators on the poem, I am also 75 years of age. I have
a very clear memory of where I first heard it, altho I never memorized it or
wrote it down. In the early or mid 1930,s there was a crooner, movie actor,
named Dick Powell. He later became a tough guy PI actor. He made many
musical comedies, two of which pictured him as a Marine and as a Sailor in
the Navy. I believe it was the movie about the sailor that had Powell
receiving punishment consisting or singing the verses to the poem - I can
still sing the tune to the words of the poem but would not receive any
acclaim for my efforts. For several years, in my neighborhood, people spoke
of the SONG saying that there were over 100 verses. I have tried on occasion
to find a longer poem than the one you presented without any luck.
Anyway, I'm happy to see it again and the later poem contained in the
comments.
Also, I'm going to try locating the movie with Dick Powell.
Sincerely,
Phil Shedd
From: "Bud Powell" <budpow@>
I learned a fourth verse back in the forties, that went like this:
He could imitate Irving, play poker and pool,
And strum on the Spanish guitar.
In fact, quite the cream of the Muskovite team
Was Ivan Skavinski Skavar.
C. W. Powell
budpow@
New Geneva Theological Seminary
Basket of Figs: http://ureach.com/figs
From: "maddy" <maddy_scone@>
I am learning the song now after years of only knowing the first couple
of verses, for 50 years I thought it was "Violin fiddle" now I know it's
Vile infidel !!
From: Tony Miles <fernberg@>
My Step-father sang this for us 50 years ago. He was 35 then.
I always thought he picked it up in the service. He also sang 'The
Bells of the Deep','Strawberry Roan' and 'Old Zebra Dun'.
Each with a great many verses.
Thanks for reminding me.
From: "Roderick W. Clarke" <rory@>
Recorded from memory by Roderick W. Clarke, A song I learned at Camp
Pioneer, Boy Scouts od America in 1936 or 37
The sons of the prophets were hardy and bold,
And quite unaccustomed to fear.
But the bravest of all was a man by the name of
Abdul Al Bulbul Ameer.
If they needed a man to encourage the van
Or to harass the foe from the rear
Or to storm a redoubt they would set up a shout
For Abdul Al Bulbul Ameer.
There were heroes aplenty and men known to fame
Who fought in the ranks of the Tsar.
But none of more fame than a man by the name
Of Ivan Skavinky Skivar.
He could sing like Caruso both tenor and base
And play on the Spanish guitar.
In fact, quite the cream of a muscovite team
Was Ivan Skavinsky Skivar.
One day this bold Muscovite shouldered his gun
And walked down the street with a sneer.
He was looking for fun when he happened to run
On Abdul Al Bulbul Ameer.
=B3Young man=B9=B2 said Bulbul,=B2is existence so dull
That you=B9re anxious to end your career.
For infidel know you have trod on the toe
Of Abdul Al Bulbul Ameer.
So take your last look at the sun and th brook
And send your regrets to the Tsar.
By which I imply you are going to die,
Mr. Ivan Skavinsky Skivar.
Then this bold Mameluke drew his trusty skibouk,
Shouting, "Allah! Il Allah! Akbar
And with murderous intent he ferociously went
For Ivan Skavinsky Skivar.
They fought all that night neath the pale yellow moon;
The din, it was heard from afar,
And huge multitudes came, so great was the fame,
Of Abdul and Ivan Skivar.
On stone by the banks wher the Neva doth flow
It is written in characters clear:
Oh, stranger remember to pray for the soul
Of Abdul Al Bulbul Ameer.
While a Muscovite maiden her vigil doth keep
By the light of a pale northern star.
And the name she does constantly says in her sleep
Is Ivan Skavinsky Skivar.
From: tentrees@ (Patricia Lewis)
My Dad often sang this song, I learned it from listening to him. I was
about 10 in the early 1930s and have never forgotten "Abdul" and dozens
of other songs; we sang a lot in our home...Thanks for your major
contribution to memories of my "good old days" in San Francisco.
Patricia Eileen Lewis
Port Charlotte FL
From: Eileen Rickards Johnson <eileenrj@>
Hi:
What a fun site.
I was just looking the song up to sing the song to my grandson. It was in
my college songbook when I went to Goldsmith's College in London, England,
in 1949, and I've never forgotten it. There were other songs in that book
that I can only remember bits of, too.
I really enjoyed the 'Return' song.
Eileen
From: "Mounce" <mounce@>
After reading the comments on your web page about Amir and Skevarr, I
must admit to fitting the mold of many of the writers--71 years old,
retired navy carrier pilot, remembered some of the verses, tried to
teach it to my 13 year old grandson during a trip to London last week,
learned it in grammar school in the 40's, and glad to find not only the
words but info on the author.
Thanks.
C Mounce
4882 Schehin Rd
College Station TX 77845
From: Touchma1@
I immensely enjoy this poem; it was read to me as a kid, but there are so
many variants on French's famous work that it is well-nigh impossible to
decipher what the first draft looked like, and indeed French probably wrote
several takes on the initial ballad before submitting it to his publisher.
Just the name variants of the 2 fictitious combatants are enough to fill a
small volume; I've seen Abdul's name listed as "Abdullah Bulbul Ameer",
"Abdul el Bulbul Ameer", "Abdul the Bulbul Amir", "Abdul Abulbul Amir", etc.,
etc., and Ivan's middle and last names respectively as "Skivitsky",
"Skavitsky", "Skizavitsky", "Skivinski", "Skavinsky", "Petrusky", "Petrofsky"
"Petrovsky", etc., and "Skivar", "Skevar", and "Skavar", among others, and
any combination thereof; but my 2 personal faves are "Abdul the Bulbul Amir"
and "Ivan Skavinsky Skavar" for various reasons. The word 'amir' is a
variant on the arabic 'emir', a ruler or chieftain in Islamic countries, and
'bulbul' refers to a Persian songbird, probably a nightingale, mentioned in
numerous poetic references; so in effect "Abdul the Bulbul Amir" would
roughly translate into "Abdul the Bird King", but at any rate smacks of a
kingly title. "Skavinsky Skavar" to me best captures both the sinister and
romantic facets of the poem, and seems to be the one most consistently used
in its later versions.
