The "It's Not Because You're Dirty / It's Not Because You're Clean " Verse In The Irish Children's Chant "Me Mother Has Gone To Church"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I* of a two part series that focuses on the children's rhyme verse "It's not because you're dirty, it's not because you're clean/ it's not because you kissed a boy/ behind a magazine".

Part I examines the Irish children's chant "Ahem Ahem Me Mother Has Gone To Church". That chant includes a precursor for the verse "It's not because you're dirty, it's not because you're clean/ it's not because I kissed a boy/ behind a magazine" verse that is found in the large family of "Apple On A Stick" children rhymes.

The Addendum to Part I also provides some information and comments about old attitudes about margarine and whooping cough, both of which are mentioned in that Irish children's composition.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/03/its-not-because-youre-dirty-line-in_12.html for Part II of this series. Part II showcases some text (word only) examples and videos of the American originated rhyme "Apples On A Stick" as a means of documenting how those rhymes have changed over time and in different geographical locations.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric and recreational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to all those who are featured in the video that is embedded in this post. Thanks also to the publisher of that video on YouTube.
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*This post is a revised version of the pancocojams post "It's Not Because You're Dirty" Line In Apple On A Stick Rhymes" that was published in November 13, 2014.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE IRISH CHANT "ME MOTHER HAS GONE TO CHURCH" AND THE AMERICAN CHILDREN'S RHYMES "THE APPLE ON A STICK"
It's my position that the Irish children's song "Me Mother Has Gone To Church" served as the prototype for these lines in the large family of American children's rhyme "Apple On A Stick" (or similar titles):
"it's not because you're* dirty
It's not because you're* clean
It's not because you* kissed a boy
behind a magazine
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*Most later versions of this rhyme have the line "It's not because I'm dirty" etc.

Here are some text examples of "Ahem Ahem Me Mother Has Gone To Church"

1.
ME MOTHER HAS GONE TO CHURCH
(Irish Kids' Chant)

Ahem! Ahem!
Me mother is gone to church.
She told me not to play with you
Because you're in the dirt.
It isn't because you're dirty,
It isn't because you're clean,
It's because you have the whoopin' cough
And eat margarine!
- http://www.mamalisa.com/?p=422&t=es&c=68
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A commenter on that website wrote that this is the Irish children's rhyme "Me Mother Has Gone To Church".

The Irish folk music recording artists The Clancy Brothers included this rhyme in their 1963 Carnegie Hall concert along with other Irish children's rhymes.

The Clancy Bros and Tommy Makem do the Big Ship Sailing on the IllyAllyO on their Carnegie Hall concert, where they do the children's medley that also has Ahem, Ahem, Me mother has gone to church, She told me not to play with you because you're in the dirt, And tisn't because you're dirty, and tisn't because you're clean, It's because you have the whooping cough and eat margarine!"-
Mrrzy, 27 Nov 01; https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=41448 Lyr Req [Lyric Request]: Illy Ally-0

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Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fDh7Ck1aF4 for a video entitled "Children's Medley (Live at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY - March 17, 1963)" which included the song/chant "Ahem Ahem Me Mother Has Gone To Church".

It's likely that that Clancy Brothers concert and album is how the "it's not because you're dirty etc." lines became known in the United States.

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2.
"When I was wee we used to recite the following nursery rhyme (Christ knows how these things wash up on the shores of memory, but it just did!).
Ah-choo, ah-choo, me mother has gone to church
She told me not to play with you because you're in the dirt
It's not because you're dirty
It's not because you're clean
It's because you've got the whooping cough and eat margarine"
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Aidan Crossey, 06 Dec 01; http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=41824 "Nasty Nursery Rhymes" posted by

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3.
I believe the album is the Clancy children or the Clancy Brothers and children sing'

the poem is:

Ahem, Ahem, me mother's gone to church
She told me not to play with you, because your in the dirt.
'Tisn't because your dirty, 'Tisn't because your clean
Because you have the whoooping cough from eating margarine.
-srich, 29 Nov 09, https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=20909 Children's rhymes and playground songs

