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PipeOrganEnthusiast t1_j1siayi wrote

The article's medical formality has me cracking up more than the lyrics themselves.

"...the most common version refers to rumours that Adolf Hitler had monorchism ("one ball"), and accuses Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler of microorchidism ("two but very small") and Joseph Goebbels of anorchia ("no balls at all")."

68

TheDefected t1_j1sinlc wrote

Everyone still knows this from school.
The second verse is new to me though!

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Ichabodblack t1_j1sj8fs wrote

This brings back playground memories. We used to sing this in the 80s

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silversurfer63 t1_j1sjhmg wrote

But also quickly forgotten after WWII by all but British.

This is the only part I learned 55 years ago:

Hitler has only got one ball,

the other is in the Albert Hall,

his mother, the dirty bugger,

Took the other when he was just small.

There are other verses as well as other versions of the part I know.

262

TheLimeyCanuck t1_j1smk1j wrote

Wow... I feel old, and I wasn't even around for the war. Lot's of the kids I knew growing up sang this song.

2

Brad_Brace t1_j1spg7m wrote

I learned about this from The Yogpod, many years ago.

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Hellright t1_j1sq5yr wrote

Replying to silversurfer63 (#1,084,122)

Hey I remember this song too 🌝 (80s kid used to live in England, my grandad was a tank commander in WW2 served from 1939-1946). I actually know the rest of the lyrics too (as far as I remember them lol), I’ll paste them below with yours (albeit a little modified).

🎶 Hitler has only got one ball,

the other is in the Albert Hall,

his mother, the silly bugger,

cut it off when he was small,

she threw it, in the deep blue sea,

the fishes,

looked suspicious,

And had scallops and bollocks, for teaaaaaaaaaa!!!!! 🎶

I know another one too.

🎶 in the German nick,

where they hang you by the dick,

and the rats play snooker with your balls,

and you’re dying for a wank,

but your minds gone blank,

but they hang dirty pictures on the wall 🎶

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ChompyChomp t1_j1sq8qw wrote

I think this was sung in the Red Badge Of Courage (or maybe I learned about it at the same time I was reading that book? Memory is weird like that and mine tends to bleed when I prod it…)

0

albertsy2 t1_j1sqd71 wrote

We sang something like this in ROTC, but we were dissing the other platoons.

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CrestedBonedog t1_j1ssqnm wrote

Charlie and His Orchestra was an interesting counterpart to this...a Nazi German swing band who made some very hate-filled parodies of contemporary songs.

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lugialugia1 t1_j1sth14 wrote

I learned this song at summer camp as a kid.

1

silversurfer63 t1_j1stozc wrote

Replying to Hellright (#1,085,003)

Not sure if odd or not but I learned this in scouts. whilst camping in Welsh countryside, we learned it from a scout of another troop. When one boy learned it, we all eventually learned it. I heard all the verses, however, only learned the first. The 'German nick' verse doesn't fit with Hitler Goebbels Goering Himmler verses, it may have a very well crafted improvisation suited for teenage boys.

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voodoohotdog t1_j1svzk3 wrote

Hitler. Has one left ball.

Goering has two, but small.

Himmler has something similar,

While poor old Goebles has no balls at all...

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ligmaballzbiatch t1_j1sy4ni wrote

My dad used to always sing:

Whistle while you work. Hitler was a jerk. Moussolini bit his Weiney, now it doesn’t squirt.

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Thecna2 t1_j1t1xc7 wrote

This is referenced in Jojo Rabbit where the Gestapo Office assures Jojo that Hitler doesnt have one ball, but in fact he has 4 balls.

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mk09 t1_j1t4kkm wrote

This is in Spaceballs! The Dinks sing the tune as they walk through the desert.

Mel Brooks has never missed an opportunity to mock Nazis.

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Campmoore t1_j1t6ode wrote

It's the song the dink-dinks 'sing' in Spaceballs when they lead Lonestar et.al. to the Almighty Yogurt.