I wholeheartedly agree with prior listees here like Lesley Nelson, Adam
Chace, and Ward Hardman that the poem has been fiddled with; and undoubtedly
whoever bastardized the quatrain containing the philology thing probably put
his 2 cents' worth in in the following one, as well, with his 'pale yellow
moon', which fails to rhyme with anything else in that stanza. I think part
of the overall impact of the poem is its rhythm and I've taken the liberty to
add or delete a few words of my own according to how I think French himself
might have intended it to read, with regards to Ward Hardman for inspiring my
rewriting of the last 3 lines of the suspicious quatrain, plus adding a
couple of stanzas in the beginning that I picked up on other sites:
*************************************************
Abdul the Bulbul Amir
The Sons of the Prophet are brave men and bold,
And are quite unaccustomed to fear;
But the bravest by far in the ranks of the Shah
Was Abdul the Bulbul Amir.
If you wanted a man to encourage the van,
Aggravating the foe from the rear,
Storm the fort or redoubt, you had only to shout
For Abdul the Bulbul Amir.
This son of the desert in battle aroused
Once impaled twenty men with his spear;
Much a volatile grouse, whether sober or soused
Was Abdul the Bulbul Amir.
Now the heroes were plenty and well known to fame
In the troops that were led by the Czar,
And the bravest of these was a man by the name
Of Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.
He could imitate Irving, tell fortunes by cards,
Madly strum on his Spanish guitar;
Be it known quite the cream of the Muscovite team
Was Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.
The ladies all loved him, his rivals were few,
He could drink them all under the bar;
Come the gallant or tank, there was no one to rank
With Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.
One day this bold Muscovite shouldered his gun
While he donned his most truculent sneer;
On the town he did go, where he stepped on the toe
Of Abdul the Bulbul Amir.
"Infidel," quoth Abdul, "Has your life grown so dull
That you're anxious to end your career?
For I'll have you to know you have trod on the toe
Of Abdul the Bulbul Amir!"
Said Ivan, "My friend, your remarks in the end
Will avail you but little, I fear;
For you ne'er will survive to repeat them alive,
Mister Abdul the Bulbul Amir!"
"Then take your last look at the sunshine and brook,
And please send your regrets to the Czar,
For by this I imply that you're going to die,
Count Ivan Skavinsky Skavar!"
Then this bold Mameluke drew his trusty shibouk
With a hoarse cry of "Allah Akbar!",
And on this savage note promptly went for the throat
Of Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.
They fought all that night 'neath the ruddy moonlight,
And the din could be heard from afar;
Huge multitudes came, for so great was the fame
Of Abdul, and Ivan Skavar.
They parried and thrust, and they sidestepped and cussed,
And the blood they both shed cost them dear;
But each wound in the fight just augmented the spite
Of Ivan, and Abdul Amir.
As Abdul's long knife was extracting the life,
And he shouted a raspy "Huzzahrr!",
So he felt himself struck by that wily Calmuck,
Count Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.
Now the Sultan drove by in his red-breasted fly
While expecting the victor to cheer,
But he only drew nigh to behold the last sigh
Of Abdul the Bulbul Amir.
Czar Petrovich, too, in his spectacles blue
Sauntered up in his gold-plated car,
And arrived just in time to exchange a last line
With Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.
There's a tomb rising up where the Danube doth roll,
And engraved there in characters clear
Are, "Stranger, when passing, please pray for the soul
Of Abdul the Bulbul Amir."
A splash in the Black Sea was witnessed one night,
Causing ripples to spread wide and far,
Which were made by a sack cinched up close to the back
Of Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.
Now a Muscovite maiden her love vigil keeps
'Neath the light of the pale Polar star,
And the name that she murmurs so oft as she weeps
Is, "Ivan Skavinsky Skavar."
*************************************************
Note that the second-last quatrain could be deleted entirely and give the
last one somewhat more impact, as the way many Russians disposed of their
deceased at the time of the Crimean War was somewhat more practical from an
atheistic standpoint than taking up space with a tombstone, and the deletion
of such also better sets up Frank Crumit's sequel, as it is better left to
the imagination what was done with the body of Ivan.
In the term 'ruddy moonlight' I was attempting to capture the oftimes
inflated, reddish-orange appearance of the moon when it is on the horizon.
Touchma 1 @ AOL . com
From: "Bob & Linda" <lindaf@>
I first heard this song on my parents wind-up Victrola hen I was seven
or eight, about 65 years ago. I played it over and over and finally
could sing along with the artist, I think it was Frank Crumit, For
some reason today I started to sing it but could not remember all the
words. then I found this web sight and was excited and delighted to
find the words again. Thank you for making my day.
Bob F
From: "Randy Ridgel" <randy@>
I couldn't sleep and was going mad with these words running through my head:
"You will die! Oh you will die!, Said Ivan Skavinsky Skivar. To Abdoul
Aboulboul Ameer". I am now 72 and although I can't find those exact words
in the versions above, I remember them from a popular version played on our
windup Victrolla and, I believe, on radio in the mid-thirties in Tickfaw,
Louisana.
This computer, Internet, a search engine named Google and this marvelous
website would have been unimaginable to me back then.
How does one get the tune?
Randy Ridgel randy@
From: "Randy Ridgel" <randy@>
That's randy@
From: "Allan" <aeptcp@>
I am 72 years old and used to hear this ballad on the radio when I was a
small boy in the 30's and early 40's. I am not sure who recorded it but
I seem to remember it being done by Burl Ives and during the same period
he was also doing "Wayfaring Stranger" and "Big Rock Candy Mountain". I
may be mistaken but if Burl didn't do it he should have.
Allan Patrick
From: Doolbykid@
What a great site. I have seen the sheet music for Abdul El Bulbul Emir. It's
definitely on a website, but I'm blowed if I can find it, now I need it to
accompany the verses in one of the stories in my book 'Dicky Blood's War',
soon to be published. see
www.books4publishing.com
I'll keep checking this site. Someone is bound to trace it.
Geoff Blore
From: "Jerome Shipman" <jeromesshipman@>
I first heard the song on a radio program in the early 1930s, the kind
of program on which you could hear operatic arias like "Largo al
Factotum" from "The Barber of Seville," songs from light opera, a
violinist playing Rimsky Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumble Bee," and
humorous numbers like "The Man on the Flying Trapeze" and "Abdul the
Bulbul Ameer," as we thought it was called then. I learned the same set
of lyrics as Roderick W. Clarke did, within a year or two of the same
time that he did, in the same kind of place, Boy Scout camp
(specifically Camp Mohican in Blairstown, New Jersey). I had a book of
songs for campers, the 1930s counterpart of your 1970s activity book.