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SHOWCASE VIDEO: "AHEM AHEM ME MOTHER HAS GONE TO CHURCH"

"Ahem, Ahem, Me Mother Has Gone to Church"



Opie Brussels Griffon, Uploaded on Mar 7, 2011

Opie Brussels Griffon wishes you a Happy St. Patrick's Day with an old Irish children's rhyme.
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In response to the question "Who sings this song?" a commenter wrote that this was sung by The Clancy Brothers in the early 1970's

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ADDENDUM - COMMENT ABOUT OLD ATTITUDES ABOUT MARGARINE VERSUS BUTTER
This Irish rhyme/song reflects the erroneous belief that only poor, dirty people got whooping cough. That song rhyme/song also reflects the once strong societal preference throughout the Western world for butter over margarine.

Here are some comments about past attitudes in the United States about butter versus margarine:
From: http://pinkbunnyears.com/?p=2901 http://pinkbunnyears.com/?p=2901 "“It’s because she’s got the whooping cough and eats margarine"
lidarose, March 31, 2010
“I’m originally from Wisconsin. Back in the 1950′s and ’60s a person could not purchase “fake” dairy products, such as margarine, or ice milk, rather than ice cream within the state. You had to order out from Chicago for margarine. Some people did this...it was the most foul substance you could imagine. I never understood why anyone would spread their bread with margarine.”

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From http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/24102-butter-vs-margarine/ "Butter vs. Margarine"
Renegade, 08 February 2013
"The margarine vs. butter debate has changed so mucn [sic] in the last 20 years. When I was a kid we ate margarine because we thought it was healthier (and I was amused when I read the book "Matilda," at how Matilda thought margarine was a sign of dire poverty. That may have been true in Roald Dahl's day, but it wasn't true by the 1990s!)"...
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As a matter of information Roald Dahl's children's book "Matilda" was written in 1988.

Click http://www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_167017_en.pdf to read a scholarly paper that explores old views about attitudes margarine as a substitute for butter.

Suffice it to say, due in large part to successful advertising*, in the United States since at least the late 1980s -if not earlier- the debate over whether to use butter or margarine is now mostly about which product cost more (butter) and which product is healthier for you (I'm not sure about the answer to that.) In spite of the fact that butter cost more than margarine, I don't think that Americans think that only poor people eat margarine, as is reflected in that old Irish children's rhyme which is the focus of this post.

*Here are two examples of how margarine ads greatly reduced the disparaging attitude people had about margarine itself and about those who ate margarine:
From http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/742845
"Old Food or Product Commericals that You Miss?"
natewrites Oct 25, 2010 04:49 PM
"The other day, out of completely nowhere I remembered a few old margarine ads (BTW, you NEVER see margarine ads any more).

The two that I can think of was:

"If you think it's butter, but it's not, 'It's Chiffon."

Then the "Duh, duh, duh, da!!!!!" And it was an Imperial Margarine commerical. The idea was you'd take a bite of something with Imperial Margarine on it and a king's crown would mysteriously appear on your head!"...

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ADDENDUM - INFORMATION ABOUT WHOOPING COUGH
Here's a comment about whooping cough in the United States
From http://answers.webmd.com/answers/1174603/what-is-whooping-cough-what-is
"The [whooping cough] disease is named for the characteristic sound produced when affected individuals attempt to inhale; the whoop originates from the inflammation and swelling of the laryngeal structures that vibrate when there is a rapid inflow of air during inspiration. The first outbreaks of whooping cough were described in the 16th century. The bacterium responsible for the infection, Bordetella pertussis, was not identified until 1906. In the prevaccination era (during the 1920s and 30s), there were over 250,000 cases of whooping cough per year in the U.S., with up to 9,000 deaths. In the 1940s, the pertussis vaccine, combined with diphtheria and tetanus toxoids (DTP), was introduced. By 1976, the incidence of whooping cough in the U.S. had decreased by over 99%."...

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This concludes Part I of this two part series.

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