Abraham Thomas · 22 June 2000

Hi,

Interestingly enough, I received another personal email saying just the same thing, from an English gentleman also in his seventies. I wonder if the poem was far more well-known in the 1930s?

cheers,
thomas | The Wondering Minstrels

Don Laughery · 22 June 2000

Re: Ivan Skavinsky Skavar: I remember my mother singing this song when I was not more than a toddler. (I’m now 71)
Don Laughery
Brooklyn, MD USA

Jan Barham · 22 November 2000

I too first heard this sung as a child of about nine. I used to spend my Christmas holidays with relatives on a farm on the western Darling Downs. Just before Christmas each year I would go with my two uncles up the paddock to select the Christmas tree. It became traditional for them to entertain me and my cousins by singing Abdul Abulbul Amir, The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze, and The Quartermasters Store. I am now 64, one uncle has long gone, and the other is 94. I was delighted to find the words to this old song. Hope I can locate the words to the others. Jan Barham..

Normflormiller · 29 November 2000

My 86 year old father sung this to me as a child. I wanted to find the lyrics in print while he is still here to enjoy them. I would also like to find the printed music. The link to the Midi File has a good reproduction of the way it should sound. As stated, I would like to have the notes so someone in the family could play it again. Florence Miller

Adam Chace · 15 January 2001

I’m confused by that one stanza, the first line is OK. But the rhyme between the second and fourth is pathetic and out of the established pattern, also the last two lines are completely off topic. I have difficulty believing that the author would write a well thought poem/song like this and include that poorly written stanza.

Anne Simpson · 27 June 2001

My family loved Abdul Abulbul Ameer, and we also had a record of Abdul’s return, which I remember as follows

The Return of Abdul Abulbul Ameer ———————————

(As remembered by Anne Simpson at age 72 from a childhood record)

By the sea of Sargossa I wandered one night, The moon it was shining quite clear.
for no reason at all I heard someone call for Abdul Abulbul Ameer.

Now Abdul Abulbul I knew to be dead,
the story had spread near and far,
how he lost his life while plunging his knife into Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.

While I pondered the moonbeams descended quite low casting shadows suffusely, and then,
I discovered that I was standing close by the tombs of those two famous men.

Then in the tombs shadows there rose from a grave the form of a Russian Hussar,
and my skin nearly peeled, as he stood there revealed, it was Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.

‘Twas he who was calling, I hardly dared breathe, my heart ‘most stopped beating from fear, when out of a grave, in need of a shave, arose Abdul Abulbul Ameer.

“Well, wouldst speak with me Ivan?”, quoth Abdul quite low. “I wouldst”, replied Ivan quite clear. “That quarrel we had, ‘twas all to the bad. friend Abdul Abulbul Ameer.

“I’ve lain here for ages with that on my mind, and that’s why I called you tonight”. “Well, I’m in the same state”, quoth Abdul the great, “Twas foolish for we two to fight”.

“Oh friend, thou art blameless”, cried Ivan in haste, “The fault lies in my hands alone”.
But Abdul said “Nay, ‘twas never that way, the fault was no one’s but mine own.”

“Well, dost think I’m a coward?”, quoth Ivan Skavar, “Step forth and I’ll slice off thine ear.” “Oh, son of a cat, you’ll never do that”, quoth Abdul Abulbul Ameer.

So once more they battled and fought as before, the multitudes came from afar,
and lauded with cheers these bold buccaneers, this Turk, and this Russian Hussar.

Twas just at that moment each sword found its mark and I heard a blood-curdling scream,
I opened my eyes and to my surprise
I found it was only a dream.

Jftatom · 30 July 2001

I happened to think idly of parts of this ballad/poem and remembered studying it in Byrd High School in Shreveport, Louisiana, committing most of it to memory back in 1940–I believe. I couldn’t quite remember all of it, and had been looking for a book containing it. I put it aside in my mind and then decided to take a look on the Internet. I’m still around in my 75th Year. Thanks for your site and the preservation of this memory. Jim Tatom, Woodland Hills, California

CHARLES A WALKER JR · 13 September 2001

For some unknown reason this song returned to my memory yesterday. I hadn’t thought of it for years. I am 82 years old and remember singing it when I was 10 or 12 years old. Thanks for bringing back days of my childhood.

Charles Walker

Ward Hardman · 4 October 2001

That suspicious quatrain was probably amended from something like this:

They parried and thrust, they sidestepped and cussed, The blood they shed cost them dear,
But each injury dire just augmented the ire Of Ivan and Abdul Amir.

This balances the next quatrain, which ends with “Of Abdul and Ivan Skevar.” That stuff about “philology” doesn’t ring true to the rest of the poem.
–Ward Hardman, San Diego, CA

Ward Hardman
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc.
Phone:, FAX:

La Linda · 12 October 2001

Hello
I read the poem Abdul Abulbul Amir in high school in the sixties. It was in a book of poems. I just liked the sound and the rocking singsong tones. I did not know until this website that it was a song. Thank you all. Oh, by the way, I thought it was elbullbull….childhood perceptions! Linda in Los Angeles

billrsmith · 13 October 2001

Thank you for posting the lyrics and information. My dad used to sing this ballad to me when I was a little kid about 7 or 8 years old. That would have been in 1940 or ‘41. It brings back lots of memories. Bill Smith

oregonmacduff · 24 October 2001

The Looney Tunes cartoon of Abdul the Bulbul Amir was my childhood first exposure to the ballad… Darn, I wish I had it on tape! My father-in-law, a Naval aviator in WWII, would sing the only verse he knew while washing dishes, differing slightly than the one listed above, but rhyming better (at least I think so)… As he sang it:

“Oh, they fought all that night ‘neath the pale moonlight, The din it was heard from afar,
Huge multitudes came for so great was the fame, Of Abdul and Ivan Skavar”

After studying Ottoman history, Arabic, Turkish and Osmanli, I always thought it interesting that as fierce a warrior as Abdul was in the song, he was still just the Nightingale Prince :)

Thanx for the site. It brings back great memories! Randy Dodds

Gene Lynch · 20 November 2001

This actually was a song not a poem. I’m 71 years young and used to listen to this Abdul Abulbul Amir on my folks old Victrola. This is a great site.
Gene

JKV2001 · 11 December 2001

I was nine or ten years old when I first heard the song at summer camp at Tannersville, NY. I’ve been looking for it ever since, these 60 years. (Have you done the math? I’m almost 70.) Like Linda in L.A., I remembered it as Abdul el Bulbul Amir (and Ivan Skavitzky Skivar) (close), although I once saw it in a song book as the out-of-meter Ivan Skizavitzky Skivar. I agree with Ward Hardman’s improvement on the “suspicious quatrain” and I would suggest the line to rhyme “They fought all that night neath the yellow moonlight.” Thank you for making my … year!
Jerry Burnam, New York to Los Angeles

Norman Yearley · 21 January 2002

I heard a rather naughty version of this poem in 1947. Danny Morgan recited it to me.Are you out there ,Dan? e-mail address:.
Can anyone else help me please?
Norman Yearley

Page Stephens · 27 January 2002

This Return of Abdul was written and performed by Frank Crumit who also wrote The Grandson of Abdul Abulbul Amir and Minnie Skavinsky Skavar. In The Grandson the fight occurs on the golf course and in Minnie it occurs at the bridge table. He may have written other sequels but these are the only ones I have copies of. The B side of The Return was I’m Betting the Roll on Roamer.

Crumit was a vaudeville, broadway and radio star who is today unfortunately long forgotten even probably by Ohio State University alumni who no doubt sing the OSU fight song with no knowledge of the name of the person who wrote it.

— Page Stephens

Isarel Schneiderman · 2 February 2002

I onece saw a cartoon version of this poem.When was t made by whom?

Israel Schneiderman

Timothy S. Hamilton · 6 February 2002

Hi,
A comment about your lyrics for Abdul Abulbul Amir. There are variant lyrics quoted by characters in P. C. Wren’s book Beau Sabreur, the prequel to his famous Beau Geste. Wren knew Arabic, and he writes the name as “Abdul, the Bul-bul Emir,” which I believe would be a translation of the variant “Abdul el Bulbul Amir,” quoted by another person on this site. He also cleans up Abdul’s battle cry into what is probably proper Arabic, “Allah Akbar!”
More importantly, the lyrics quoted in Beau Sabreur are quite different in many places than any of the versions I’ve seen listed on your website. Beau Sabreur was written in 1926, and if it had anything like the fame of Beau Geste, that might account for some of the popularity of this song ~70 years ago, as mentioned by several posts. Wren weaves the lyrics (and even the written tune) into the plot of his novel, and the name of “Major Ivan” becomes a constant reference to his main character.

Sincerely, Tim Hamilton

Charles Eisenhart · 26 February 2002

After hearing the poem from Dad about 50 years ago, I memorized it myself. There are two other verses missing: Said Ivan, my friend, your remarks in the end will avail you but little, I fear–for you ne’er shall survive to repeat them alive, Mr. Abdul Abulbul Amir.” And later, after the sultan comes in, Czar Petrovitch too, in his spectacles blue drove up in his new crested car-he arrived just in time to exchange a last line with Ivan Skavinsky Skavar. Note also, that I did som research and found that Peter the Great used to wear glasses of various colors because he enjoyed the alternative views of the world they gave him. Also a Mameluke is sort of a Turkish Special Forces soldier. A poem with little literary merit, I’m afraid, but like the works of Robert Service, lots of fun for people of all ages.

Jerry Clerc · 3 March 2002

It has been over sixty years since I have heard or read this poem. I was working in the Montgomery Ward warehouse in Chicago, and a fellow worker there who was studying to become a doctor, recited this poem. I still remember a couple of verses. But because I could only spell phonetically having never seen the words in print, I could not find it until I was able to contact your web site with the incorrect spelling of Abdul Abulbul Ameer (sic). Thank you, thank you very much. It is like finding a long lost friend.

Jerry Clerc

Jerry Clerc · 5 March 2002

Thank you for site listing. Very well done and very much enjoyed.

Jerry Clerc

GREGORY BRAMLET · 15 March 2002

Can anyone confirm that this was sung by gary cooper in one of his films? I have been searching for some time now, but to no avail. I recollect this song from my 1950’s childhood.

Warren Rote · 20 March 2002

He could imitate birds, play poker or pool
Or strum on the Spanish guitar
In fact, quite the cream of the Muscovite scheme Was Ivan Skavinsky Skavar

bwanacushing · 24 March 2002

Wonderful to recoup this ballad, which I
learned 65 years ago, but it was Ivan
Skavitsky Skavar and Abdul el Bulbul
Amir. Some changes over the years
since the Crimean War, one would presume.

