Children’s Folklore Recent Titles in Greenwood Folklore Handbooks Myth: a handbook

Diarrhea
When you’re riding in a Chevy and you’re feeling somewhat
heavy . . . Diarrhea, diarrhea!
When you’re sitting in a bush and you feel a little whoosh . . . Diarrhea,
diarrhea!
When you’re sitting by a nerd and you’ve got to take a turd . . . Diarrhea,
diarrhea!
When you’re climbing up a ladder and you feel a little splatter . . . Diarrhea,
diarrhea!
When you’re sliding into first and you feel a little burst . . . Diarrhea, diarrhea!
When you’re sitting by a tard and you gain a little lard . . . Diarrhea, diarrhea!
When you’re sitting in your class and you feel some heavy gas . . . Diarrhea,
diarrhea!
When you’re biking up the canyon and you bury your
companion . . . Diarrhea, diarrhea!
Twelve-year-old Kristopher Butcher sang this song for Liz Butcher, student col-
lector, in Logan, Utah, in February 1998. His first two verses commonly appear 
in other children’s versions of the song (see Sherman and Weisskopf 62– 63), but 
his last several verses demonstrate creativity. The last verse about “biking up the 
canyon” fits Utah’s rugged landscape very well.

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66 Children’s 
Folklore
Yankee Doodle
Yankee Doodle went to town a-ridin’ on a gopher
Bumped into a garbage can and this is what fell over:
Great green gobs of greasy, grimy gopher guts,
Mutilated monkey meat, chopped up parakeet.
French-fried eyeballs rolling down the street.
Oops, I forgot my spoon!
So they gave me a split-splat, pus-on-top,
Monkey vomit and camel snot,
All wrapped up in birdie poo,
So eat it, [name], it’s good for you!
With vitamin C and protein too
And don’t forget the doggie doo!
Sara Miller, who learned this song at a day camp near New York City in the 
mid-1990s, recorded it in the spring of 2007. The song’s main purpose is to 
“gross out” the listener. Usually associated with school or camp food, the “Go-
pher Guts” song has delighted generations of children. For other versions, see 
Sherman and Weisskopf (16 –23).