I always remembered Mr. Clarke's
"He could sing like Caruso, both tenor and bass [not
"base"]
He could play on the Spanish guitar
In fact quite the cream
Of the Muscovite team
Was Ivan Skavitsky Skivar"
as we thought the name was. That stanza of course would come between
your third and fourth stanzas.
I do not remember your thirteenth stanza, which however accurately it
may reflect Russian military burial practices during the Crimean War, is
completely foreign to the spirit of the rest of the song.
I could probably notate the tune we sang the song to if there were
enough interest, and if I could summon up the required patience.
Jerome S. Shipman
From: Dale Iwan <d.iwan@>
I'm another in his 70's who listened to the scratchy '78 on his parents Victrola. The record was ancient even then. Too bad I don't remember the label.
Larry H
--Boundary_(ID_1ferqr583HBT/DdNYbWU7A)
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I'm another in his 70's who listened to the
scratchy '78 on his parents Victrola. The record was ancient even
then. Too bad I don't remember the label.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Larry H</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>
--Boundary_(ID_1ferqr583HBT/DdNYbWU7A)--
From: "Rob Illing" <robert.illing@>
An interesting note on this poem is that two verses are sung in an
episode of the TV series "Star Trek: The Next Generation" entitled
"Brothers".
Regards,
Rob
From: richard@
I recently found your comment on "Abdul Abubul Amir" on the web. I'm
trying to find the music for my father's memorial service. Did you ever
find it?
From: "joe street" <joest@>
I first heard it sung in 1931 or 1932 by my 3rd cousin, Tom Bradfield.
I've sung it ever since
( the one verse I could recall ). The tune is firmly fixed in my head;
but I'm not a musician.
If this will help you in any way, I would like helping with your Dad's
Service. Just let me know
how to proceed.
Joe Street
From: "Riley, Richard T" <richard.t.riley@>
Thanks, Joe. The service was last week. At the request of the church, we
didn't use Abdul, though I found the music in a book of Navy songs from
Amazon. Instead we used another of my dad's favorites, an Irish song about
the uprising of 1796, "The Rising of the Moon"
I also got a copy of a cartoon of the song that was done in '42 by MGM.
It's on Laserdisk, so I haven't seen it yet. Apparently Groucho narrates
the fight.
From: "Gilbert H. Smith" <ghs93@>
I have never heard this SUNG. I knew it was a song, but I saw the words
when I was in College. I'll be 71 in April of 2003.
A couple of the versions here come close to the way I learned it, but
not exactly. With your permission, I'll add my version.
The Sons of the Prophet were hardy and bold, and quite unacustomed to
fear.
by the bravest of all was a man I am told, named Abdul El Bul-Bul Ameer.
If they wanted a man to encourage the van, or to harass the foe in the
rear.
or to storm a redoubt, they would set up a shout, for Abdul El Bul-Bul
Ameer.
There were heroes in plenty and men known to fame, who fought in the
ranks of the Czar.
but none of more fame than a man by the name of Ivan Skavitsky Skivar.
He could sing like Caruso, both Tenor and Bass, he could play on the
Spanish Guitar.
in fact quite the cream of the Muscovite Team was Iran Skavitsky Skivar.
One day, this bold Muscovite shouldered his gun, and walked down the
street with a sneer.
he was looking for fun when he happened to run, upon Abdul El Bul-Bul
Ameer.
"Young man" said Bul-Bul, "is existence so dull that you're anxious to
end your career"?
"for Infidel know, you have trod on the toe, of Abdul El Bul-Bul Ameer".
Then this bold mameluke drew his trusty shibouk, shouting "Allah id
Allah Akbar"!
and with murderous intent, he most suddenly went, for Ivan Skavitsky
Skivar.
They fought all that night 'neath the pale yellow moon, the din it was
heard from afar.
huge multitudes came, so great was the fame, of Abdul and Ivan Skivar.
The Sultan came by in his red-breasted fly, to give to the victor a
cheer.
he arrived just in time to exchange a last line, with Abdul El Bul-Bul
Ameer.
Czar Petrovich too, in his spectacles blue, drove up in his new-crested
car.
he gasped for his breath as he witnessed the death, of Ivan Skavitsky
Skivar.
On a stone by the bank, where the Neva doth roll, there is written in
characters clear.
"Oh stranger, remember to pray for the soul, of Abdul El Bul-Bul Ameer".
While a Muscovite maiden her vigil doth keep, by the light of the cold
Northern Star.
and the name that she constantly shouts in her sleep, is Ivan Skavitsky
Skivar.
Gilbert H. Smith
Bowling Green, KY
From: "Goldrup, Fred" <Fred.Goldrup@>
Greetings, O peruser of good verse. I come unto thee
For words of the sequels of Abdul and Ivan Amir.
I've lost much of my hearing - now don't be cheering
It's no pleasure to look at this LP, unhearing.
Frank Crumit recorded all three and on Label X
By RCA, they issued them all, by heck.
But I can't hear the thing,
Or enjoy old Frank's sing
But the words, I would seriously (mmmm - no rhyme)
Would you have the words to "The Grandsons" and "Minnie"?
Mayhaps, if I had the words in front of me, I might bite hard on the
speaker's edge, and let the sound float through my headbones to
the auditory nerves, and thence to that empty chamber wherin
supposedly lies a brain!
I really AM serious. Can you provide the words to the sequels to Abdul?
From: Arch Scales <archscales@>
My Dad used to recite this as a poem in the years after he returned
from four years of sea duty in the Naval Reserve during World War II.
I was four or five. I understood he picked it up in the Navy where it
was wide-spread. I have heard that Naval Academy midshipmen were
required to learn it as a form of discipline. Whether this was true or
is still true, I cannot say. When my Dad and I were roughhousing, he
often quoted the part about "Has life grown so dull that you wish to
end your career?"
Pop died in 1996 at 80. Your Website brought back a lot of fond
memories.
--- Arch Scales
--- archscales@
From: "Katherine E. Hudson" <kehudson@>
My mother used to sing this to me when I was a child (in the 1940's); my
recollection is of a version much like that supplied by Mr. Clarke.
It's associated in my mind, however, with another song she often
sang--about a Spanish treasure ship sunk by pirates. I can remember
only the refrain (or perhaps it's just a portion of it):
A Spanish ship came down the tide, and bound was she
for Cadiz.
With gems and jewels from far Peru,
The Captain too, and all his crew,
And they sent them down below.
Oh, they rammed her hull and laughed.
I would dearly love to see all the words to that song! Can anyone help?