Frank Carroll · 31 March 2002

This is a wonderful old song and a favorite of my Dad’s. He asked me the other night if I could find the words to “Betting the Roll on Roamer.” You mentioned that Betting the Roll on roamer is the B-side to Abdul….Do you have the words to Roamer posted anywhere?

phs1926 · 13 April 2002

Like many of the commentators on the poem, I am also 75 years of age. I have a very clear memory of where I first heard it, altho I never memorized it or wrote it down. In the early or mid 1930,s there was a crooner, movie actor, named Dick Powell. He later became a tough guy PI actor. He made many musical comedies, two of which pictured him as a Marine and as a Sailor in the Navy. I believe it was the movie about the sailor that had Powell receiving punishment consisting or singing the verses to the poem - I can still sing the tune to the words of the poem but would not receive any acclaim for my efforts. For several years, in my neighborhood, people spoke of the SONG saying that there were over 100 verses. I have tried on occasion to find a longer poem than the one you presented without any luck.

Anyway, I’m happy to see it again and the later poem contained in the comments.
Also, I’m going to try locating the movie with Dick Powell.

Sincerely,

Phil Shedd

Bud Powell · 18 April 2002

I learned a fourth verse back in the forties, that went like this:

He could imitate Irving, play poker and pool, And strum on the Spanish guitar.
In fact, quite the cream of the Muskovite team Was Ivan Skavinski Skavar.

C. W. Powell
New Geneva Theological Seminary
Basket of Figs: [broken link] http://ureach.com/figs

maddy · 5 May 2002

I am learning the song now after years of only knowing the first couple of verses, for 50 years I thought it was “Violin fiddle” now I know it’s Vile infidel !!

Tony Miles · 19 May 2002

My Step-father sang this for us 50 years ago. He was 35 then. I always thought he picked it up in the service. He also sang ‘The Bells of the Deep’,’Strawberry Roan’ and ‘Old Zebra Dun’. Each with a great many verses.
Thanks for reminding me.

Roderick W. Clarke · 25 May 2002

Recorded from memory by Roderick W. Clarke, A song I learned at Camp Pioneer, Boy Scouts od America in 1936 or 37

The sons of the prophets were hardy and bold, And quite unaccustomed to fear.
But the bravest of all was a man by the name of Abdul Al Bulbul Ameer.

If they needed a man to encourage the van Or to harass the foe from the rear
Or to storm a redoubt they would set up a shout For Abdul Al Bulbul Ameer.

There were heroes aplenty and men known to fame Who fought in the ranks of the Tsar.
But none of more fame than a man by the name Of Ivan Skavinky Skivar.

He could sing like Caruso both tenor and base And play on the Spanish guitar.
In fact, quite the cream of a muscovite team Was Ivan Skavinsky Skivar.

One day this bold Muscovite shouldered his gun And walked down the street with a sneer.
He was looking for fun when he happened to run On Abdul Al Bulbul Ameer.

³Young man¹² said Bulbul,²is existence so dull That you¹re anxious to end your career.
For infidel know you have trod on the toe Of Abdul Al Bulbul Ameer.

So take your last look at the sun and th brook And send your regrets to the Tsar.
By which I imply you are going to die,
Mr. Ivan Skavinsky Skivar.

Then this bold Mameluke drew his trusty skibouk, Shouting, “Allah! Il Allah! Akbar
And with murderous intent he ferociously went For Ivan Skavinsky Skivar.

They fought all that night neath the pale yellow moon; The din, it was heard from afar,
And huge multitudes came, so great was the fame, Of Abdul and Ivan Skivar.

On stone by the banks wher the Neva doth flow It is written in characters clear:
Oh, stranger remember to pray for the soul Of Abdul Al Bulbul Ameer.

While a Muscovite maiden her vigil doth keep By the light of a pale northern star.
And the name she does constantly says in her sleep Is Ivan Skavinsky Skivar.

tentrees · 29 June 2002

My Dad often sang this song, I learned it from listening to him. I was about 10 in the early 1930s and have never forgotten “Abdul” and dozens of other songs; we sang a lot in our home…Thanks for your major contribution to memories of my “good old days” in San Francisco.

Patricia Eileen Lewis
Port Charlotte FL

Eileen Rickards Johnson · 30 July 2002

Hi:

What a fun site.

I was just looking the song up to sing the song to my grandson. It was in my college songbook when I went to Goldsmith’s College in London, England, in 1949, and I’ve never forgotten it. There were other songs in that book that I can only remember bits of, too.

I really enjoyed the ‘Return’ song.

Eileen

Mounce · 26 August 2002

After reading the comments on your web page about Amir and Skevarr, I must admit to fitting the mold of many of the writers–71 years old, retired navy carrier pilot, remembered some of the verses, tried to teach it to my 13 year old grandson during a trip to London last week, learned it in grammar school in the 40’s, and glad to find not only the words but info on the author.

Thanks.

C Mounce
4882 Schehin Rd
College Station TX 77845

Bob & Linda · 16 September 2002

I first heard this song on my parents wind-up Victrola hen I was seven or eight, about 65 years ago. I played it over and over and finally could sing along with the artist, I think it was Frank Crumit, For some reason today I started to sing it but could not remember all the words. then I found this web sight and was excited and delighted to find the words again. Thank you for making my day.

Bob F

Randy Ridgel · 1 October 2002

That’s

Randy Ridgel · 1 October 2002

I couldn’t sleep and was going mad with these words running through my head: “You will die! Oh you will die!, Said Ivan Skavinsky Skivar. To Abdoul Aboulboul Ameer”. I am now 72 and although I can’t find those exact words in the versions above, I remember them from a popular version played on our windup Victrolla and, I believe, on radio in the mid-thirties in Tickfaw, Louisana.

This computer, Internet, a search engine named Google and this marvelous website would have been unimaginable to me back then.

How does one get the tune?

Randy Ridgel

Allan · 15 November 2002

I am 72 years old and used to hear this ballad on the radio when I was a small boy in the 30’s and early 40’s. I am not sure who recorded it but I seem to remember it being done by Burl Ives and during the same period he was also doing “Wayfaring Stranger” and “Big Rock Candy Mountain”. I may be mistaken but if Burl didn’t do it he should have.

Allan Patrick

Doolbykid · 23 November 2002

What a great site. I have seen the sheet music for Abdul El Bulbul Emir. It’s definitely on a website, but I’m blowed if I can find it, now I need it to accompany the verses in one of the stories in my book ‘Dicky Blood’s War’, soon to be published. see
www.books4publishing.com
I’ll keep checking this site. Someone is bound to trace it. Geoff Blore

Jerome Shipman · 28 December 2002

I first heard the song on a radio program in the early 1930s, the kind of program on which you could hear operatic arias like “Largo al Factotum” from “The Barber of Seville,” songs from light opera, a violinist playing Rimsky Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumble Bee,” and humorous numbers like “The Man on the Flying Trapeze” and “Abdul the Bulbul Ameer,” as we thought it was called then. I learned the same set of lyrics as Roderick W. Clarke did, within a year or two of the same time that he did, in the same kind of place, Boy Scout camp (specifically Camp Mohican in Blairstown, New Jersey). I had a book of songs for campers, the 1930s counterpart of your 1970s activity book.

I always remembered Mr. Clarke’s

“He could sing like Caruso, both tenor and bass [not “base”]
He could play on the Spanish guitar
In fact quite the cream
Of the Muscovite team
Was Ivan Skavitsky Skivar”

as we thought the name was. That stanza of course would come between your third and fourth stanzas.

I do not remember your thirteenth stanza, which however accurately it may reflect Russian military burial practices during the Crimean War, is completely foreign to the spirit of the rest of the song.

I could probably notate the tune we sang the song to if there were enough interest, and if I could summon up the required patience.

Jerome S. Shipman

Dale Iwan · 30 December 2002

I’m another in his 70’s who listened to the scratchy ‘78 on his parents Victrola. The record was ancient even then. Too bad I don’t remember the label. Larry H

Rob Illing · 8 January 2003

An interesting note on this poem is that two verses are sung in an episode of the TV series “Star Trek: The Next Generation” entitled “Brothers”.

Regards,

Rob

richard · 26 January 2003

I recently found your comment on “Abdul Abubul Amir” on the web. I’m trying to find the music for my father’s memorial service. Did you ever find it?

Joe Street · 28 February 2003

I first heard it sung in 1931 or 1932 by my 3rd cousin, Tom Bradfield. I’ve sung it ever since ( the one verse I could recall ). The tune is firmly fixed in my head; but I’m not a musician. If this will help you in any way, I would like helping with your Dad’s Service. Just let me know how to proceed.
Joe Street

Riley Richard T · 28 February 2003

Thanks, Joe. The service was last week. At the request of the church, we didn’t use Abdul, though I found the music in a book of Navy songs from Amazon. Instead we used another of my dad’s favorites, an Irish song about the uprising of 1796, “The Rising of the Moon”

I also got a copy of a cartoon of the song that was done in ‘42 by MGM. It’s on Laserdisk, so I haven’t seen it yet. Apparently Groucho narrates the fight.

Gilbert H. Smith · 3 March 2003

I have never heard this SUNG. I knew it was a song, but I saw the words when I was in College. I’ll be 71 in April of 2003.

A couple of the versions here come close to the way I learned it, but not exactly. With your permission, I’ll add my version.

The Sons of the Prophet were hardy and bold, and quite unacustomed to fear. by the bravest of all was a man I am told, named Abdul El Bul-Bul Ameer.

If they wanted a man to encourage the van, or to harass the foe in the rear. or to storm a redoubt, they would set up a shout, for Abdul El Bul-Bul Ameer.

There were heroes in plenty and men known to fame, who fought in the ranks of the Czar. but none of more fame than a man by the name of Ivan Skavitsky Skivar.

He could sing like Caruso, both Tenor and Bass, he could play on the Spanish Guitar. in fact quite the cream of the Muscovite Team was Iran Skavitsky Skivar.

One day, this bold Muscovite shouldered his gun, and walked down the street with a sneer. he was looking for fun when he happened to run, upon Abdul El Bul-Bul Ameer.

“Young man” said Bul-Bul, “is existence so dull that you’re anxious to end your career”? “for Infidel know, you have trod on the toe, of Abdul El Bul-Bul Ameer”.

Then this bold mameluke drew his trusty shibouk, shouting “Allah id Allah Akbar”! and with murderous intent, he most suddenly went, for Ivan Skavitsky Skivar.

They fought all that night ‘neath the pale yellow moon, the din it was heard from afar. huge multitudes came, so great was the fame, of Abdul and Ivan Skivar.

The Sultan came by in his red-breasted fly, to give to the victor a cheer. he arrived just in time to exchange a last line, with Abdul El Bul-Bul Ameer.

