aussie aussie aussie!

October 7, 2008 4:11 PM

Morbid Aussie birthday greeting, goes something along the lines of "War and famine, people dying, everywhere, and it's your birthday, hooray!" -- what is the correct and complete version?

I remember some Aussie exchange students singing this at birthday parties back during uni days. A google search came up empty.

posted by randomstriker to Grab Bag (10 answers total)

I remember a song along those lines (to the tune of the "Volga Boatmen song"):

Happy Birthday (thud),
Happy Birthday (thud),
Sin, sorrow and despair,
People dying everywhere,
Happy Birthday (thud).
posted by Zonker at 4:26 PM on October 7, 2008

The Birthday Dirge?
posted by andraste at 4:28 PM on October 7, 2008

http://web.mit.edu/jcb/humor/birthday-dirge

good stuff :)
posted by legotech at 4:28 PM on October 7, 2008

Ah, the birthday dirge!
posted by goo at 4:31 PM on October 7, 2008

I've heard one a bit different than Zonker

Happy Birthday (thud)
Happy Birthday (thud)
People dying everywhere
Children crying in dispair
But happy birthday (thud)
Happy Birthday (thud)

The thud can be replaced with a guttural hunh, if you so choose.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:37 PM on October 7, 2008

Oddly enough, this song is traditional in our (very Irish Catholic) family in Cleveland. No Australian connections. Our version (complete with table-thumping):

Happy birthday (thud)
Happy birthday (thud)
Gloom and sorrow and despair
People dying everywhere
On your birthday (thud)
So have a happy birthday (thud)
posted by ubersturm at 4:48 PM on October 7, 2008

May the candles on your cake,
Burn like cities in you wake
Happy birthday (thud)
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 7:30 PM on October 7, 2008 [2 favorites]

"Sin, sorrow and despair,
People dying everywhere"

"People dying everywhere
Children crying in dispair"

"Gloom and sorrow and despair
People dying everywhere"

Heh. The variation I learned (at church camp in the 70s, in the Seattle area):

Pain and sorrow in the air
People dying everywhere

But it's the same song, of course. Anyone know the origin? The guy who wrote the FAQ says he first heard it in the early 80s, but I heard it in 76 or 77, which were the years I attended that camp.
posted by litlnemo at 2:48 AM on October 8, 2008

Yeah, anyone who's been to camp knows this baby.

I always heard it as

Happy birthday (sound effect) x 2
People dying everywhere
There's pollution in the air
But it's your Birthday (sound effect)
So happy birthday (sound effect)
Happy birthday (sound effect)
To you (sound effect x 2)
posted by Deathalicious at 8:57 PM on October 8, 2008

I'm an Australian and I've never, ever heard of anything like this.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 6:42 AM on October 10, 2008