"This song was taught to me by my grandma who was from Scotland." -Alexandra

Notes

Brian wrote:

My Mother Taught me a version of a rhyme already posted here; only with slightly different lyrics:

When I was young I had no sense,
I thought I'd go to sea,
I climbed aboard a Chinese ship
And a China-man came to me,
He toppled me right over
And put me on to boil,
And while the pot was boiling,
He sang this Chinese song:
"Eeskara munga gee-I-Unga fe fi fo fi fam,
Dip your nose in the butter,
For a poor China-man."

I imagine that from town to town there may have been local variants of this and other nursery rhymes.

My mother was born and raised in Springburn, Glasgow (1925) and told me it was her mother who taught it to her.

Thank you for receiving my post.

Brian, Sydney Australia

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Many thanks to Alexandra Greene for sharing this song and for singing it for us.

Thanks and Acknowledgements

Thanks to Brian for sharing his family's version of this song!