2

2ndtheburrALT t1_j1t7b6r wrote

They may have complimented Rommel in the less known other part where it said "had four or five, I guess."

1

metikoi t1_j1t8mip wrote

I've been working on a modern take featuring Putin etc for a while now but I can't settle on a fourth douche to add to him, xi and trump.

Clears throat

Putin has only one big ball, Someone has two but they are small, Trump just has an orange lump, But poor old Jinping has no-thing at all.

1

Vonkampf t1_j1t9tiu wrote

It’s a tune you can really dribble a soccer ball to.

1

candlesandfish t1_j1tbckf wrote

I was watching the Military Tattoo last night with my parents (traditionally on tv at the end of the year here) and they played the Colonel Bogie March so my mum told us about how they would sing this at school in the 60s.

1

suterb42 t1_j1tctia wrote

🎶Lisa

Her teeth are big and green

Lisa

She smells like gasoline

Lisa

Da da da disa

She's my sister

Her birthday

I missed her🎶

5

OkRace3579 t1_j1teb54 wrote

I was born in 96 and in highschool in the early 2000s, I remember hearing the "Hitler only got one ball, the other is in the Albert hall" bit.

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ZanyDelaney t1_j1tee5k wrote

As a kid in Australia I knew this - probably from watching war movies on TV...

Hitler, has only got one ball

Goering, has two but very small

Himmler, is rather sim'lar

But poor old Goebbels, has no balls, at all

2

Nukemind t1_j1tf73c wrote

Replying to atomfullerene (#1,087,059)

I learned it as an American kid in the 2000’s in the Boy Scouts. We sang it all the time to the point even the Scoutmaster yelled at us to “Leave poor Hitler alone!”

To his credit he realized what he said afterwards and we all laughed.

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MansfromDaVinci t1_j1tgjse wrote

Someone once called me a filthy jew or some such, so I whistled it at him.

Hilter has only got one ball

Goering has two but very small

Himmler has something sim-lar

But poor old goebbels

Has no balls

At all.

1

epiquinnz t1_j1tkgvm wrote

>Analysis
>
>The lyrics attack Nazi leaders' masculinity by mocking and belittling their alleged testicular deformities.

Thank you, Wikipedia, very cool.

1

jthanson t1_j1tkix5 wrote

Parody songs about the enemy used to be more common. WWI had tunes like “We’re Going To Hang Out The Washing On The Siegfried Line.”

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Ken-Wing-Jitsu t1_j1toev2 wrote

I learned that song as a secondary school kid in England 🤣

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Lumpyproletarian t1_j1tqgoq wrote

Years ago I, possibly more than 50, I saw a programme on the BBC about folk music and there was one song mocking the insufficiency of Napoleon’s “codlings”. Codlings are an old word for apples and also where the word codpiece comes from.

So the British have been mocking their enemies’ testicular troubles for at least two hundred years.

Also on Test Match Special (Cricket commentary radio show famous for digressions and ability to keep talking when rain stopped play) they once produced a version that went

Willis has bowled the odd no-ball

Henricks bowls hardly any at all

Willey is just as silly

But Old bowls no no-balls at all.

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fishfingerchipbean t1_j1tr4cu wrote

Our local ice cream van plays the tune so we have it stuck in our brains most of the summer.

1

sleepytoday t1_j1tsp3q wrote

Replying to rants_unnecessarily (#1,087,619)

Close to the version I know! We had:

Chopped it off when he was small
She threw it into a conker tree
It ended up in the deep blue sea
And then the fishes
Got out their dishes
And had scallops and bollocks for tea.

Though, I was never quite sure how it was in the Albert Hall if the fish had eaten it!

13

MetalSpider t1_j1txwyt wrote

Replying to silversurfer63 (#1,084,122)

That's close to the one I always heard. Didn't know the original dated all the way back to WWII though.

We sang a slightly different version:

Hitler has only got one ball,

The other is in the Albert hall.

His mother, the dirty bugger

Cut it off when he was small.

