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Cosher Bailey
Last updated: 22.01.22
I had always known "Cosher Bailey" under the title of "Did you ever see?" as a Rugby song from my navy days. In 23 Petty Officer's Mess, HMS Victorious, it was often sung in the same manner as "As Usual" in that singers were supposed to make-up a verse on the fly about a fellow mess-member (slanderous and as insulting as possible). The maligned person was then also required to make up another verse, but addressed to a different person and so on until every person present had sung or tried to sing. A good example of this ribald nonsense can be found in Rugby Songs published by Sphere.
Against this background, I was very much amused to come across a very innocuous version in a German school book for young children of 11 or so. Such is the degree of innocuousness that this version of "Cosher Bailey" is now in my repertoire and can be sung to the proverbial sainted aunt.