Sign Song (1930s)

Lyrics:

We've a man up the hill and you know him quite well, We all call him Scrapper (it's easy to spell), In case you don't know him I'll tell you his sign, It's tangent, cotangent, cosecant, cosine.

We've a man up the hill and you know him quite well, We all call him Cattley (it's easy to spell), In case you don't know him I'll tell you his sign, It's passive, gerundive, inflect and decline.

We've a man up the hill and you know him quite well, We all call him Bill Argue (it's easy to spell), In case you don't know him I'll tell you his sign, It's caudal, peduncle, phalanges and spine.

We've a man up the hill and you know him quite well, We all call him Dezie (it's easy to spell), In case you don't know him I'll tell you his sign, It's paragraph, stanza, verse, couplet and line.

We've a man up the hill and you know him quite well, We all call him Hoot (it's easy to spell), In case you don't know him I'll tell you his sign, It's tamarack, juniper, hemlock and pine.

We've a man up the hill and you know him quite well, We all call him Earle (it's easy to spell), In case you don't know him I'll tell you his sign, It's highway construction and railroad design.

We've a man up the hill and you know him quite well, We all call him Cyci (it's easy to spell), In case you don't know him I'll tell you his sign, It's ammeter, voltmeter, coulomb and dyne.

We've a man up the hill and you know him quite well, We all call him Blinky (it's easy to spell), In case you don't know him I'll tell you his sign, It's cylinder, axle-grease, haywire, twine.

We've a man up the hill and you know him quite well, We all call him Doc Toole (it's easy to spell), In case you don't know him I'll tell you his sign, It's Hoot, come away, you must get here on time.

Note(s): An earlier version of this song can be found in the 1921 edition of Carmina.

Source(s):

• UA Case 128; Section 2; File 5.