1. "Alma Cogan"
Posted by Stefani on Aug-18th-02 at 8:39 PM

Has anyone heard of this before? Alma Cogan sings "Lizzie Borden"?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=900240565

I never heard of her but there are lots of web sites for her.  Do a search on Google.

Is there a song called "Lizzie Borden"?
I wonder what that is?

According to the halfmoon.org site there is a song.  It's called Lizzie Borden (The Fall River Hoedown) -- written by Broadway composer Michael Martin Brown. 

The Michael Brown song is "You Can't Chop Your Poppa Up in Massachusetts".

Here are the words to the song:

1. One hot day in old Fall River, Mister Andrew Borden died, and they booked his daughter Lizzie on a charge of homicide. Some folks say, "She didn't do it." Others say, "Of course, she did." But they all agree Miss Lizzie B. was quite a problem kid

Chorus: Cause you can't chop your poppa up in Massachusetts, no even if it's planned as a surprise. No you can't chop your poppa up in Massachusetts, you know how neighbors love to criticize.

2.  Now she got him on the the sofa, where he'd gone to take a snooze, and I hope he went to heaven, 'cause he wasn't wearing shoes. Lizzie kind of rearranged him with a hatchet, so they say. And then she got her mother in that same old fashioned way.

Chorus: But you can't chop your momma up in Massachusetts, not even if you're tired of her cuisine. No you can't chop your momma up in Massachusetts, if you do you know there's bound to be a scene.

3.  Oh they really kept her hopping on that August after noon, with both down and upstairs chopping while she hummed a ragtime tune. And her maw, when Lizzie whacked her, looked an auful lot like paw, Like somebody in a tractor had been backing over maw.

Chorus: Oh you can't chop your poppa up in Massachusetts, and then blame all the damage on the mice. No you can't chop your momma up in Massachusetts, that kind of thing just isn't very nice.

4.  Now, it wasn't done for pleasure and it wasn't done for spite, and it wasn't done because the lady wasn't very bright. She had always done the slightest thing that mom and poppa bid. They said, "Lizzie, cut it out," and that's exactly what she did.

Chorus: But you can't chop your poppa up in Massachusetts, and then get dressed to go out for a walk. No you can't chop your poppa up in Massachusetts, Massachusetts is a far cry from New York.

I thought it might be more of a Ballad.
The "Chop Your Poppa UP' song is not what I pictured.
Oh, well, that could be a rousing Audience participation- type song like in the Music Halls of London.

Diana,
Do you know half-moon?
Do you know Nancy McNelly?

Sorry Kat.  I wasn't ignoring you.  I've had houseguests for awhile,  and only surface now and then.  I only ended up on the Halfmoon site recently when I was looking for something else Lizzie-related, and remembered your query about the song. Don't know anything more about the organization or the webmistress.
(Actually, I'm kind of glad I wasn't visiting Emma -- looks like she's stirred up a bit of a hornet's nest.  She's such a troublemaker, that girl!)

Thanks for sharing that with us, Stefani!  I've always wondered what the full song was, I've only seen one stanza of the chorus before.  Blame it on the mice?    Where did that come from?  I had visions of Andrew and Abby being attacked by hordes of rabid mice, like something straight out of Monty Python!

We've tried & tried to reach Ms. McNelly...that's why I asked.
Thanks anyway.

Susan, the mice are congregating in Lizzie's room because of all that food we've supposed to be stashed there.  She DID go away for 6 days, keeping her room locked!

I purchased the sheet music on ebay this year. It was advertised as "Lizzie Borden" and that is what the cover indeed says. Yet inside is "you can't chop your popppa. . . ." by Michael Brown.

The very day it arrived a woman emailed me from the web site and said she was desperate to know the words as she had been humming it all day and only knew the first two verses. i replied with a transcription of the entire song. Things like this, timing things, happen to me all the time.  Spooky and kinda cool.