Czar Petrovich too, in his spectacles blue, drove up in his new-crested car. he gasped for his breath as he witnessed the death, of Ivan Skavitsky Skivar.

On a stone by the bank, where the Neva doth roll, there is written in characters clear. “Oh stranger, remember to pray for the soul, of Abdul El Bul-Bul Ameer”.

While a Muscovite maiden her vigil doth keep, by the light of the cold Northern Star. and the name that she constantly shouts in her sleep, is Ivan Skavitsky Skivar.

Gilbert H. Smith
Bowling Green, KY

Goldrup Fred · 11 March 2003

Greetings, O peruser of good verse. I come unto thee For words of the sequels of Abdul and Ivan Amir.

I’ve lost much of my hearing - now don’t be cheering It’s no pleasure to look at this LP, unhearing.

Frank Crumit recorded all three and on Label X By RCA, they issued them all, by heck.

But I can’t hear the thing,
Or enjoy old Frank’s sing
But the words, I would seriously (mmmm - no rhyme)

Would you have the words to “The Grandsons” and “Minnie”?

Mayhaps, if I had the words in front of me, I might bite hard on the speaker’s edge, and let the sound float through my headbones to the auditory nerves, and thence to that empty chamber wherin supposedly lies a brain!

I really AM serious. Can you provide the words to the sequels to Abdul?

Arch Scales · 2 April 2003

My Dad used to recite this as a poem in the years after he returned from four years of sea duty in the Naval Reserve during World War II. I was four or five. I understood he picked it up in the Navy where it was wide-spread. I have heard that Naval Academy midshipmen were required to learn it as a form of discipline. Whether this was true or is still true, I cannot say. When my Dad and I were roughhousing, he often quoted the part about “Has life grown so dull that you wish to end your career?”

Pop died in 1996 at 80. Your Website brought back a lot of fond memories.

— Arch Scales

Katherine E. Hudson · 9 April 2003

My mother used to sing this to me when I was a child (in the 1940’s); my recollection is of a version much like that supplied by Mr. Clarke. It’s associated in my mind, however, with another song she often sang–about a Spanish treasure ship sunk by pirates. I can remember only the refrain (or perhaps it’s just a portion of it):

A Spanish ship came down the tide, and bound was she for Cadiz.
With gems and jewels from far Peru, The Captain too, and all his crew, And they sent them down below. Oh, they rammed her hull and laughed.

I would dearly love to see all the words to that song! Can anyone help?

Katherine E. Hudson

Dan Nuhrah · 12 April 2003

This poem was a favorite of mine when I was a Boy Scout at the age of 13, (68 years ago). I had forgotten all the words and I am so happy that they have been preserved for perpetuity. Dan J. Nuhrah, Tn

Norma Thompson · 19 April 2003

My mother sang this song to me from the time I was a baby. I was born in 1943. There are several clumsy verses added. One verse left out. Czar Petrovik, too, and his whole retinue,
Rolled up in a new crested car.
He arrived just in time to hear the last line Of Ivan Stravinsky Stravar.

Lois Rafferty · 22 April 2003

My brother, Bud, and I also learned this song at Scout camp in the early 30’s - Camp Pahatsi, near Donner Summit in California. We talked about it just last night and he asked for my help remembering a verse that bastardized Ivan’s name as “Ivan spits whiskey too far”. Anyone else out there from Tahoe Area Council that can help. A scout from Roseville, CA, named Chastain, I believe, used to sing (?) it. Bob Riley, Auburn, CA

EJerisk · 29 April 2003

My older brother used to sing this song when I was young (I’m 81 now) and I was delighted to find it on your website. He knew all the verses and I loved listening to his singing. Now my family is going to hear it too. Thank you for bringing it to us.

Brian Hampton · 17 May 2003

First of all, in response to Ray, no you are not the only one reading this under the age of 60.(Not anymore anyway!) However, that being said, my story is very much like most of the others. In my case it was High School when I was first introduced to Abdul as a poem. I never new it was a song until now. I had believed this to be a long time ago (1975) until reading these other comments. This and probably always will be my favorite verse. The version I learned had the verse “He could imitate Irving, tell fortunes by cards, and play on the Spanish guitar; In fact quite the cream of the Muscovite team was Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.” I was never aware of any of the sequels and being a Trekkie, was surprised to have missed the verses sung in The Next Generation episodes (I’ll have to look that up) Finding this site has been great for reawakening old and extremely fond memories of my formative years. Thanks all, Brian

Colin Finnie · 18 May 2003

Some correspondents have written plaintively about being unable to get hold of a recording of Abdul Abulbul Emir, or about being unfamiliar with the tune. If you have access to a music download site like Piolet, Morpheus or Kazaa, you can download HANK THOMPSON’s recording of Abdul. I certainly found it on Kazaa, and it was a joy to rediscover the song. Thompson sings it in a suitably nasal, world-weary tone, and the tune perfectly complements the rolling cadences of the words and the vivid imagery of the song. Great site! Keep up the good work!
Colin Finnie

Bill Hatch - Allgoods · 22 May 2003

Hi
How about
They fought all that night by the pale yellow light of the moon that was seen from afar.
Learnt in the 1950’s @ the Methodist College Belfast during a maths lesson ( Mr. Stratford) from a boy named McIvor (first name forgotten) Great stuff ,the dirty version is extremely funny. Bill Hatch

jdrp · 16 June 2003

I remember it as Abdul al Bulbul emir and Ivan Skavinsky Skavar somebody in the song drove up in a “blue crested car”

I’m not clear about the date. Seems to me we sang it as college freshmen which would make it about 1927. I am 93 years old, if that is of any interest. Maybe I ought to teach this ditty to my six great grandchildren. Justine R-P.

Alan Winterrowd · 27 June 2003

Thanks for the site. I learned this song, in the 60’s, from my dad and his book of scouting songs, along with “My Grandfather’s Clock”, “the Quartermaster’s Store”, and others. Now I get to pass them down to my children, along with other great folk songs.

You should hear us going down the road singing, each in our own key, along with the Weavers, or Pete Seegar, or Harry Chapin.

Roger Whitney · 2 July 2003

I learned a version of Abdul A Bul Bul Amir from an English comic book annual in the mid-1950s. The words had more or less gone from my mind until I gradually dredged them up from my memory when my children were born in the 1980s and I sang it to them as a bedtime song. It seems from this website that a surprising number of parents have done the same!

My comic-book version’s words differ in several places from those of other contributors. The cartoonist also added some interesting information. For instance, in the speech-bubble issuing from Abdul’s mouth as he was skewered by Ivan, was the plaintive utterance “Op Yopple Garook!”. The cartoonist revealed that Ivan was decapitated whilst Abdul was run through the stomach and that Ivan’s (disembodied head’s) last words to the Czar were “So long, Boss!”…

Oh the Sons of the Prophet were brave men and bold And quite unaccustomed to fear
But the bravest of these was a man by the name Of Abdul A Bul Bul Amir

If you wanted a man to encourage the van
Or to harrass the foe from the rear *
To storm fort or redoubt you had only to shout For Abdul A Bul Bul Amir

The heroes were many and well known to fame
In the ranks that were led by the Czar
But the bravest of these was a man by the name Of Ivan Skavinsky Skivar

He could imitate birdies, play euchre and pool And strum on the Spanish guitar
In fact quite the cream of the Muscovite team Was Count Ivan Skavinsky Skivar

One day this bold Russian he shouldered his gun And donned his most truculent leer
Then down town he did go where he trod on the toe Of Abdul A Bul Bul Amir

“Young fellow” said Abdul “Has life grown so dull That you now wish to end your career?
Vile Infidel! know you have trod on the toe
Of Abdul A Bul Bul Amir

“So take your last look at the meadow and brook And pay your respects to the Czar
By this I imply you are going to die
Count Ivan Skavinsky Skivar!”

Then this bold Mameluke drew his trusty skibouk And loud crying “Allah Akbar!”
With murderous intent he ferociously went
For Count Ivan Skavinsky Skivar

They fought all that night ‘neath the pale yellow moon The din it was heard from afar
Vast multitudes came, so great was the fame
Of Abdul and Ivan Skivar

Just as Abdul’s long knife was extracting the life – In fact he was crying “Akbar!” –
He felt himself struck by that wily Kalmuck
Count Ivan Skavinsky Skivar

The Shah rode up in his red-crested fly
Expecting the victor to cheer
But he only came by to hear the last sigh
Of Abdul A Bul Bul Amir

Czar Petrovich too in his spectacles blue
Drove up in his shiny new car **
But he came just in time to exchange a last line With Ivan Skavinsky Skivar

A Muscovite maiden her lone vigil keeps
Up there ‘neath the cold Northern Star
And the name that she murmurs as oft as she weeps Is Ivan Skavinsky Skivar

( * possible alternative: “Or to shout “Hullalloo!” from the rear…” ** possible alternative: “gold-plated car…” )

I always felt sad that there was apparently noone to weep for Abdul. So one day on a car journey we came up with the following:

A harem of ladies in old Istanbul
Are drowning their sorrows in beer
Lamenting their love who has now gone above – Dear Abdul A Bul Bul Amir

Roger Whitney

Barry&Joyce · 19 July 2003

Abdul and many other of French’s songs were recorded by Brendan O’Dowda. Dodgy name, good voice and the recording is still available. Good Luck to all the baladeers out there. Barry

wfassoc · 19 July 2003

wonderful site… my uncle used to sing this song to his 6 string guitar back in the late ’30s.. im 70 now and remember singing along with him. the words are at some variance, but is that a problem? great stories are made that way!! walt taylor
albuquerque, new mexico

Bruce McNair · 29 July 2003

There was indeed a filthy version sung by HM Forces, which started I think,

“A travelling brothel by chance came to town, ‘Twas owned by a Russian from far,
He issued a challenge etc”

Also sung by undergraduates.

Bruce McNair

David Dickey · 31 July 2003

[broken link] http://us.imdb.com/Title?0041948

“Task Force” in 1949 . I remember Gary Cooper singing the song. A cousin of my mother, Dr. Newton Gaines, was head of the Physics Department at TCU in the 50’s and was a wonderful folksinger and collector of folk music. I first heard Abdul from him.

David Dickey

Gordon Braun-Woodbury · 29 August 2003

I have fond memories of my granddad singing about Abdul and Ivan when I was a boy in the 1960s. When I first did a Google search for this tune, the initial 20 links were to bawdy parodies.

Martin DeMello · 3 September 2003

although I once saw it in a song book as the out-of-meter Ivan Skizavitzky Skivar.

This would make sense if the proper pronunciation of “Ivan” is i-VAN. Then the line would scan i VAN skiz a VITZ ky svi VAR. Any Russian speakers in the audience?

martin

John Thompson · 3 September 2003

My father used to drive me mad by singing this song when he was washing up.