Katherine E. Hudson
From: "Dan Nuhrah" <giddo79@>
This poem was a favorite of mine when I was a Boy Scout at
the age of 13, (68 years ago). I had forgotten all the words
and I am so happy that they have been preserved for perpetuity.
Dan J. Nuhrah, Tn
From: "Norma Thompson" <nthmpsn@>
My mother sang this song to me from the time I was a baby. I was born in 1943.
There are several clumsy verses added. One verse left out.
Czar Petrovik, too, and his whole retinue,
Rolled up in a new crested car.
He arrived just in time to hear the last line
Of Ivan Stravinsky Stravar.
From: "Lois Rafferty" <dolphin@>
My brother, Bud, and I also learned this song at Scout camp in the early
30's - Camp Pahatsi, near Donner Summit in California. We talked about it
just last night and he asked for my help remembering a verse that
bastardized Ivan's name as "Ivan spits whiskey too far". Anyone else out
there from Tahoe Area Council that can help. A scout from Roseville, CA,
named Chastain, I believe, used to sing (?) it.
Bob Riley, Auburn, CA
From: EJerisk@
My older brother used to sing this song when I was young (I'm 81 now) and I
was delighted to find it on your website. He knew all the verses and I loved
listening to his singing. Now my family is going to hear it too. Thank you
for bringing it to us.
From: "Brian Hampton" <Haawk1@>
First of all, in response to Ray, no you are not the only one reading
this under the age of 60.(Not anymore anyway!) However, that being
said, my story is very much like most of the others. In my case it was
High School when I was first introduced to Abdul as a poem. I never new
it was a song until now. I had believed this to be a long time ago
(1975) until reading these other comments. This and probably always
will be my favorite verse. The version I learned had the verse "He
could imitate Irving, tell fortunes by cards, and play on the Spanish
guitar; In fact quite the cream of the Muscovite team was Ivan
Skavinsky Skavar."
I was never aware of any of the sequels and being a Trekkie, was
surprised to have missed the verses sung in The Next Generation episodes
(I'll have to look that up) Finding this site has been great for
reawakening old and extremely fond memories of my formative years.
Thanks all,
Brian
From: "Colin Finnie" <colin.finnie@>
Some correspondents have written plaintively about being unable to get hold
of a recording of Abdul Abulbul Emir, or about being unfamiliar with the
tune. If you have access to a music download site like Piolet, Morpheus or
Kazaa, you can download HANK THOMPSON's recording of Abdul. I certainly
found it on Kazaa, and it was a joy to rediscover the song. Thompson sings
it in a suitably nasal, world-weary tone, and the tune perfectly complements
the rolling cadences of the words and the vivid imagery of the song.
Great site! Keep up the good work!
Colin Finnie
From: "Bill Hatch - Allgoods" <internetsales@>
Hi
How about
They fought all that night by the pale yellow light
of the moon that was seen from afar.
Learnt in the 1950's @ the Methodist College Belfast during a maths
lesson ( Mr. Stratford) from a boy named McIvor (first name forgotten)
Great stuff ,the dirty version is extremely funny.
Bill Hatch billhatch3@
From: "jdrp" <jdavisrp@>
I remember it as Abdul al Bulbul emir and Ivan Skavinsky Skavar
somebody in the song drove up in a "blue crested car"
I'm not clear about the date. Seems to me we sang it as college
freshmen which would make it about 1927. I am 93 years old, if that is
of any interest. Maybe I ought to teach this ditty to my six great
grandchildren. Justine R-P.
From: "Alan Winterrowd" <awinterrowd@>
Thanks for the site. I learned this song, in the 60's, from my dad and his
book of scouting songs, along with "My Grandfather's Clock", "the
Quartermaster's Store", and others. Now I get to pass them down to my
children, along with other great folk songs.
You should hear us going down the road singing, each in our own key, along
with the Weavers, or Pete Seegar, or Harry Chapin.
------
Alan Winterrowd awinterrowd@
PC and Network Support
Caylor-Nickel Clinic, PC http://www.caylornickelclinic.com
(260) 824-3500
From: "wfassoc" <wfassoc@>
wonderful site... my uncle used to sing this song to his 6 string guitar
back in the late '30s.. im 70 now and remember singing along with him.
the words are at some variance, but is that a problem? great stories are
made that way!!
walt taylor
albuquerque, new mexico
From: "Barry&Joyce" <badgie@>
Abdul and many other of French's songs were recorded by Brendan O'Dowda.
Dodgy name, good voice and the recording is still available. Good Luck
to all the baladeers out there. Barry
From: "Bruce McNair" <bruce.mcnair@>
There was indeed a filthy version sung by HM Forces, which started I think,
"A travelling brothel by chance came to town,
'Twas owned by a Russian from far,
He issued a challenge etc"
Also sung by undergraduates.
Bruce McNair
From: "David Dickey" <ddickey44@>
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0041948
"Task Force" in 1949 . I remember Gary Cooper singing the song. A cousin
of my mother, Dr. Newton Gaines, was head of the Physics Department at
TCU in the 50's and was a wonderful folksinger and collector of folk
music. I first heard Abdul from him.
David Dickey
From: "Gordon Braun-Woodbury" <gordonbw@>
I have fond memories of my granddad singing about Abdul and Ivan when I
was a boy in the 1960s. When I first did a Google search for this tune,
the initial 20 links were to bawdy parodies.
From: John Thompson <JohnT@>
My father used to drive me mad by singing this song when he was washing up.
He only knew a limited number of lines and would mix these up in various
ways to form a song lasting
several verses that made no sense at all. He would also hum certain lines if
he thought he
was being too repetitive and even make some up as he went along. As long as
the last line featured
one of the combatants names (sung louder than the rest of the verse) he
didn't seem to mind. I always
used to pray that he got to the bottom of the washing up bowl quickly.
I didn't believe it was a real song until I saw a cartoon version one day.
Can anyone explain what a
"calmuck" is?
From: Martin DeMello <martindemello@>
--- John Thompson <JohnT@> wrote:
> Can anyone explain what a "calmuck" is?
Calmucks \Cal"mucks\, n. pl.; sing. Calmuck.
A branch of the Mongolian race inhabiting parts of the
Russian and Chinese empires; also (sing.), the language of
the Calmucks. [Written also Kalmucks.]
[http://dict.die.net/calmuck/]
From: Martin DeMello <martindemello@>
> although I once saw it in a song book as the out-of-meter Ivan
> Skizavitzky Skivar.
