Mairzy Doats - wikipedia Mairzy Doats This article is about the song. For the horse, see Mairzy Doates. `` Mairzy Doats '' Song Recorded 1943 Genre Novelty Songwriter ( s ) Milton Drake Al Hoffman Jerry Livingston Composer ( s ) Milton Drake, Al Hoffman, Jerry Livingston `` 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 : Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey A kiddley divey too, would n't you ? However, the lyrics of the bridge provide a clue : If the words sound queer and funny to your ear, a little bit jumbled and jivey, Sing `` Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy. '' This hint allows the ear to translate the final line as `` a kid 'll eat ivy, too ; would n't you ? '' Contents 1 Creation of the song 2 Origins 3 Other recordings 4 See also 5 References 6 External links Creation of the song 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. 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. '' ( Cows eat wheat and sows eat wheat and little sharks eat oysters. ) 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 ( number 526 ). In 1959, Dodie Stevens released `` Mairzy Doats '' as her first recording under Dot Records. Bing Crosby included the song in a medley on his album Join Bing and Sing Along ( 1959 ) 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. Spike Jones was among several other artists who covered it, characteristically substituting sound effects for the `` food '' words. See also Children 's literature portal Mondegreen Folklore Oral tradition References Jump up ^ Smith, Kathleen E.R. God Bless America : Tin Pan Alley Goes to War. The University Press of Kentucky. p. 137. ISBN 0 - 8131 - 2256 - 2. ^ Jump up to : Drake, Milton ; Hoffman, Al ; Livingston, Jerry ( 1943 ). Mairzy doats. New York : Miller Music Corporation. OCLC 876125772. Retrieved 2018 - 01 - 04. Jump up ^ https://www.discogs.com/artist/1193177-The-Merry-Macs Jump up ^ Randall, Dale B.J. ( 1995 ). `` American `` Mairzy '' Dottiness, Sir John Fastolf 's Secretary, and the `` Law French '' of a Caroline Cavalier ``. American Speech. Duke University Press. 70 ( 4 ) : 361 -- 370. doi : 10.2307 / 455617. JSTOR 455617. ^ Jump up to : Opie, Iona ; Opie, Peter ( 1997 ). The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes ( 2nd ed. ). Oxford University Press. p. 263. ISBN 978 - 0198600886. External links Sheet Music Recording by the Merry Macs The King Sisters Alyce King Donna King Luise King Marilyn King Maxine King Yvonne King Singles `` Tiger Rag '' `` Bless ' Em All '' `` I 'll Get By ( As Long as I Have You ) '' `` It 's Love - Love - Love '' `` Mairzy Doats '' `` The Trolley Song '' `` Candy '' `` Saturday Night ( Is the Loneliest Night of the Week ) '' Related articles The King Family Show Book : The King Sisters Dion and the Belmonts Angelo D'Aleo Fred Milano Carlo Mastrangelo Dion DiMucci Songs `` Mairzy Doats '' `` I Wonder Why '' `` No One Knows '' `` A Teenager in Love '' `` Where or When '' `` That 's My Desire '' `` When You Wish upon a Star '' `` In the Still of the Night '' Related The Belmonts Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mairzy_Doats&oldid=821849717 '' Categories : 1943 songs Phonology Novelty songs Songs with lyrics by Milton Drake Songs written by Al Hoffman Songs about animals Talk Contents About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 23 January 2018, at 00 : 10. 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Question: where did the song mares eat oats come from
Answer: English nursery rhyme