He only knew a limited number of lines and would mix these up in various ways to form a song lasting
several verses that made no sense at all. He would also hum certain lines if he thought he
was being too repetitive and even make some up as he went along. As long as the last line featured
one of the combatants names (sung louder than the rest of the verse) he didn’t seem to mind. I always
used to pray that he got to the bottom of the washing up bowl quickly.

I didn’t believe it was a real song until I saw a cartoon version one day. Can anyone explain what a
“calmuck” is?

Stanley Kemp · 10 September 2003

Ah yes, more memories of the 50s. My favorite verse (and coincidently, most cited) had the words:

He could jump 50 yards , tell fortunes at cards and strum on the spanish guitar
In fact quite the cream of the Moscuvite team was Ivan Skivitski skavar

Quite a feat without a motorcycle.
Stan

“Opinions expressed are mine and not those of Rohm and Haas Company”.

christinebennett · 13 September 2003

My Grandfather used to sing this song in the sixties. The only time I ever heard it sung professionally was on a record played on the radio around 1981. I remember that the recording was from 1928, the year my mother was born. Christine

Fr. Patrick Reardon · 28 September 2003

Anne

This is marvelous. Thank you so much for posting it.

Pat Reardon

Fr. Patrick Reardon · 28 September 2003

My father sang this to ballad when I was a small child in the late 30’s and early 40’s. I sang it to my children virtually every night in the late 70’s and early 80’s. It bears, to me, the marks of immortality.

Patrick Henry Reardon

RICHARD D NOLTE · 31 October 2003

Yea, verily, this is the song/ballad as we sang it while camped on Pardee Field near Culp’s Hill on Gettysburg Battlefield in June-July, 1938. This was the 75th anniversary of the Battle and we were Boy Scouts enjoying what was to become a high point of our life. We mingled with 90 year-old Civil War veterans, watched FDR light the Peace Light on Oak Ridge, sang and frolicked,then broke camp and went home to, unknowingly, ramp up for our own war 3+ years later. Eerily, I thought of this ballad while exercising in the pool the other day and the thing flowed out of my sub-conscious, somehow, 65 years later. Go figure! Dick Nolte, Clearwater, FL.

BarnB9 · 4 December 2003

I REMEMBER IT AS ABDUL EL BUL BUL AMEER AND IVAN SKISAVITSKI SKIVAR FROM HIGH SCHOOL CHORUS 60 YRS. AGO…WRITTEN ABOUT THE TURK WAR WITH RUSSIA…

BarnB9 · 4 December 2003

THE SON’S OF THE PROPHET WERE HEARTY AND BOLD AND QUITE UNACUSTOMED TO FEAR…BUT THE BRAVEST OF ALL IS A MAN I AM TOLD…CALLED ABDUL AL BUL BUL AMEER NOW THIS BOLD MAMULUKE DREW HIS TRUSTY CHIBOQUE CRYING…ALLAH AL ALLAH AKBAR…AND WITH MURDEROUS INTENT HE MOST SUDDENLY WENT FOR IVAN SKISAVITSKY SKIVAR

ON A STONE ON THE BANK WHERE THE NEVA DOTH ROLL THERE IS WRITTEN IN CHARACTERS CLEAR
OH STRANGER REMEMBER TO PRAY FOR THE SOUL
OF ABDUL AL BUL BUL AMEER

WHILE A MUSCOVITE MAIDEN..HER VIGIL DOTH KEEP BY THE LIGHT OF THE COLD NORTHERN SKY
AND THE NAME THAT SHE CONSTANTLY CRIES IN HER SLEEP IS IVAN SKISAVITSKY SKIVAR

Kendell Hyde · 9 December 2003

Just checking to see if this is still a valid email address and if you ever found the sheet music to “Abdul Abulbul Amir”. After 65 years, I finally found the midi file at these sites

[broken link] http://www.contemplator.com/folk/abdul.html

[broken link] http://www.acronet.net/~robokopp/shanty/abdul.mid

BUT have not been able to find sheet music.

For 65 years I could only remember words like (Ivan Skabinsky Skabar - I had never seen any written words) that I had heard on an old hand-wound victrola.

Did you ever find the music?

Kendell Hyde

Ron Hallam · 15 December 2003

I heard dirty version 55 yrs ago but can only remember parts which were coarse but amusing. Can you help with full version? Ron H.

Joan Bledsoe · 28 December 2003

Love this poem, however two stanzas are missing from the version I have. I too became acquanted with the poem around the age of 8 . It is in a book my Mother gave me from her youth. “A Treasury of the Familiar”, by Ralph L Woods. The Poet is listed as anonymous After the third stanza it read: He Could imitate Irving,play poker and pool
And strum on the Spanish guitar,
In fact quite the cream of the Muscovite team Was Ivan Scavinsky Skavar.

The next stanza missing is after the stanza starting with Young man. Said Ivan,” My friend, your remarks in the end Will avail you but little, I fear,
For you ne’er will survive to repeat them alive, Mr. Abdul A-bul-bul A-mir.

After the stanza about the Sultan drove , another stanza is : Czar Petrovitch too, in his spectacles blue,
Rode up in his new-crested car.
He arrived just in time to exchange a last line, With Ivan Skavinsky Skavar.

Bill Berle · 7 January 2004

For some strange reason, I remember the characters’ names as Abdul Abubbul Amir and Ivan Stravinsky Stravar. It appears as though there are probably several versions of this old poem/song. My memory is of hearing this as a recorded song on the Doctor Demento comedy radio show, in the mid 1970’s. I am not quite as old as the majority of the people who posted comments here :)

John · 16 January 2004

Abdul was sung in part by Gregory Peck in the movie On the Beach around 1958 if memory serves. He plays the part of a Submarine skipper in WWIII, I believe. I think it was Peck. Maybe it was Grant. The idea was that the midshipmen had to learn all the verses by heart as part of a tradition.

John · 16 January 2004

“Abdul Abulbul Amir” was recorded by Frank Crumit on the Victor label # 20715-B, probably sometime in the late 1920s. The flip side is “Frankie and Johnnie” #2715-A. The song was “adapted by Frank Crumit, comedian with guitar.”

Curtis Marder · 8 February 2004

I remember this song as sung to me by my father. I think he picked it up from the movie “On the beach.” It also appeared in a magazine as an advertisement in a modified form, but I am not sure of the product, maybe beer or razors. I have remembered bits and pieces of the words. There seem to be many variations. My strongest association however is with my father singing the song.

ThomasDPhillip · 20 February 2004

Hail to the “invisible dragons of the electronic night.” Like many contributors, I first head/read this poem in school when I was around l0 years old. I think the book we used was called Magic Casements–can’t remember author or publisher, but pages were filled with wonderful stories and poems . Book was my first exposure to some of Kipling, “The Charge of the Light brigade”, and the magic lines of Robert Service (“Strange things are done in the midnight sun….”). Bits and pieces of this stuff somehow managed to stick in some nether part of my brain for the next 50 years or so (I’m 63). I’m delighted to have stumbled across your site for the full text of the tale of Abdul and Count Ivan.Thank you and those invisible dragons. Tom Phillips

jfoster0608 · 20 February 2004

For what it’s worth, I heard Ivan on an Edison cylinder and always thought it was Abdul THE Bulbul Emir. Don’t remember the performer, and the cylinder, its player and owner are all long gone. Jim Foster

Jenny Brownlee · 27 March 2004

I was so surprised to find these lyrics! I had always thought that my dad learned this song from some hard-partying Canadian Highlanders, but after reading all the comments, it is more likely he learned it in the boy scouts as a kid in the ‘30’s, or even in school. He always sung it with great enthusiasm, usually fueled by some sort of spirits! Thanks, it brought back a lot of fond memories of my father.

Jack Lord · 27 March 2004

As a 90 year old I couldn’t get fragments of this song out of my mind, so I googled “Ivan Skavinski Skavar” and hit this jackpot!! As a Boy Scout some 75 years ago we used to sing it around the campfire at Camp Tahquitz In the mountains of Southern California. BSA troop 32 in Long Beach. Thank you all I’ll enjoy reminiscing with you. Jack Lord, Beaver Patrol

OldWhiteJoe · 19 April 2004

I SCROLLED DOWN THROUGH ALL COMMENTS/ADDITIONS/CORRECTIONS W/ GREAT INTEREST & PLEASURE. I WAS ALSO WAITING TO READ THAT SOMEONE ELSE HAD SEEN A COMMERCIAL VERSION IN A MAGAZINE…BINGO! CURTIS MARDER! IT WAS’NT BEER OR RAZORS, HOWEVER; IT WAS SPRINGMAID SHEETS, AND IT WAS 1958:

There are heroes of fame With sword or a dame In ranks that are led by the Czar, But a man you’d applaud, At home or abroad, was Ivan Skivinski Skavar.

He could instigate brawls, Lead charges or balls, And play on the Spanish Guitar, In fact, quite the cream Of the Muskovite Team, Was Ivan Slivinski Skavar.

The Sons of The Prophet Are brave men and bold, And quite unacustomed to fear. They can ride a wild stallion, Ambush a battallion, Or blow the froth off a beer.

But needing a man
To encourage the van, To harrass the enemy’s rear, Or to charge a redoubt, You’d always send out For Abdul The Bulbul Amir.

One day the Bold Russian Donned his best Fustian And bared his most truculent sneer; Downtown for a treat, He sullied the sheet, Of Abdul The Bulbul Amir!

“Young Man!” Quoth The Bulbul, “Has your life grown so dull That you’re anxious To end your career? Your Infidel feet
Have just trampled the sheet Of Abdul The Bulbul Amir!”

[THE NEXT FEW VERSES I REMEMBER PRETTY MUCH THE SAME AS REPORTED AND AMENDED HERE ON THIS SITE–AND MY TYPING SKILLS TOO POOR TO SUPPORT REDUNDANCY–HOWEVER, THE FINALO TWO VERSES ARE GOOD]

There’s a grave
Where the wave
Of the Blue Danube rolls, And on it
Is graven so clear: “Tempest in fleeting, Don’t step on the sheeting Of Abdul The Bulbul Amir!”

A Muskovite Maiden
Her lone vigil keeps Where The Volga
And vodka go far,
And the name she repeats When a ghost tugs her sheets, Is “Ivan Skivinski Skavar!”

THANKS FOR THE PLEASURABLE REMINDER THAT I’M NOT THE ONLY LOONIE OLD WACKO WHO ENJOYS RHYTHMIC LANGUAGE & VIVID IMAGERY. JJ SULLIVAN, KAUAI, HI.