This would make sense if the proper pronunciation of "Ivan" is i-VAN.
Then the line would scan i VAN skiz a VITZ ky svi VAR. Any Russian
speakers in the audience?
martin
From: "Stanley Kemp" <mahxsk@>
Ah yes, more memories of the 50s. My favorite verse (and coincidently, most
cited) had the words:
He could jump 50 yards , tell fortunes at cards
and strum on the spanish guitar
In fact quite the cream of the Moscuvite team
was Ivan Skivitski skavar
Quite a feat without a motorcycle.
Stan
"Opinions expressed are mine and not those of Rohm and Haas Company".
From: "christinebennett" <christinebennett@>
My Grandfather used to sing this song in the sixties. The only time I
ever heard it sung professionally was on a record played on the radio
around 1981. I remember that the recording was from 1928, the year my
mother was born.
Christine
From: "Fr. Patrick Reardon" <phrii@>
My father sang this to ballad when I was a small child in the late 30's and
early 40's. I sang it to my children virtually every night in the late 70's
and early 80's. It bears, to me, the marks of immortality.
Patrick Henry Reardon
From: "Fr. Patrick Reardon" <phrii@>
Anne
This is marvelous. Thank you so much for posting it.
Pat Reardon
From: RICHARD D NOLTE <ridno@>
Yea, verily, this is the song/ballad as we sang it while camped on Pardee
Field near Culp's Hill on Gettysburg Battlefield in June-July, 1938. This
was the 75th anniversary of the Battle and we were Boy Scouts enjoying
what was to become a high point of our life. We mingled with 90 year-old
Civil War veterans, watched FDR light the Peace Light on Oak Ridge, sang
and frolicked,then broke camp and went home to, unknowingly, ramp up for
our own war 3+ years later. Eerily, I thought of this ballad while
exercising in the pool the other day and the thing flowed out of my
sub-conscious, somehow, 65 years later. Go figure! Dick Nolte,
Clearwater, FL.
From: BarnB9@
THE SON'S OF THE PROPHET WERE HEARTY AND BOLD
AND QUITE UNACUSTOMED TO FEAR...BUT THE BRAVEST OF ALL
IS A MAN I AM TOLD...CALLED ABDUL AL BUL BUL AMEER
NOW THIS BOLD MAMULUKE DREW HIS TRUSTY CHIBOQUE
CRYING...ALLAH AL ALLAH AKBAR...AND WITH MURDEROUS INTENT
HE MOST SUDDENLY WENT FOR IVAN SKISAVITSKY SKIVAR
ON A STONE ON THE BANK WHERE THE NEVA DOTH ROLL
THERE IS WRITTEN IN CHARACTERS CLEAR
OH STRANGER REMEMBER TO PRAY FOR THE SOUL
OF ABDUL AL BUL BUL AMEER
WHILE A MUSCOVITE MAIDEN..HER VIGIL DOTH KEEP
BY THE LIGHT OF THE COLD NORTHERN SKY
AND THE NAME THAT SHE CONSTANTLY CRIES IN HER SLEEP
IS IVAN SKISAVITSKY SKIVAR
From: BarnB9@
I REMEMBER IT AS ABDUL EL BUL BUL AMEER AND IVAN SKISAVITSKI SKIVAR
FROM HIGH SCHOOL CHORUS 60 YRS. AGO...WRITTEN ABOUT THE TURK WAR
WITH RUSSIA...
From: Kendell Hyde <khyde12@>
Just checking to see if this is still a valid email address and if you ever found the sheet music to
"Abdul Abulbul Amir". After 65 years, I finally found the midi file at these sites
http://www.contemplator.com/folk/abdul.html
http://www.acronet.net/~robokopp/shanty/abdul.mid
BUT have not been able to find sheet music.
For 65 years I could only remember words like (Ivan Skabinsky Skabar - I had never seen any written words) that I had heard on an old hand-wound victrola.
Did you ever find the music?
Kendell Hyde
From: Ron Hallam <rondoh@>
I heard dirty version 55 yrs ago but can only remember parts which were
coarse but amusing. Can you help with full version? Ron H.
From: "Joan Bledsoe" <jbledsoe7@>
Love this poem, however two stanzas are missing from the version I have.
I too became acquanted with the poem around the age of 8 . It is in a
book my Mother gave me from her youth. "A Treasury of the Familiar", by
Ralph L Woods. The Poet is listed as anonymous After the third stanza
it read:
He Could imitate Irving,play poker and pool
And strum on the Spanish guitar,
In fact quite the cream of the Muscovite team
Was Ivan Scavinsky Skavar.
The next stanza missing is after the stanza starting with Young man.
Said Ivan," My friend, your remarks in the end
Will avail you but little, I fear,
For you ne'er will survive to repeat them alive,
Mr. Abdul A-bul-bul A-mir.
After the stanza about the Sultan drove , another stanza is :
Czar Petrovitch too, in his spectacles blue,
Rode up in his new-crested car.
He arrived just in time to exchange a last line,
With Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.
From: "Bill Berle" <auster5@>
For some strange reason, I remember the characters' names as Abdul Abubbul
Amir and Ivan Stravinsky Stravar. It appears as though there are probably
several versions of this old poem/song. My memory is of hearing this as a
recorded song on the Doctor Demento comedy radio show, in the mid 1970's. I
am not quite as old as the majority of the people who posted comments here
:)
From: "John" <jholley3@>
"Abdul Abulbul Amir" was recorded by Frank Crumit on the Victor label #
20715-B, probably sometime in the late 1920s. The flip side is "Frankie
and Johnnie" #2715-A. The song was "adapted by Frank Crumit, comedian
with guitar."
From: "John" <jholley3@>
Abdul was sung in part by Gregory Peck in the movie On the Beach around
1958 if memory serves. He plays the part of a Submarine skipper in
WWIII, I believe. I think it was Peck. Maybe it was Grant. The idea was
that the midshipmen had to learn all the verses by heart as part of a
tradition.
From: "Curtis Marder" <curtcm@>
I remember this song as sung to me by my father. I think he picked it up
from the movie "On the beach." It also appeared in a magazine as an
advertisement in a modified form, but I am not sure of the product, maybe
beer or razors. I have remembered bits and pieces of the words. There seem
to be many variations. My strongest association however is with my father
singing the song.
