Comments on: Can you tie them in a knot?

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 17:11:25 +0000

I agree with Dave. Everyone on this board that didn’t know what a Continental Soldier was owes about 1,000,000 push-ups, report to your nearest VFW ASAFP.
And the song was about BALLS, and about sounding off like you had a pair. Vulgar macho marching songs have a storied tradition in the military (I’ve worn out pairs of boondockers singing them myself). Things have to get tamed down when you return to civilian life. That’s where the fantasy elements of long-eared bunnies comes into play.

By: Lyric

Lyric — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 12:16:20 +0000

You ppl need to take a slave history course ….. Ears hang low is a racist song which originated from confederate soilders deforming deceased freed slaves and wearing their ears as necklaces

By: corey

corey — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 07:19:36 +0000

I never knew the racist lyrics to this song–having been in the army I heard the “balls’ version. HOWEVER, I later lived in a mountain, black community where an unknowing Ice Cream venor got beat up for driving the truck through the neighborhood playng the music to this song. Now I know why.

By: K

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 02:10:46 +0000

Might I offer a slightly less fanciful explanation of this song?

The subject of the song is a bunny. Unlike humans, bunnies have ears that can hang low or hang high (at least in cartoons). When a bunny slings his ears over his shoulder like a continental soldier, they now resemble the kind of a hat that a French legionnaire wears, that has long flaps hanging down below.

I don’t believe any sort of tripe about racists and civil war trophies. That is a bizarre stretch of a perfectly harmelss and sweet song about bunnies.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:16:18 +0000

You people are a bunch of asses! How did you graduate high school in the US and not know what a Continental Soldier is? You fucking idiots should be drafted so you can figure it out. By the way, I am a grunt and a teacher. Morons.

By: JM

JM — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:08:39 +0000

Here’s a new thought…I wonder is “ears hang low” is a derogatory reference to someone with a genetic mutation….someone who may be metally retarded. Low set ears is sometimes associated with Down Syndrome for example.

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:18:45 +0000

I had the following thought about this song and have no way of proving it.

1) The two tunes the lyrics are sung too are simple and were popular long ago.

2) Singing was / is a major part of the military from cadences, drinking songs, to relief from boredom

3) The military hasn’t changed much and my experience is that cadences are ever changing. One group insults another with a clever lyric, the next group switches it around passes a new insult along.

So, I suspect that most any explanation of this song is correct. One possible path would be Brits teasing the continental (colonial or europe) soldiers, time passes and it morphs from unit to unit. Then the civil war happens, both armies know the song and modify it to their various points of view. Returning soldiers still singing the ‘army’ versions return home and similar to “ring around the rosy” parents and/or children clean it up to keep out of “trouble.”

This song is amazingly easy to rewrite: e.g:

Do your words hang low?
Do they wobble to and fro?
Can you twist them in a lie?
Can you twist them in a fraud?
Can you throw them back and forth,
like an average politician?
Do your words hang low?

By: Stubob

Stubob — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 16:45:52 +0000

We were told as children that the song refers to the British and the Hessians, and their uniforms, presumably the lappets on their uniform hats. Apparently the song is much older than the Civil War, so it could not possibly refer to the testicle trophies referred to above.

By: AM

AM — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 04:04:05 +0000

How to put this…throughout the history in America and Europe, there have been tragic events that somehow became inspiration for children’s entertainment in songs, nursery rhymes and stories. They are parts of all of our histories, they are treasures of our pasts. There is no shame in questioning and learning the reasons why or how…the shame would be in lessons not learned.

By: RC

RC — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:09:23 +0000

One explanation I heard for the “Do your balls hang low” is literally the fear factor – in times of stress testicles naturally retract – hanging low means no fear!

Now I am not quite sure about the throwing over the shoulder bit…