Photos, videos and docs of Alan Mays, with the keywords: "oh you"

My Wife's Gone to the Country

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 07 Jan 2019 16:07:04 +0000

An amusing postcard that draws upon the "Oh You Kid!" craze of 1909 for its humor. This card was a bit risqué for its time, suggesting that a husband might fool around with other women while his wife is away. The caption on the card comes from the song, "My Wife’s Gone to the Country! Hurrah! Hurrah!,” which was one of the "Oh You Kid!" songs published as sheet music in 1909:

My wife’s gone to the country, hurray! hurray!
She thought it best
"I need the rest"
That’s why she went away
She took the children with her, hurray! hurray!
I love my wife, but oh, you kid!
My wife’s gone away

In this age of social media, it's difficult to appreciate just how popular this--nudge, nudge, wink, wink--idea of "I love my wife, but oh, you kid!" became as it circulated in print through sheet music, postcards, and newspapers. Jody Rosen, however, documents its wide-ranging influence in a fascinating article that appeared in Slate magazine. See "How a Sexed-up Viral Hit from the Summer of '09–1909–Changed American Pop Music Forever."

For some additional postcard and sheet music examples, see my Oh You Kid! and Its Variants album.

Oh You Lobster!

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Thu, 14 Jul 2016 20:22:42 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

Oh You Lobster!
With all your faults tell us why
Our love for you, you can't deny.

For other lobsters, see To My Valentine, A Lobster I Am and Always Will Be and Oh! You Lobster.

Oh You Candy Kid

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 19:56:27 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

Oh You Chestnut!

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 16:17:15 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

Oh You Chestnut!
When is a door not a door? When it's a-jar!!
Your ancient ones are welcome.
May they never seem new to us.

"Chestnut," of course, can refer to an old, stale story or joke. See chestnut (joke) in Wikipedia and old chestnut in Wiktionary.

Some nuttiness for the Weird Vintage Postcards group.

See also: Oh You Lemon!

What Will the Milky Way?

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 20:20:51 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"Pickle Dill Etchings. If the earth weighs 200,110,000,000,000,000 pounds, what will the Milkey-way? Oh, you milk maid."

This early twentieth-century humorous postcard starts out with a goofy heading, "Pickle Dill Etchings," which may have been used for a series of similar postcards. Below that is a riddling question that turns out to be a silly pun–"What will the Milky Way weigh?" And the exclamation at the bottom of the card–"Oh, you milk maid!"–extends the milk allusion but also refers to a song, "I Love, I Love, I Love My Wife–But Oh! You Kid!," that was all the rage in 1909 (for a discussion of how immensely popular it became, see Jody Rosen's fascinating Slate article,"How a Sexed-up Viral Hit from the Summer of '09–1909–Changed American Pop Music Forever").

The "oh you kid" catchphrase also generated many other variations. For additional examples, see Oh You Lemon!, Oh You Chestnut!, and Oh! You Lobster.

Oh You Lemon!

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 16:17:42 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

Oh You Lemon!
Ripe and juicy, you're all right,
In the main squeeze you're out of sight.

Lemony, very pretty, yet not too sweet for the Weird Vintage Postcards group.

See also: Oh You Chestnut!