From: "jfoster0608" <jfoster0608@>
For what it's worth, I heard Ivan on an Edison cylinder and always
thought it was Abdul THE Bulbul Emir. Don't remember the performer, and
the cylinder, its player and owner are all long gone. Jim Foster
From: ThomasDPhillip@
Hail to the "invisible dragons of the electronic night." Like many
contributors, I first head/read this poem in school when I was around l0 years old. I
think the book we used was called Magic Casements--can't remember author or
publisher, but pages were filled with wonderful stories and poems . Book was my
first exposure to some of Kipling, "The Charge of the Light brigade", and the
magic lines of Robert Service ("Strange things are done in the midnight
sun...."). Bits and pieces of this stuff somehow managed to stick in some nether part
of my brain for the next 50 years or so (I'm 63).
I'm delighted to have stumbled across your site for the full text of the tale
of Abdul and Count Ivan.Thank you and those invisible dragons.
Tom Phillips
From: "Jack Lord" <jalord@>
As a 90 year old I couldn't get fragments of this song out of my mind,
so I googled "Ivan Skavinski Skavar" and hit this jackpot!! As a Boy
Scout some 75 years ago we used to sing it around the campfire at Camp
Tahquitz In the mountains of Southern California. BSA troop 32 in Long
Beach. Thank you all I'll enjoy reminiscing with you. Jack
Lord, Beaver Patrol
From: "Jenny Brownlee" <keithjenny@>
I was so surprised to find these lyrics! I had always thought that my
dad learned this song from some hard-partying Canadian Highlanders, but
after reading all the comments, it is more likely he learned it in the
boy scouts as a kid in the '30's, or even in school. He always sung it
with great enthusiasm, usually fueled by some sort of spirits! Thanks,
it brought back a lot of fond memories of my father.
From: OldWhiteJoe@
I SCROLLED DOWN THROUGH ALL COMMENTS/ADDITIONS/CORRECTIONS
W/ GREAT INTEREST & PLEASURE. I WAS ALSO WAITING TO READ THAT
SOMEONE ELSE HAD SEEN A COMMERCIAL VERSION IN A MAGAZINE...BINGO!
CURTIS MARDER! IT WAS'NT BEER OR RAZORS, HOWEVER; IT WAS SPRINGMAID
SHEETS, AND IT WAS 1958:
There are heroes of fame
With sword or a dame
In ranks that are led by the Czar,
But a man you'd applaud,
At home or abroad, was Ivan Skivinski Skavar.
He could instigate brawls,
Lead charges or balls,
And play on the Spanish Guitar,
In fact, quite the cream
Of the Muskovite Team,
Was Ivan Slivinski Skavar.
The Sons of The Prophet
Are brave men and bold,
And quite unacustomed to fear.
They can ride a wild stallion,
Ambush a battallion,
Or blow the froth off a beer.
But needing a man
To encourage the van,
To harrass the enemy's rear,
Or to charge a redoubt,
You'd always send out
For Abdul The Bulbul Amir.
One day the Bold Russian
Donned his best Fustian
And bared his most truculent sneer;
Downtown for a treat,
He sullied the sheet,
Of Abdul The Bulbul Amir!
"Young Man!" Quoth The Bulbul,
"Has your life grown so dull
That you're anxious
To end your career?
Your Infidel feet
Have just trampled the sheet
Of Abdul The Bulbul Amir!"
[THE NEXT FEW VERSES I REMEMBER PRETTY MUCH THE SAME AS REPORTED
AND AMENDED HERE ON THIS SITE--AND MY TYPING SKILLS TOO POOR TO SUPPORT
REDUNDANCY--HOWEVER, THE FINALO TWO VERSES ARE GOOD]
There's a grave
Where the wave
Of the Blue Danube rolls,
And on it
Is graven so clear:
"Tempest in fleeting,
Don't step on the sheeting
Of Abdul The Bulbul Amir!"
A Muskovite Maiden
Her lone vigil keeps
Where The Volga
And vodka go far,
And the name she repeats
When a ghost tugs her sheets,
Is "Ivan Skivinski Skavar!"
THANKS FOR THE PLEASURABLE REMINDER THAT I'M NOT THE ONLY LOONIE OLD WACKO
WHO ENJOYS RHYTHMIC LANGUAGE & VIVID IMAGERY. JJ
SULLIVAN, KAUAI, HI.
From: "SIMON MARCHANT-JONES" <simonmj@>
Thank you so much for this; I searched because I was with some friends
in the South of France last week, May 04, on the beach, and a busker
played the tune on his accordion which brought back fond memories - and
I'm only 50!
I'm going to learn the words and impress my sons...
From: Byron or Kay McAllister <blmcallister@>
At camp Diamond O (Boy Scouts of America, Oakland Area Council), back about
1942 or so, one of the troops sang a parody, which may or may not have been
their own invention. Not a gross deviation from one of the many forms
already cited, its principal difference lay in replacing Abdul's name with
"Abdul, the guzzler of beer" and Ivan's with "Ivan spits whiskey too
far." For us kids the deviation was a riot, but age dims the fun a bit
now, and I won't claim that it's something everybody needs to know. Byron
Leon McAllister.
From: "BargainBoards" <bargainboards@>
The dodgy stanza is better the way I learned it:
They parried and thrust, they sidestepped and cussed
Of blood they spilled quite a lot
Philologist blokes who seldom crack jokes
Say the hash was first made on this spot.
From: Leedstyke@
I have tried several times over the years to obtain the words to this song.
My father used to recite it when we were children while he cooked the Sunday
lunch back in Yorkshire,England about the year 1947 onwards...I remembered
little sections of it, especially the tune. But never found the words until
tonight. I am thrilled and particularly pleased to read all the comments. Thank
you so much for your "gift" to me.
Does anyone remember during the war years there being a recording of "The St
Louis Blues" to a large Military Band with crowds cheering in the background,
and trumpets playing etc. It was much requested during the war years for the
boys overseas and now my brother and I would like to hear it again. I always
thought it was the American Air Force Band or the American Marine Band who
played it. some say there was only the Glen Miller recording. I have contacted
the Marine Band in Wash DC but no one knows what I am referring to. Its a
full marching band sound.
Maybe someone reading this will have some rememberance of what I am trying to
locate.
Jean E Martin. originally from the UK now proud to be an American.
From: "D.M.Pennington" <dmpmos@>
But it was the Russo-Turkish War of the 1870s when the Russkies licked
(as usual) the Turk after the latter had committed horrendous atrocities
and "ethnic cleansing" in the Balkans against fellow Slavs who were
subjects then to the Ottoman Empire.
