Print This Page#02806 Print This Page
Oh, the bicycle is all the rage on every street and town,
You must be nimble on the pins, if not they'll run you down;
Now the girls are taking to the wheels, it's a pleasure that they like,
For my aunt and another woman went in partners for a bike.
Aunt Julia always tipped the beam at fourteen stone or more,
And to see her in the bloomers you should hold your sides and roar;
She's as awkward as a heifer and as graceful as an ox,
And her head is all court plasters from the bounces on the rocks.
Each evening just at full of dark for practice she'll turn out,
It's a picnic for the youngsters as they follow her and shout;
And they'll play the jews harp at her as the sods she'll try and dodge,
For she'll get them all arrested, in the old stone jail to lodge.
Now young men about to settle down and lead a happy life,
Oh, make sure and have the bloomers if you want a saving wife;
And if you are working on the roads and gets home to your meals,
And your children wild with hunger, and the Mrs. on the wheels.
Published in Burke's Ballads, p.31, c.1960, compiled by John White and archived at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Libraries, Centre For Newfoundland Studies - Digitized Books collection.
See more songs by Johnny Burke.
From Princeton University's WordNet:
Pins - pegs; sticks; informal term for the legs.
14 stone - 196 lbs; 89 kgs.