SIMON MARCHANT-JONES · 17 May 2004

Thank you so much for this; I searched because I was with some friends in the South of France last week, May 04, on the beach, and a busker played the tune on his accordion which brought back fond memories - and I’m only 50!

I’m going to learn the words and impress my sons…

Byron or Kay McAllister · 30 May 2004

At camp Diamond O (Boy Scouts of America, Oakland Area Council), back about 1942 or so, one of the troops sang a parody, which may or may not have been their own invention. Not a gross deviation from one of the many forms already cited, its principal difference lay in replacing Abdul’s name with “Abdul, the guzzler of beer” and Ivan’s with “Ivan spits whiskey too far.” For us kids the deviation was a riot, but age dims the fun a bit now, and I won’t claim that it’s something everybody needs to know. Byron Leon McAllister.

D.M.Pennington · 31 May 2004

But it was the Russo-Turkish War of the 1870s when the Russkies licked (as usual) the Turk after the latter had committed horrendous atrocities and “ethnic cleansing” in the Balkans against fellow Slavs who were subjects then to the Ottoman Empire.

But the western Europeans (noteably the British under Prime Mnister Disraeli) put pressure on the Russian Empire (at the Conference of Berlin, organised by Kanzler Bismarck) to negotiate a peace and to prevent the Russians from controlling “the staits”, the access from the Black Sea past Istanbul to the Mediterranean, then a Royal Navy “lake” controlling the Suez Canal.

The Russians were forced to treaty at San Stefano, although the Turkish capital had been there for the taking.

Most of the fighting had occurred around the course of the Danube in the then Wallachia, now Rumania/Moldovia.

(Vlad Dracula country!)

I remember the song well as a kid.

It used often to be heard on the BBC “Children’s Favourites radio on a Saturday morning.

D.M.Pennington

Now resident in Moscow.

Born and bred in St. Helens, Lancashire, England.

Leedstyke · 31 May 2004

I have tried several times over the years to obtain the words to this song. My father used to recite it when we were children while he cooked the Sunday lunch back in Yorkshire,England about the year 1947 onwards…I remembered little sections of it, especially the tune. But never found the words until tonight. I am thrilled and particularly pleased to read all the comments. Thank you so much for your “gift” to me.

Does anyone remember during the war years there being a recording of “The St Louis Blues” to a large Military Band with crowds cheering in the background, and trumpets playing etc. It was much requested during the war years for the boys overseas and now my brother and I would like to hear it again. I always thought it was the American Air Force Band or the American Marine Band who played it. some say there was only the Glen Miller recording. I have contacted the Marine Band in Wash DC but no one knows what I am referring to. Its a full marching band sound.
Maybe someone reading this will have some rememberance of what I am trying to locate.
Jean E Martin. originally from the UK now proud to be an American.

BargainBoards · 31 May 2004

The dodgy stanza is better the way I learned it:

They parried and thrust, they sidestepped and cussed Of blood they spilled quite a lot
Philologist blokes who seldom crack jokes
Say the hash was first made on this spot.

Leedstyke · 1 June 2004

On Page 19 Randy Ridgel. comments about “You will die!. Oh you will die! Said Ivan Skavinsky Skavar, but I wonder if these words do not come from a recording by Bing Crosby. “The Spaniard that blighted my life” I have tried to check the lyric but cannot see a copy only the title and that Bing recorded it and also Al Jolson. about 1911.
When I was a child we listened to both Abdul Abulbul Emir and to the Spaniard that blighted my life. Either the songsters wife or girlfriend were captivated by the Spaniard who was a bullfighter he goes on to state that “He will die, he will die, he will die tiddly eye tye tye tye tye tye tye tye He will die he will die Aye. I’ll raise a bunion on his spanish onion if I catch him bending tonight.” I can’t remember it all only bits of it another line says “ It was at the bullfight that she met him ….she had been watching his daring display…..and while I went out to buy nuts and a program the dirty dog stole her away”

I don’t know how to obtain the lyrics but wanted to offer what litle I remember now being in my late 60’s . and this website is absolutely fantastic. to take yourself back over the years and renew music favourites is wonderful. Thank you Jean Martin. Boston

Burke Willsey · 3 June 2004

What a great find! Thank heaven for Google because I had it Abdul Abulba Amir. My Mother and uncles sang this song in the 30s and I recently asked her to write the lyrics for me, which she did at age 93. At that time her family of 10 siblings and their parents lived in a house with no electricity, running water or indoor plumbing but the love simply overflowed. They also sang “Pretty Redwing”; “I Learned about Women From Her”; “The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze”; “Only a Bird in a Gilded Cage” and “Moonlight and Skies” about a young bankrobber in prison in Oklahoma.

Burke Willsey - June 2004

Joe and Dorothy · 3 June 2004

We sang it in the late 30s in grammar school–it was in our songbooks.

Stephanie Rivera · 7 June 2004

I have been looking for these lyrics for years. My father used to sing this when the family went riding in the car (more than 50 years ago). I looked it up in a university library about 10 years ago and found it listed in The Boy Scout Songbook of 1919, but never could find one. Just thought I would type the name in on the search engine and found this site. Thank you so much!!!!

FMolumby · 26 June 2004

Hi.

Greeting on this the 150 anniversary of birth of Percy French.

I perform a tribute to him idea for concert/cabaret festival.

To paraphrase his own epitaph:

All I ask is to be remembered, it that be too much bother, forget it .

ivan.gleaves · 3 July 2004

I too first heard the song on the BBC’s “Children’s Hour” hosted by the wonderful “Uncle Mac” in the 1950’s and then a 10 year olds imagination did the rest, until today I did not realise it came from a poem, later in my teens and working as an apprentice my Foreman sang it with much gusto, I think he would have sang it much less if my name hadn’t have been Ivan. I now at 58 must try and find a copy of the song, from reading all the wonderful comments it would seem it was more popular in the US than the UK.

Ivan J Gleaves

CKGarabed · 13 July 2004

Dear Richard Riley:

I’ve been looking for the cartoon that I remember seeing way back when, but have not been able to ocate a copy anywhere. I’d appreciate your giving me a clue as to where to go for it.

C.K. Garabed

Charles J. Kurtz · 19 July 2004

I, too, remember my father singing this and Frankie and Johnnie when he put me to bed in the late 40’s. i always attributed this to his membership in a “singing fraternity” , the Beta’s at Ohio State.

Charlie K

Robert Malson · 13 August 2004

I too learned this as a Beta at Case Institute of Technology, now Case Western Reserve, in Cleveland in the 50’s. I am most pleased to be reminded of those less complicated years of my youth. Thank you so much for this site and thanks to all the contributors.

R. F. (Bob) Malson

TomKalmar · 29 August 2004

I woke up singing a line from the filthy version, “for Abdul, poor fool, had left half of his tool, up Ivan Skavinsky Skevar,” and googled, hoping to recall more. This is how The Push sang it at the Royal George in Sydney, Australia, in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. Tom Kalmar

EddieBBme · 8 September 2004

I have an original 45RPM recording of Abdullah Bulbul Ameer but I can’t find any record player capable of 45 RPM> Any ideas?

mel · 10 September 2004

I can still hear my wonderful Uncle Walter belting out this song on our yearly outing. He was a genious and kept us amazed trying to teach us the work. I hadn’t thought about it it in a while until this latest hurricane (Ivan} brought it to mind. No one could compare to his bravado and I do so wish he were still here to teach it to my daughter.

Steve Pye · 17 September 2004

I have the Frank Crumit recording of Abdul on cassette tape somewhere, much-loved. I think my mother probably still has the 78 record. Part of my happy youth, listening to all their 78s - Phil Harris, Spike Jones and many more - anyone remember “Ernest Tubb’s Talking Blues?” “Cigarettes, Whisky & Wild, Wild Women?”

Paul F. Page · 25 September 2004

I cannot believe that anyone would know about this wonder little poem. I was so surprised to find it on the web. I first learned it by heart when I was about 7 or 8 years of age about 50 years ago from a 78 rpm recording that my family owned. I still have it. Anyway, what a treat to find the full set of lyrics. Thank you..

Paul F. Page · 29 September 2004

Thank you for the added lines. I remember them, too, from my first encounter with this poem some 50 years ago.

JKV2003 · 18 October 2004

As I have written earlier, I learnt this song in the mid-forties(no-no, not MY mid-forties), and I support the above contributors who wrote (however it be spelled): Ivan Skavitsky (it has a powerful Russian ring to it) Skivar, and Abdul el Bulbul Amir. The Arabic phrase must certainly be “Allah il-Allah akhbar!” based on the fact that “La ilaha il-Allah” means “there is no God but (one) God” and Allahu Akhbar means “God is great.” But I’m sure you knew that.
Jerry Burnam aka Vernon
Westwood, CA. USA

Nancjc · 19 October 2004

OH BOY!!! I an nearly 74 years old and remember my Dad singing Abdul Abulbul Ameer as we kids childishly called it. This song and Dunderbeck’s Sausage Machine were always requested in a ploy to ‘just stay up a little later’.. . . Nancy

Ralph Frederick · 26 October 2004

This song was sung at the Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity house at the University of Michigan from the 1940’s through the 80’s at which time our chapter minstrel and all-around handy man , Al “Wildcat” Wahl, sadly passed away. Wildcat sang many other humorous songs and was always a big hit at our parties. During the 70’s a recording was made of “ Wildcat’s Greatest Hits”, but for some reason this song was not included. We sang the song again on October 9, at a reunion of several of our classes from the late 50’s and early 60’s. Besides being a wonderful entertainer, Wildcat was a source of good advice and sound counsel for hundreds of the young men who lived at “707” (Oxford Road) over the years. We were honored to know him.

Lisa Jones · 15 December 2004

Did anyone ever locate the cartoon?

