Sign Song (1921)

Lyrics:

We've a man up the hill and you know him quite well, We all call him Davy (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 Tyng (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 Dinky (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 Tubby (it's easy to spell), In case you don't know him I'll tell you his sign, It's logic, illogic, explain and define.

We've a man up the hill and you know him quite well, We all call him Woodbine (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 Oolong (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 Turner (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 Foster (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 Adam (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.

As you like it Affection: we like him quite well. Indifference: it's easy to spell. Disapproval: ----------------------!

Note(s): This song first appears in the 1921 edition of Carmina. In the 1926 edition of Carmina, the second line of the sixth stanza reads "We all call him Horta (it's easy to spell)". A later version of this song can be found here.

Source(s):

• Carmina Universitatis Novi Brunsvici. Fredericton, NB: University of New Brunswick, 1921.
• Carmina Universitatis Novi Brunsvici. Fredericton, NB: University of New Brunswick, 1926.