But the western Europeans (noteably the British under Prime Mnister
Disraeli) put pressure on the Russian Empire (at the Conference of
Berlin, organised by Kanzler Bismarck) to negotiate a peace and to
prevent the Russians from controlling "the staits", the access from the
Black Sea past Istanbul to the Mediterranean, then a Royal Navy "lake"
controlling the Suez Canal.
The Russians were forced to treaty at San Stefano, although the Turkish
capital had been there for the taking.
Most of the fighting had occurred around the course of the Danube in the
then Wallachia, now Rumania/Moldovia.
(Vlad Dracula country!)
I remember the song well as a kid.
It used often to be heard on the BBC "Children's Favourites radio on a
Saturday morning.
D.M.Pennington
Now resident in Moscow.
Born and bred in St. Helens, Lancashire, England.
From: Leedstyke@
On Page 19 Randy Ridgel. comments about "You will die!. Oh you will die! Said
Ivan Skavinsky Skavar, but I wonder if these words do not come from a
recording by Bing Crosby. "The Spaniard that blighted my life" I have tried to
check the lyric but cannot see a copy only the title and that Bing recorded it and
also Al Jolson. about 1911.
When I was a child we listened to both Abdul Abulbul Emir and to the Spaniard
that blighted my life. Either the songsters wife or girlfriend were
captivated by the Spaniard who was a bullfighter he goes on to state that "He will
die, he will die, he will die tiddly eye tye tye tye
tye tye tye tye He will die he will die Aye. I'll raise a bunion on his
spanish onion if I catch him bending tonight." I can't remember it all only bits
of it another line says " It was at the bullfight that she met him ....she
had been watching his daring display.....and while I went
out to buy nuts and a program the dirty dog stole her away"
I don't know how to obtain the lyrics but wanted to offer what litle I
remember now being in my late 60's . and this website is absolutely fantastic. to
take yourself back over the years and renew music favourites is wonderful.
Thank you Jean Martin. Boston
From: "Joe and Dorothy" <jlorance2@>
We sang it in the late 30s in grammar school--it was in our songbooks.
From: Burke Willsey <burkewesq@>
What a great find! Thank heaven for Google because I had it Abdul
Abulba Amir. My Mother and uncles sang this song in the 30s and I
recently asked her to write the lyrics for me, which she did at age 93.
At that time her family of 10 siblings and their parents lived in a
house with no electricity, running water or indoor plumbing but the love
simply overflowed. They also sang "Pretty Redwing"; "I Learned about
Women From Her"; "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze"; "Only a
Bird in a Gilded Cage" and "Moonlight and Skies" about a young
bankrobber in prison in Oklahoma.
Burke Willsey - June 2004
From: "stephanie rivera" <stephrivera51@>
I have been looking for these lyrics for years. My father used to sing
this when the family went riding in the car (more than 50 years ago). I
looked it up in a university library about 10 years ago and found it
listed in The Boy Scout Songbook of 1919, but never could find one.
Just thought I would type the name in on the search engine and found
this site. Thank you so much!!!!
From: sciance@
This song parody tickles me:
http://doggerelpundit.blogspot.com/2003_04_16_doggerelpundit_archive.html#200159250
From: FMolumby@
Hi.
Greeting on this the 150 anniversary of birth of Percy French.
I perform a tribute to him idea for concert/cabaret festival.
To paraphrase his own epitaph:
All I ask is to be remembered, it that be too much bother, forget it .
From: "ivan.gleaves" <ivan.gleaves@>
I too first heard the song on the BBC's "Children's Hour" hosted by the
wonderful "Uncle Mac" in the 1950's and then a 10 year olds imagination
did the rest, until today I did not realise it came from a poem, later
in my teens and working as an apprentice my Foreman sang it with much
gusto, I think he would have sang it much less if my name hadn't have
been Ivan.
I now at 58 must try and find a copy of the song, from reading all the
wonderful comments it would seem it was more popular in the US than the
UK.
Ivan J Gleaves
From: CKGarabed@
Dear Richard Riley:
I've been looking for the cartoon that I remember seeing way back when,
but have not been able to ocate a copy anywhere.
I'd appreciate your giving me a clue as to where to go for it.
C.K. Garabed
From: "Charles J. Kurtz" <ckurtz@>
I, too, remember my father singing this and Frankie and Johnnie when he put
me to bed in the late 40's. i always attributed this to his membership in a
"singing fraternity" , the Beta's at Ohio State.
Charlie K
From: "robert malson" <robertmalson@>
I too learned this as a Beta at Case Institute of Technology, now Case
Western Reserve, in Cleveland in the 50's. I am most pleased to be
reminded of those less complicated years of my youth. Thank you so much
for this site and thanks to all the contributors.
R. F. (Bob) Malson
From: TomKalmar@
I woke up singing a line from the filthy version, "for Abdul, poor fool, had
left half of his tool, up Ivan Skavinsky Skevar," and googled, hoping to
recall more. This is how The Push sang it at the Royal George in Sydney,
Australia, in the late 1950's and early 1960's.
Tom Kalmar
From: EddieBBme@
I have an original 45RPM recording of Abdullah Bulbul Ameer but I can't find
any record player capable of 45 RPM> Any ideas?
EddieBBme@
From: "mel" <meubank1@>
I can still hear my wonderful Uncle Walter belting out this song on our
yearly outing. He was a genious and kept us amazed trying to teach us
the work. I hadn't thought about it it in a while until this latest
hurricane (Ivan} brought it to mind. No one could compare to his bravado
and I do so wish he were still here to teach it to my daughter.
From: "Steve Pye" <stevepye01@>
I have the Frank Crumit recording of Abdul on cassette tape somewhere,
much-loved. I think my mother probably still has the 78 record. Part of
my happy youth, listening to all their 78s - Phil Harris, Spike Jones
and many more - anyone remember "Ernest Tubb's Talking Blues?"
"Cigarettes, Whisky & Wild, Wild Women?"
From: "Paul F. Page" <cynmar1@>
Thank you for the added lines. I remember them, too, from my first
encounter with this poem some 50 years ago.
From: JKV2003@
As I have written earlier, I learnt this song in the mid-forties(no-no, not
MY mid-forties), and I support the above contributors who wrote (however it
be spelled): Ivan Skavitsky (it has a powerful Russian ring to it) Skivar, and
Abdul el Bulbul Amir. The Arabic phrase must certainly be "Allah il-Allah
akhbar!" based on the fact that "La ilaha il-Allah" means "there is no God
but (one) God" and Allahu Akhbar means "God is great." But I'm sure you
knew that.