Tom Gold · 5 January 2005

I first saw these lyrics in “Cooper’s Corner” in Guns n’ Ammo magazine, and heard Lore [Data’s evil twin] sing a verse on Star Trek:NexGen. Thus goaded, I went online & voila! I sang the whole thing, and, what can I tell you…. shed a tear for past glories. -Tom thewall@telus .net

Dave Bogart · 7 January 2005

There is indeed a “naughty” version of this classic, and it’s the one favored by the U.S. Navy and the Royal Australian Navy (among others). I used to have a recording (Australian), but sadly have lost track of it. I’d love to have another, or just the lyrics, if anybody’s got them. It began:

The harems of Egypt are fair to behold,
The Harlots the fairest of fair,
But the fairest, a Greek, was owned by the shiek, Abdul Abulbul Amir”

Here’s hoping.
Bogie

mick &jjenny · 13 January 2005

I first heard “Abdul” as a song on the radio in England About 1947. It was sung by a radio comedy star of that time by the name of Jack Train. In the song he pronounced the words “Vile Infidel” as “Violin Fiddle”. Ten years on and I was in the Air Force an I encountered the “risque version” which begins “The knock-shops of Egypt are famed and renouned “ etc. Thanks for bringing back some great memories. Regards,
Jenny & Mick

Barbara Fisher · 17 January 2005

I had just come across mention of this song in a book I was reading by Reeve Lindbergh, and it brought back all sorts of memories. We had a record of this when I was growing up – I was born in 1932 – and it all came back to me as if it were just a short time ago. My daughter has all the old 78s that my mother still had when she died in 1996 and there are racks of them in her basement. She lives more than 300 miles from where I do, so I’ll have to see if she can go through them (not that I have anything to play 78s on any more). Does anyone know if it’s on any CD? Barbara

Peter Field · 23 January 2005

For the dirty version of Abdul Abulbul Ameer go to [broken link] http://www.mining.wits.ac.za/abdul.htm

Peter Field · 23 January 2005

[broken link] http://www.mining.wits.ac.za/abdul.htm

Jan Lawson · 14 February 2005

On Narragansett Bay, in 45 and 42 Bill Lawrence taught us sailing and his sailing songs, including Abdul the Bul Bul Amir. One of our verses was substantially the same as the one submitted by Bud Powell;

He could imitate Irving, play lotto or pool,
And perform on the Spanish guitar.
In fact, quite the cream of the Muskovite team Was Ivan Skavinski Skavar.

Our other “sailing songs” included certain Brown University ditties, “A Capital Ship for an Ocean Trip,” and Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Yarn of the Nancy Bell,”-Twas on the shores that round our coast from deal to Ramsgate Span .. Some lines etched in our brains never seem to fade.

ment%20%2327%20on%20poem%20%23358%20%2D%20change%20not> >

I learned a fourth verse back in the forties, that went like this:

He could imitate Irving, play poker and pool, And strum on the Spanish guitar.
In fact, quite the cream of the Muskovite team Was Ivan Skavinski Skavar.

C. W. Powell
ment%20%2327.2%20on%20poem%20%23358%20%2D%20change%20not> budpow@ New Geneva Theological Seminary
Basket of Figs: [broken link] http://ureach.com/figs

light7 · 16 February 2005

How fascinating to know that SO many other people share a similar experience with me. My daddy was born in 1910 and he sang this song many, many times, but I couldn’t remember most of the words. He also sang Strawberry Roan, Isle of Capri, and another one in Russian that he told me was about a little cow. I wish I could remember the words well enough to find that one.

Peter Browne · 3 March 2005

Happy I found your site. I am 73 born and raised in the UK emigrated to Canada and the US. I learned the poem while cycling 1000 miles around southern England in 1949. I also learned another Frank Crumit song about prunes having wrinkles - anyone else know that one?

RICHARD McCORMACK · 7 March 2005

Just another “Searcher” who played Ivan on the wind-up and could not remember who sang it.
I have the Victor record but alas cannot find same.Flip side was “Frankie and Johnnie”
For years I have mistakenly thought that it was recorded by Rudy Vallee since
the Maine stein song was also played a lot.Thanks to this site I have ordered and
play as I write..”Frank Crumit’s- The Gay Cabellero”..(Amazon.UK)..24 tracks
including the above mentioned songs.
Thanks for reviving the “Memories”.

Bob Collins · 16 March 2005

I just turned 65 and remember my Dad singing this to me when I was 5 or 6, right after WWII. He was a full-voiced baritone, and could really put this song across, though he only knew five of the first six verses, omitting the second. I worked as a folksinger through college and after into the early sixties, and tried for years to find the poem or a recording as my Dad had long since passed on. I wanted to perform this tune with my trio, The Village Singers, in memory of him. What a delight to learn all the history surrounding this marvelous poem!

Maybe some of you are familiar with Lou Gottlieb, the leader of the “Limeliters” along with Alex Hassilev and the marvelous tenor Glenn Yarbrough….Lou did a ditty called “Have Some Madeira, M’dear!” that was absolutely hilarious. He had the power of voice and clarity of diction that would have been necessary to do “Abdul”.

Thanks from me and Dad,

Bob Collins

Bob Collins · 17 March 2005

I’m pretty sure is was a Glenn Miller arrangement, called St. Louis Blues March. I played it with a concert band in high school in the late 50’s. Hope this helps.

Bob

HarrysPop · 29 March 2005

I’m 76 now and it was in the mid-Thirties when I first heard about Abdul & Ivan from my father who recited it quite often. Back then, I thought that he had written it! Maybe he picked it up during WW 1. Was great seeing all the many versions on your site. Also good to see references to “The Spaniard Who Blighted my Life” which I think was sung by Al Jolson, and to “Dunderbeck” which I used to sing in camp in NY in the Thirties (and now sing to my Grandchildren).

–Martin
HarrysPop

HarrysPop · 1 April 2005

Saw the cartoon many years ago in an advertisement from Springmaid Sheets.

Martin

Walter Slocombe · 12 April 2005

It’s fun to read so many recollections of this song. I first learned it from a song book in elementary school in the Michigan in the 50s. Then I found it in a book of children’s rhymes and sang it to my kids. The following version has the arguable virtue that (though not “authentic”) Ivan’s name is proper Russia — name, patronymic (“-vich”), and surname and the Tsar who drives up has a plausible name.:

Now the Sons of the Prophet are hearty and bold And quite unaccustomed to fear
But the bravest by far in the ranks of the Shah Was Abdul al Bulbul Amir

If they needed a man to encourage the van
Or to serve as a bold cannoneer
Storm fort or redoubt, they would set up a shout For Abdul al Bulbul amir

[This son of the desert in battle aroused
Once impaled twenty men on his spear
Much a volatile grouse, whether sober or soused Was Abdul al Bulbul Amir]

There are heroes aplenty and men known to fame In the legions that fight for the Tsar
But none of more fame than a man by the name
Of Ivan Petrovich Skivar

He could imitate Irving, tell fortunes by cards And play on the Spanish guitar
In fact quite the cream of the Muskovite team Was Ivan Petrovich Skivar

[The ladies all loved him, his rivals were few He could drink them all under the bar
Come the gallant or tank, there was not one to rank With Ivan Petrovich Skivar]

One day this bold Muskovite shouldered his gun And put on his most cynical sneer,
He was looking for fun when he happened to run Into Abdul al bulbul Amir

Young man, said al Bulbul, is existence so dull That you’re anxious to end your career,
For infidel know you have trod on the toe
Of Abdul al bulbul Amir

So take your last look at the sea, sky, and brook, And send your regrets to the Tsar
By which I imply you are going to die,
Count Ivan Petrovich Skivar

Said Ivan, my friend, your remarks in the end Will avail you but little I fear
For you ne’er will survive to repeat them alive Mr. Abdul al Bulbul Amir

Then the bold Mameluk drew his trusty shibouk And murmuring “Allah Akhbar”
With murderous intent, he most suddenly went
For Ivan Petrovich Skivar

They fought all that night ‘neath the pale northern light The din, it was heard from afar
And huge multitudes came, for so great was the fame Of Abdul and Ivan Skivar

[They parried and thrust, they sidestepped and cussed The blood that they shed cost them both dear
But each injury dire just augmented the ire
Of Ivan and Abdul Ami]

As Abdul’s long knife was extracting the life And he shouted a victor’s “hurrah”
He felt himself struck by that wily Calmuk
Count Ivan Petrovich Skivar

Now the Sultan drove by in his red crested fly Expecting the victor to cheer
But he only drew nigh to hear the last sigh
Of Abdul al Bulbul Amir

Tsar Nicholas, too, with his whole retinue
Drove up in his gold-plated car
But he arrived just to time to exchange a last line With Ivan Petrovich Skivar

On a stone by the bank where the Danube doth flow There is written in characters clear
“Oh, Stranger, when passing by, pray for the soul Of Abdul al Bulbul Amir

A splash in the Black Sea one dark moonless night Caused ripples to spread near and far
It came from a sack fitting close to the back Of Ivan Petrovich Skivar

A Muskovite maiden her vigil doth keep
By the light of the cold Northern Star
And the name that murmurs all night in her sleep Is Ivan Petrovich Skivar

Clara Jacob · 1 May 2005

It’s great to find the lyrics to this song. When I was very young, my mother would sing it to me at bedtime. Not to break the pattern here, but I was born in 1958.

When my kids were born, everybody was singing Barney songs to their children – “I love you, you love me, we’re a happy family.” It was then that it occurred to me that Abdul Abulbul Amir was perhaps inappropriate as a bedtime song for a small child! But it was fun for my mom to sing, no doubt, because of the wonderful rhymes, and it sure was fun to listen to.

Mary · 4 May 2005

Although I’m astounded at the number of septuagenarians who remember this poem/song, I can’t count myself among them (until 23 June at least), I was reminded of the poem in 1975 by the April issue of Scientific American(SI). All you septua’s should remember the April Fools articles that used to appear in many, many publications, all doing their best to submerge the joke in an otherwise serious-appearing article. I consider the SI article, written by Martin Gardner, to be the ultimate. Among other things, he had a drawing of a Rodin-type Thinker sitting on a box, all this in sepia tones with mirror writing, supposedly by Da Vinci, proving for all time that Da Vinci had, in fact, invented the flush toilet. Later on in the article, he described an interview with the world’s premier numerologist, the esteemed Dr. Matrix (who was invented by Gardner), The good Dr had been missing for some years and was discovered in Egypt along with his beautiful Eurasian daughter. Dr. Matrix claimed that they had been held captive by none other than Abdul el Bulbul Ameer. I suspect that as the years stack up, it takes longer and longer to get to the point.

LChip51907 · 16 May 2005

My father used to sing this to me as a child, in the mid 1940’s.

Best regards,

Maren Thorson · 29 May 2005

Has ANYONE been able to locate the sheet music for this song, please advise
for “Ivan Skivansky Skivar”
thanks very much

J. Lewis · 19 June 2005

Hello. I’m 79 years of age, and I first learned this song from my Dad singing it to me from my earliest recollections. Both he and I grew up in Utah, U.S.A. I regret that this type of fun song is no longer heard among families. There were so many of them back then.

Helenmarr02 · 13 July 2005

What a wonderful suprise it was to rediscover Ivan and Abdul, I thought them lost forever.
One of your correspondents was looking for the words to a song with “He shall die…….” “ in it. I can recall it, but not in it’s entirity I’m afraid.

