Mairzy Doats


“Mairzy Doats” is a novelty song written and composed in 1943 by Milton Drake, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston. It was first played on radio station WOR, New York, by Al Trace and his Silly Symphonists. The song made the pop charts several times, with a version by the Merry Macs reaching No. 1 in March 1944. The song was also a number-one sheet music seller, with sales of over 450,000 within the first three weeks of release.
The song's refrain, as written on the sheet music, seems meaningless:
However, the lyrics of the bridge provide a clue:
This hint allows the ear to translate the final line as "a kid'll eat ivy, too; wouldn't you?"
The Merry Macs recording was Decca records best selling release in 1944. Twenty three other performers tried to follow up with their own recordings in a span of only 2 weeks in that same year.

Meaning

Milton Drake, one of the writers, said the song had been based on an English nursery rhyme. According to this story, Drake's four-year-old daughter came home singing, "Cowzy tweet and sowzy tweet and liddle sharksy doisters."
Drake joined Hoffman and Livingston to come up with a tune for the new version of the rhyme, but for a year no one was willing to publish a "silly song." Finally, Hoffman pitched it to his friend Al Trace, bandleader of the Silly Symphonists. Trace liked the song and recorded it. It became a huge hit, most notably with the Merry Macs' 1944 recording.

Origins

The scholars Iona and Peter Opie have noted that the last two lines of the song appear in an old catch which, when said quickly, appears to be in Latin:
In fir tar is,
In oak none is,
In mud eels are,
In clay none are,
Goat eat ivy,
Mare eat oats.
They trace the origin of the joke to a manuscript of about 1450 which has "Is gote eate yvy? Mare eate ootys".

Other recordings

In 1958, New Orleans R&B singer Tommy Ridgley released a rock and roll version of "Mairzy Doats" on the Herald Records label as a 7" 45 rpm single.
In 1959, Dodie Stevens released "Mairzy Doats" as her first recording under Dot Records.
Also in 1959, The Mark IV released the song as a 7" single on Mercury Records.
Bing Crosby included the song in a medley on his album Join Bing and Sing Along
Spike Jones was among several other artists who covered it, characteristically substituting sound effects for the "food" words .
In 1963, an up-tempo rock and roll version of "Mairzy Doats" was also recorded by Carlo Mastrangelo of the Belmonts and released as a 7" record on Laurie Records the same year.
"Mairzy Doats" received a minor revival in 1967, when it was recorded by The Innocence, who took it to Number 75 on the Pop Top 100 on Kama Sutra Records.
It was sung by Leland Palmer in the second-season premiere of the series Twin Peaks .
Experimental band Xiu Xiu used lyrics from "Mairzy Doats" on their album Plays the Music of Twin Peaks .
Liverpool comedian Arthur Askey sang a version based on local names: "Mersey Docks and Harbour Board/And ferries to New Brighton..." as part of his act.