Jerry Burnam aka Vernon
Westwood, CA. USA
From: Nancjc@
OH BOY!!! I an nearly 74 years old and remember my Dad singing Abdul Abulbul
Ameer as we kids childishly called it. This song and Dunderbeck's Sausage
Machine were always requested in a ploy to 'just stay up a little later'.. . .
Nancy
From: Lisa Jones <lisa.jones@>
Did anyone ever locate the cartoon?
From: "Tom Gold" <thewall@>
I first saw these lyrics in "Cooper's Corner" in Guns n' Ammo magazine,
and heard Lore [Data's evil twin] sing a verse on Star Trek:NexGen.
Thus goaded, I went online & voila!
I sang the whole thing, and, what can I tell you.... shed a tear for
past glories.
-Tom thewall@ .net
From: "Dave Bogart" <dbogart@>
There is indeed a "naughty" version of this classic, and it's the one
favored by the U.S. Navy and the Royal Australian Navy (among others). I
used to have a recording (Australian), but sadly have lost track of it.
I'd love to have another, or just the lyrics, if anybody's got them. It
began:
The harems of Egypt are fair to behold,
The Harlots the fairest of fair,
But the fairest, a Greek, was owned by the shiek,
Abdul Abulbul Amir"
Here's hoping.
Bogie
From: "mick &jjenny" <jjennmick@>
I first heard "Abdul" as a song on the radio in England About 1947. It
was sung by a radio comedy star of that time by the name of Jack Train.
In the song he pronounced the words "Vile Infidel" as "Violin Fiddle".
Ten years on and I was in the Air Force an I encountered the "risque
version" which begins "The knock-shops of Egypt are famed and renouned "
etc. Thanks for bringing back some great memories.
Regards,
Jenny & Mick
From: "Barbara Fisher" <quilts100@>
I had just come across mention of this song in a book I was reading by Reeve Lindbergh, and it brought back all sorts of memories. We had a record of this when I was growing up -- I was born in 1932 -- and it all came back to me as if it were just a short time ago. My daughter has all the old 78s that my mother still had when she died in 1996 and there are racks of them in her basement. She lives more than 300 miles from where I do, so I'll have to see if she can go through them (not that I have anything to play 78s on any more). Does anyone know if it's on any
CD?
Barbara
From: Peter Field <pfield@>
http://www.mining.wits.ac.za/abdul.htm
From: Peter Field <pfield@>
For the dirty version of Abdul Abulbul Ameer go to
http://www.mining.wits.ac.za/abdul.htm
From: "Jan Lawson" <jblawson@>
On Narragansett Bay, in 45 and 42 Bill Lawrence taught us sailing and
his sailing songs, including Abdul the Bul Bul Amir. One of our verses
was substantially the same as the one submitted by Bud Powell;
He could imitate Irving, play lotto or pool,
And perform on the Spanish guitar.
In fact, quite the cream of the Muskovite team
Was Ivan Skavinski Skavar.
Our other "sailing songs" included certain Brown University ditties, "A
Capital Ship for an Ocean Trip," and Gilbert and Sullivan's "Yarn of the
Nancy Bell,"-Twas on the shores that round our coast from deal to
Ramsgate Span .. Some lines etched in our brains never seem to fade.
From: "Bud Powell" <budpow@
<mailto:ssiyer@?Subject=%5bminstrels%5d%20Followup%20to%20com
ment%20%2327%20on%20poem%20%23358%20%2D%20change%20not> >
I learned a fourth verse back in the forties, that went like this:
He could imitate Irving, play poker and pool,
And strum on the Spanish guitar.
In fact, quite the cream of the Muskovite team
Was Ivan Skavinski Skavar.
C. W. Powell
<mailto:ssiyer@?Subject=%5bminstrels%5d%20Followup%20to%20com
ment%20%2327.2%20on%20poem%20%23358%20%2D%20change%20not> budpow@
New Geneva Theological Seminary
Basket of Figs: http://ureach.com/figs
From: <light7@>
How fascinating to know that SO many other people share a similar
experience with me. My daddy was born in 1910 and he sang this song
many, many times, but I couldn't remember most of the words. He also
sang Strawberry Roan, Isle of Capri, and another one in Russian that he
told me was about a little cow. I wish I could remember the words well
enough to find that one.
From: Peter Browne <peter.browne@>
Happy I found your site. I am 73 born and raised in the UK emigrated to
Canada and the US. I learned the poem while cycling 1000 miles around
southern England in 1949. I also learned another Frank Crumit song about
prunes having wrinkles - anyone else know that one?
From: RICHARD McCORMACK <rcmc@>
From: "bob collins" <bobnchuckles@>
I just turned 65 and remember my Dad singing this to me when I was 5 or
6, right after WWII. He was a full-voiced baritone, and could really
put this song across, though he only knew five of the first six verses,
omitting the second. I worked as a folksinger through college and after
into the early sixties, and tried for years to find the poem or a
recording as my Dad had long since passed on. I wanted to perform this
tune with my trio, The Village Singers, in memory of him. What a
delight to learn all the history surrounding this marvelous poem!
Maybe some of you are familiar with Lou Gottlieb, the leader of the
"Limeliters" along with Alex Hassilev and the marvelous tenor Glenn
Yarbrough....Lou did a ditty called "Have Some Madeira, M'dear!" that
was absolutely hilarious. He had the power of voice and clarity of
diction that would have been necessary to do "Abdul".
Thanks from me and Dad,
Bob Collins
From: bob collins <bobnchuckles@>
I'm pretty sure is was a Glenn Miller arrangement, called St. Louis Blues March. I played it with a concert band in high school in the late 50's. Hope this helps.
Bob
From: HarrysPop@
I'm 76 now and it was in the mid-Thirties when I first heard about Abdul &
Ivan from my father who recited it quite often. Back then, I thought that he had
written it! Maybe he picked it up during WW 1. Was great seeing all the many
versions on your site. Also good to see references to "The Spaniard Who
Blighted my Life" which I think was sung by Al Jolson, and to "Dunderbeck" which I
used to sing in camp in NY in the Thirties (and now sing to my
Grandchildren).
--Martin
HarrysPop
From: HarrysPop@
Saw the cartoon many years ago in an advertisement from Springmaid Sheets.
Martin