……………Twas at the bullfight that we met him. We were watching his daring display. And when I went out for some nuts and a programme. The dirty dog stole her away. Oh yes, oh no,
But tonight I shall have my revenge! When I catch Alphonso Spaggoni the toreador, With one mighty swipe I shall dislocate his bally jaw. I’ll fight that bullfighter I will. And when I catch him the blighter I’ll kill. He will die, he will die, he will die tiddly I ti ti ti ti ti ti
He will die, he will die. I’ll raise a bunion on his Spanish onion If I catch him bending tonight. Ole.

Hope this is of some use.
Helen Marr.

Dale Rice · 3 August 2005

I don’t know if this thread is still alive, but if it is ; I think I first ran into “Abdul the bulbul ameer” just that way on a piano roll. It’s in storage right now so I can’t look it up but I think it had lyrics. The roll would have probably been from 1920 more or less. I’m only 63 so I didn’t hear it the first time around…Dale

smarcus · 14 August 2005

In my father’s version of this song, Ivan wasn’t the only mourned lover. The final verse he sang started “Far off in the rurals, a maiden doth weep.” I don’t know the remainder of the verse, but Abdul was the object of her pain. Anyone know the rest? SJM

Alidade · 11 September 2005

I first heard this song (Abdul A Bu lbul Amir) over seventy-five years ago. My older brother & I were talking about it last night and he wanted the lyrics to it. Well,
he will have them because I will forward this page to him and since he is 84 yrs old
I had better do so about right now.

Thanks for the lyrics

Ron McAlister

Bert Åkesson · 16 September 2005

Hello,

Greetings from Sweden. I am a great fan of Percy French. “Abdul” is not widely known in Sweden. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m the only one to know of it and I’m pretty sure I’m the only one that can render all the verses. Now I saw that some people want to know about another song: “The Spaniard That Blighted My Life”. This ought to be the correct title and it was written by Billy Merson 1911. I heard it many years ago in a television broadcast in a program called “The Good Old Days” from Leeds in England. The program was very popular in Sweden. There are three verses and they go like this:

Verse 1:
List to me while I tell you of the Spaniard that blighted my life; List to me while I tell you of the man who pinched my future wife. ‘Twas at the bull fight where we met him, we’d been watching his daring display,
And while I went out for some nuts and a program the dirty dog stole her away
Oh yes! Oh yes! But I’ve sworn that I’ll have my revenge!

Chorus:
If I catch Alphonso Spagoni*, the Toreador,
With a mighty swipe I will dislocate his bally jaw! I’ll find this bullfighter, I will, and when I catch the bounder, the blighter I’ll kill.
He shall die! He shall die! He shall die tiddly-I-ti-ti-ti-ti-ti-ti! He shall die! He shall die!
For I’ll raise a bunion on his Spanish onion if I catch him bending tonight!

Verse 2:
Yes, when I catch Spagoni he will wish that he’d never been born. And for this special reason, my stiletto I’ve fetched out of pawn. If cost me five shillings to fetch it, this expense it has caused me much pain,
But the pawnbroker’s promised when I’ve killed Spagoni, he’ll take it in pawn once again.
Oh yes! Oh yes! So tonight there will be dirty work.

Chorus:
If I catch Alphonso Spagoni*, the Toreador,
With a mighty swipe I will dislocate his bally jaw! I’ll find this bullfighter, I will, and when I catch the bounder, the blighter I’ll kill.
He shall die! He shall die! He shall die tiddly-I-ti-ti-ti-ti-ti-ti! He shall die! He shall die!
For I’ll raise a bunion on his Spanish onion if I catch him bending tonight!

Verse 3:
I tracked him to London, and he gave me the slip once again, And they told me this morning that he’d doubled and gone back to Spain. But whatever it costs me I’ll catch him, then no more will he give me the slip.
With my last one and nine pence on Sunday I’m going to Spain by the Sunday League trip.
Oh yes! Oh yes! And then the dark deed will be done.

Chorus:
If I catch Alphonso Spagoni*, the Toreador,
With a mighty swipe I will dislocate his bally jaw! I’ll find this bullfighter, I will, and when I catch the bounder, the blighter I’ll kill.
He shall die! He shall die! He shall die tiddly-I-ti-ti-ti-ti-ti-ti! He shall die! He shall die!
For I’ll raise a bunion on his Spanish onion if I catch him bending tonight!

I hope that will please some of you readers. And don’t forget that French wrote a lot of other songs that are delightful.

Best Regards, Bert Åkesson, Malmö, Sweden

Stanley King · 21 October 2005

Thanks to those who have made this available. My father (formerly a 1st Class Machinist Mate USN) sang this song to me over 50 years ago. I could remember only a few lines but now have the entirety of several variations.

reddnekk · 1 December 2005

Like most of the commentators, I am in my
seventies, and first heard (and sang) Abdul
the Bulbul Amir in the late 1930s. My mother
played piano, and we sang out of the Golden
Book of Songs (or was the Golden Song Book?)
almost every night. Abdul was my favorite; my next favorite was I Want to be a Fireman (and go to every fire). I have been unable to track that song down.

I am very happy to have found this website and will probably be back again and again. Merry
Christmas and a Healthy New Year to all!

Robert Wessing · 31 December 2005

Being only 66, I seem to be the young’un among the commentators! I first heard Abdul sung by Richard A. Ryan of Chicago in the Camp Beard messhall at the Owassippe Scout Camps in the summer of 1957 and it has stuck with me ever since. Occasionally, like today, it just bubbles forth as I clean the house or when I’m playing with the kids. Thanks for a wonderful ballad to Percy and to Dick Ryan, whereever he may be today.

Marc Taubenfeld · 9 January 2006

My father used to “sing” this poem to us at bedtime when I was boy. He passed away about 10 years ago having never met my sons who were born after his death, and I never got to get him to tell me the words. I had a great time thinking of him when I saw it, and will be sure to “sing” it to my sons when I tuck them in too!

Grrreenrax · 12 January 2006

I remember seeing a cartoon made about this poem when I was between 8 and
10. It was shown as black and white then (I am 57), and I think it was by the same company that did the “Popeye” characters. It was shown on the old WXYZ (Channel 7), I think, out of Detroit, or maybe CKLW out of Windsor. It is funny what makes an impression on a young kid. I memorized “The Charge of the Light Brigade” after seeing “Alfalfa” try to do it on “The Little Rascals”. There is something to be said for “popular” entertainment trying not to always stoop to the “lowest common denominator”.

Lannie Walker · 26 April 2006

HI,
I hope you are still there. I learned to sing Abdul El BulBUl while at boy scout camp at Cross Lake when I was a Boy. I am now 79+ and still enjoy singing it. We were only taught two verses of it but I have remembered them all these years. I am a vet of WWII and Korea & live in Fort Worth for the past 50 years, 36 of which I worked for General Dynamics

cindy.jackson · 27 April 2006

Thank you for sharing the lyrics of The Spaniard that Blighted my Life. I, a mere baby in my 50’s, remember my grandfather, who served in Egypt, France and England in WWI, singing the first verse and chorus at the top of his voice, usually while driving us on roadtrips. He had a few of his own variations, such as “gory” display, and “I went out to buy her some peanuts”. Also, it seemed that he ended the chorus with an expression which sounded like “so swort” but I don’t know what that was supposed to mean. Any ideas? Thanks again!

David Easton · 18 May 2006

I am 70, and heard this poem sung at camp when I was 8 or when I was at another camp at age 12. My dad used to sing it. He is 92, and still delights in it. My brother has been searching for the words for a long time, we are very pleased to find this site. A beautifully illustrated version of this song appeared in an ad for Springmaid Sheets around 1948 +/- 3 years?

Charles Montgomery · 4 June 2006

Was Frank Crumit the same person who had a radio show with Julia Sanderson? I remember it from childhood. Am 76 years old now. Charles Montgomery.

Basin Brat · 29 July 2006

Hello all,

It seems I really am the young’un here, my father also sang this to me when I was a young child, but I’m only 19. I believe Dad learned the song from his grandfather, probably around 1945. It has always been a favourite of both of ours, though as time went past Dad began to forget some of the lyrics. I had trouble searching for the song, as I learned the first and third verses differently.

Oh the heroes of Egypt were well known to fame And quite unaccustomed to fear
But the bravest of all was a man by the name
Of Abdul the Bulbul Amir.
…

There are brave men and bold, or so I am told In the ranks that are led by the Tzar
But the bravest of all was a man by the name
Of Ivan Skivinsky Skivar.

This might be Dad’s memory, or a local deviation. Im from New Zealand.

Thanks,
Trish.

William J Dobbin · 29 August 2006

I have a recording of an abbreviated form of this poem. It was made by Bert Parks of Miss America fame.

Joan Hynes · 5 September 2006

I’m 63 and grew up in Australia-Abdul etc was my father’s favourite song_I’ve never heard it on the radio,TVor recorded music- where did it go?

Michael hynes

Reg Hardman · 13 September 2006

In Russia the maidens are fair to behold
The Harlots are fairer by far
The best one to mount is owned by the Count
Ivan Skavinsky Skivar

A travelling brothel had come to the town
Owned by a Turk from quite near
And Ivan did brag that he could outshag
Abdul de bul bul emir.

A date was proclaimed for the spectacle great A holiday proclaimed by the Czar
And the streets were all lined with the harlots assigned To Ivan Skavinsky skivar

They arrived at the track with their tools at the slack The starters guns pissed through the air
They were quick to the rise and gasped at the size Of Abdul de bul bul emir’s.

With no time to waste with amazing haste
Abdul revved up like a car
But he couldn’t compete with the long steady beat Of Ivan Skavinsky skivar

Now Ivan had won and was polishing his gun
And bent down to polish his pair
When up his arse shoot like a long black Cheroot Went Abdul da bul bul emir.

The women turned green and the men shouted queen And they were ordered to part by the Czar
But it was jolly hard luck for Abdul was stuck Up Ivan Skavinsky skivar

Now the cream of this joke when apart they were broke Was laughed at for years by the Czar
For Abdul poor fool left 3 parts of his tool
Up Ivan Skavinsky Skivar

Susan Wood · 13 September 2006

I first heard this song from my father as a young kid, when it all seemed like good swashbuckling fun, and then didn’t think of it again till the 1990’s, when a character on “Star Trek the New Generation” sang a snatch of it, after which I forgot it again until last Monday, when George Bush’s address on the anniversary of 9/11 irresistably reminded me of it. Since then, it has run through my head incessantly and infuriatingly, but I wish other people would listen to it as well. There’s a lesson for America in the story of two men with more testosterone than brains, who set out to pick a fight on the flimsiest of pretexts and then, once they were in it, decided they had to “stay the course.” What happened to them both as a result was fairly predictable.

Lacy · 16 September 2006

Were you a chef in Springfield?