She threw it

Into the deep blue sea

Where the fishies

Had scallops and bollocks for tea.

8

Fluffy-Ferret-2725 t1_j1tyz4h wrote

We used to sing a version about Margaret Thatcher too (cant remember it all):

Thatcher has only got one tit, The other is down a miners pit

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cediwen t1_j1u2ub5 wrote

Born in 75 in Australia. I still sing this occasionally.

1

Duckballisrolling t1_j1u3hs6 wrote

My Australian WW2 vet grandpa would sing this randomly while making toast or sweeping. He was at Kokoda.

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Tapps74 t1_j1u5od7 wrote

Himmler was very similar & Gobbels had no balls at all.

1

FirstAidKilt t1_j1u6bf6 wrote

My dad taught us this when we were young! But it was a little different, I'm guessing because he or whoever taught him forgot some words. Ours was 'Hitler had only one left ball' and 'Himmler had something similar' but everything else was the same

1

PM_Me_British_Stuff t1_j1u8we4 wrote

Replying to silversurfer63 (#1,084,122)

That's basically the same as what I learnt (dirty bugger vs filthy bugger, and chopped it off vs took the other)

Although there was another version I heard:

Hitler, he's only got one ball

Gorring's got two but rather small

Himmler, is very similar

And Goeball's got no balls at all!

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DrunkenOnzo t1_j1ug1cf wrote

You should hear the songs everyone else writes about the British lol

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Hookton t1_j1uj4bp wrote

Replying to Hellright (#1,085,003)

I know the second one as:

>In the Turkish jails

>Where they hang you by the nails

>And they paint dirty pictures on the walls

>Where your hair grown thick

>From your belly to your dick

>And the mice play billiards with your balls

Wonder where that one came from.

3

unaspirateur t1_j1ukyq9 wrote

This makes that scene in A Separate Piece make so much more sense

1

Son_of_Macha t1_j1ux7rv wrote

I'm gen x and we still used to sing it at school

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Farnsworthson t1_j1v09m1 wrote

According to Danny La Rue's character in the (budget but surprisingly good) film "Our Miss Fred" (US "Operation Fred") - explaining to a straight-laced, rather naive school headmistress, it's about tennis. Enabling the cast to get away with a car full of teenage girls singing the chorus: Balls, balls, balls, balls, balls, balls, balls; balls, balls, balls, balls balls"...

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NotPortlyPenguin t1_j1v9xwq wrote

Sung to the tune of Colonel Bogey, the tune whistled in Bridge over the River Kwai.

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Bob_Juan_Santos t1_j1vbqnq wrote

it'd be nice if people with one testicle not be grouped with hitler.

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margayvr t1_j1vzjmp wrote

Ha ha, I was twelve or so when my mom finally told me the lyrics. Courtesy of a drop too much New Year's eggnog. Sister and I went back to school and promptly taught it to the other kids. About 1968, East Vancouver

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Flamekebab t1_j1w7psf wrote

>It was quickly picked up and sang by Allied troops

...sung.

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ash_274 t1_j1wg7b2 wrote

Replying to mk09 (#1,086,790)

He was an army engineer at the Battle of the Bulge. 78 years ago this week Nazis were shooting at him. I'd hold a grudge for that, alone; let alone the racial issue on top of that

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ash_274 t1_j1wh4wt wrote

The finale (or penultimate episode) of Man in the High Castle some American rebels sang it together before attacking.

1

jrhooo t1_j1x1chj wrote

Replying to rants_unnecessarily (#1,087,732)

FWIW, it IS actually a legit march, since at least the 1800s.

The pop culture associations happened later. The Brits and Ameticans still use it.

FFWD to 17:00 in this clip for example,

That Marines at the Marine Honor Guard barracks (8th&I) still use it to march the troops onto the parade deck for the evening parade. (And have for decades now at least)

https://youtu.be/_MaOtE4ZxCY

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smilingasIsay t1_j1xx2o9 wrote

Ah, take a post from history memes, wait a week, post on TIL

1