A New Cautionary Tale
By M.M.Deyes, 1949
This song is another prize-winning entry for the Girton Review’s Competition. Girton and Newnham students had only just become subject to Proctorial discipline. Evening events, not in a College, required a licence from the Junior Proctor. The Proctors could recommend that persistent offenders be rusticated or sent down. (The author of this song had a First class degree in Classics. She did not sink into a coma at 2.30 a.m.!)
Tune: The Jolly Miller
Lyrics
There was a jolly student once
Lived by the river Cam:
She went to parties from morn till night,
For lectures cared not a….
And this is the burden of her song
For ever used to be:
“I’ll dance and dally until I drop -
Or somebody drops on me.”
There was another student there
At th’Universitee:
She wrote long essays from morn till night
With never a break for tea.
And this is the burden of her song
For ever used to be:
“I’ll sit and study until I drop -
Or somebody drops on me.”
The first one went out to a ball
That hadn’t the Proctor’s per-
mission: they made their rounds that night
And that was the end of her!
(quickly)
For alas the burden of her song
(regretfully)
Had ever used to be:
“I’ll dance and dally until I drop -
Or somebody drops on me.”
The second sat up and read all night
With a pot of black coffee.
She sank in a coma at half past two,
And passed away at three.
(slowly)
For alas the burden of her song
(regretfully)
Had ever used to be:
“I’ll sit and study until I drop -
Or somebody drops on me.”