Charles · 28 September 2006

Maybe some of the following will fill in the gaps of “The Spaniard that blighted My Life”:

List to me while I tell you
Of the spaniard that blighted my life.
List to me while I tell you
Of the man who stole my future wife.
It was at the bull fights we met him
We were watching his daring display
And when I went out for some nuts and a program. The dirty dog stole her away!
[Oh no; oh yes; oh no; oh yes]

When I catch Alfonso Spigoni the Toreador,
With one mighty swipe I will dislocate his Spainish jaw. When I catch him the blighter I will,
When I catch him the blighter I’ll kill,
He will die! he will die, he will die tiddly die tiddly etc etc

Thats about all I can recall but this Cosby record was popular in the mid 1940s

Good Luck,
Charles Del Signore

Paul F. Page · 22 October 2006

Charles,
I, too, learned Adbul Abulbul Amir when I was a child in the early 50’s – not quite as old as you, my friend, but it is interesting that so many people have been touched by this strange, funny tune and lyric. I found your comment on a site devoted to such nostalgia and thank you for it. Take care.
Paul

Alfred Milch · 24 October 2006

You are missing the second stanza introducing Ivan:

“He could sing like Caruso both tenor and bass, “He could play on the Spanish guitar,
“In fact quite the cream of the Mucovite team “Was Ivan Skavitzy Skevar!”

VTY, Al

Pat McCormick · 25 October 2006

I remember seeing a film of Percy French’s life on British television in the late nineteen fifties and they showed it on two separate occasions. The film was named “The Last Minstrel”. I enjoyed the film tremendously and would love to get a copy of it. I even wrote to the BBC recently to ask for a copy, but they said they did not have any for sale. If anyone knows where I could get a copy I would really appreciate them telling me at I would love to see it again.

Robert · 17 November 2006

This was a favorite of mine in the mid 30’s when I was about five years old. We had a wind-up victrola and a record with ‘Abdullah’ on one side and ‘Frankie and Johnny’ on the other. Another favorite was ‘St James Infirmary’ which my mother sang to me.

Pfbreeman · 20 November 2006

Boy - does this bring back memories, as apparently it does for so many others - my younger sister and I used to sit in the back of a rowboat, while our father oared. He’d sing Abdul Abulbul Amir, and we’d join in at the end with either “Abdul Abulbul Amir” if Daddy held up his thumb, and “Ivan Skavinsky Skaver” if he held up his pinky. We sang that song exactly that way with him through our adulthood right up until he died in 1988. He was an Army veteran of WWII. My sister and I adored him, and singing that song with him was one of the most loving memories of my entire life. Thanks so much for supplying the lyrics, and helping relive those lovely lost moments. Pam Breeman, daughter of Walter Froyland

Mike Littman · 6 December 2006

Many moons ago, about sixty, I had the good fortune to obtain big thick, one sided 78’s of Frank Crumit who was famous in his time for great Classical songs such as: “You can always tell a drunk by the company he keeps, (and the pig got up and slowly walked away!) And the “Golf Song” And the little white pill rolled slowly down the hill, and it rolled right into the bunker! AND, of course “Abdul A bulbul Emir” I think I knew every word of every tune, but, alas, memory doesn’t serve me well, so I have forgotten all but snippets.

Scott Kimmich · 6 January 2007

Don, is this you? I’ve got some comments about Abdul Abulbul Amir.

The sons of the Prophet were hearty and bold And quite unaccustomed to fear,
But the bravest of all was a man I am told,
Named Abdul Abulbul Amir.

This is the version we sang back in Indiana during the 30’s (I’m 77). Note that the rhyme scheme is abab, whereas the rhyme scheme in the Minstrel version and in another version published on the net has a rhyme scheme abcb. So the Hoosier version is slightly richer in rhyming. Also the tale begins in the past tense.

Thus the second verse:

When one was needed to encourage the van,
Or harass the foe from the rear,
The name that was shouted upon every hand,
Was Abdul Abulbul Amir.
Again, you have the rhyme scheme abab

The tune is a nice rollicking melody. Perhaps, I can send you the notes.

Colin Williams · 27 January 2007

I’m a little behind this stream by several years…I remember this as Ivan Skavinski Skavar…and also remember the return of Abdul Abulbul Amir. My father used to sing it to me in the early sixties when I was a little boy, under the gas light in my bedroom in Manchester UK, as I drifted into slumber. This was before the opening up of information on tv and the www and always evoked a colourful and atmospheric picture in my head of happenings in the far/middle east. The song always sent a tingle down my spine as one verse grew into another. Abdul Abulbul Amir was my favorite carachter and evoked pictures in my head of fat, bald headed man in colourful attire. I now marvel, myself performing an amateur singing career, at the abilities of my father in remembering the numerous verses of this song. I believe that this song was part of an early thirties musical but not absolutely certain on this. Its amazing after all these years (now 50) how I can remember the words and melody. Good to read the number of comments and hear others personal encounters with this song.
Colin Williams
Plymouth, UK
Jan 2007

ps please send an email

Robert Harris · 19 February 2007

I have to agree with the many rave notices for this site. I am 56 years old and recall this song from an album my parents used to play when I was a kid that included what I think were college songs popular some years earlier—among those I remember were “Scarlet Ribbons” and “Moments to Remember.” Perhaps the record was by Fred Waring? Not sure. Last night I was driving home from a weekend away and, as sometimes happens, a few bits of the lyrics came back to me and I found this site (among several others) in my efforts to find the complete song. I also located two versions available for sale on iTunes: one by an Irish singer, Charlie King, and another by country and western crooner Hank Thompson.

Robert Harris

Penny Bartsch · 19 February 2007

I am 57. Tonight, while watching an old episode of Star Trek TNG, I heard Data’s brother singing this ditty, and wham! I was 8 or 9 years old, riding in the back seat of my parents’ 54 Ford with my three younger brothers, on a family trip, probably to visit relatives, listening to my parents sing this song while we rode along. This, of course, was back in the day when car radios either didn’t exist, didn’t work, or couldn’t pick up a station in the mountains. They knew the entire song by heart, and to this day, almost 50 years later, I still remember whole stanzas of it myself. Memory is amazing, but sound memories are even more amazing. My father would be so happy to know I still remember him and my mother this way!

Robert Jones · 19 March 2007

Norman Yearley

I can remember a version that was contained in the “Rugby Songbook” which someone brought me back from UK in the early 70’s. We hid it in the piano from the children, then years later sold the piano to the local Plymouth Brethren who found it and returned it to us – quite embarrassing in a small town. Anyway the bits I remember were

“ The harems of Egypt were fair to behold………” then something about “the brothels of the Czar”

then much further on after a contest of a rather different kind to that with steel daggers was devised.

“Now Ivan had won,

He shouldered his gun,

He bent down and patted his pair

When he felt something pass

Up his great hairy arse –

‘Twas Abdul Abulbul Amir.

The men shouted ‘queen’

The women turned green,

They were ordered apart by the Czar,

………….”

Then a little bit later

“But the cream of the joke

Was the bloody thing broke

Up Abdul Abulbul Amir.”

Followed by the verse of the Muscovite Harlot which regretfully I cannot recall.

Hope that helps.

Robert Jones

Croombe F. Pensom · 8 July 2007

Being in my early 70s (73 exactly) I cannot remember when I first heard Abdul Abulbul Amir. But I DO remember keeping friends highly amused from a very young age because I had committed the thing to heart!!!

Over the years my memory faded so, when a few weeks ago I first heard the words again after a lapse of decades, it all started to flood back into my memory.

I know it’s probably politically quite incorrect these days, but, hey folks, look at my age : there was no such thing back then when wogs were wogs quite openly…..

I like these obscure things : it was with great pleasure that I recently managed also to retrieve the words of “The Green Eye of the Yellow God” another batch of nonsense that, again, I had committed to memory since a very early age (when bombs were dropping all round and one needed some amusement to take one’s mind off outside matters!!).

I find that, even today, these “poems” can still bring a smile if not a downright laugh! We need such things to cheer us every day and relieve the doom and gloom of terrorist activities, politics and the price of gasoline…..

Croombe F. Pensom

THEGAVEL · 22 August 2007

Gary Cooper sings a small snippet of it in “Task Force” about naval aviation. It was on TCM recently. It also is voiced in a film about Naval aviators during their Annapolis years. Midshipmen are required to know numerous verses of it and things like all the verses to the National Anthem.

John Gavel

Barry Pogach · 31 August 2007

For some reason in recent days I’ve been trying to recall all of the lyrics to this piece, and found this site with a google. . I learned it as a song in chorus class at Central HS of Phila., in 1958.

Barry
Barry Pogach

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MICHAEL LESLIE WILLIAMS · 18 September 2007

my father sang this poem in a ballad form for years as early as I remember about 1959. I think he may have put the poem to memory during his yeards in the Army Air Corp in WWII. I finally found the words after what would be his 88th birthday. He had a lot of silly “diddies” he learned during his 27 years in the service but this and the “beer was spilt on the bar room floor” are two I remember and will forever! Mike Williams
Portland, Oregon

Donal Oconnor · 27 October 2007

look up www.mining.wits.ac.za/abdul.htm in google you will see a very funny version of abdulla ameer, we used to sing it in trinity College dublin in the 1960s DOConnor

Mary Tullberg · 3 December 2007

I was born in 1950 and learned this from my father. We always sang it as part of the car repertoire and I do remember the lyrics a little differently. He learned it in Boy Scout Camp and probably sang it in the Navy as well. The song is to be sung with gusto and drama, for sure! That’s Abdul el Bulbul Emir and Ivan Skvitsy Skvar, I believe, just to further muddy the waters.

Romeo and Juliet, A Capital Ship for an Ocean Trip and Bloody War are my other favorites of his ballads. I was not an especially bloodthirsty girl, but “Horatio at the Bridge” was one of my favorite bedtime reading requests, speaking of riotous fun as opposed to that awful, smarmy, saccharin Barney.

Somewhere, I do have the Boy Scout Songbook with this in it…I’ll find it and return to post the lyrics.

Mary

Giles BEE · 22 January 2008

Well I seem to be about the youngest person here to remember this song!! Still under 40 but I remember my father singing it to me as a small boy, especially on long car journeys.

I am committing it to memory so that my children can enjoy it too.

Fantastic memories!

Giles, UK

John F Parsons · 26 February 2008

i also heard a naughty version as an apprentice. it went “ she laid on her back their tool on the slack his arsole it reved like a car but he had’nt a hope gainst the long easy stroke of count ivan skavinsky skavar”( rather rude)

Doolbykid · 9 March 2008

Hi
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JSnyder12 · 31 March 2008

This is a song not a poem. We sang it in our High School chorus 50 years ago!!!

JOHN CANTWELL · 10 May 2008

It was sung (only a couple lines) by Cooper in the movie “Task Force” (1949).