Why "My Dog Has Fleas"?!

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TheBathBird
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Apologies if this is a blindingly stupid question, but what is "my dog has fleas"? And why is it associated with the uke?

It's often said that it's a good way to remember the tuning of a ukulele, but I have no idea why. The letters don't represent the notes of the open strings (or any notes for that matter), and it's not a song I've ever come across. Is it something American kids grow up singing? Am I just on the wrong side of the pond? I've googled it, but I only find references to the ukulele, and now it's really starting to bug me!
 
According to the Google, nobody seems to know its origins - although if anybody would, I'd bet UU member Jim T. might have a clue!

As for American kids singing it - as someone who was an American kid as far back as the 1960s, I do know it was used in American cartoons of a much earlier vintage than myself, and when I got a uke for my 7th birthday it was how I was taught to tune it. I can't remember ever hearing it for the first time - it was just something I always knew, probably from cartoons and my 1920s-vintage parents. Makes me wonder if a non-uke-playing American millennial without a familiarity with old cartoons would have any idea what we're talking about!
 
I'm sixty-five, and I remember singing it as a kid, but it certainly had nothing to do with ukuleles.
 
Why "My dog has fleas".

Because it is better than your partner having fleas.............that is a little North American humor Victoria, very little.
 
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According to the Google, nobody seems to know its origins - although if anybody would, I'd bet UU member Jim T. might have a clue!

As for American kids singing it - as someone who was an American kid as far back as the 1960s, I do know it was used in American cartoons of a much earlier vintage than myself, and when I got a uke for my 7th birthday it was how I was taught to tune it. I can't remember ever hearing it for the first time - it was just something I always knew, probably from cartoons and my 1920s-vintage parents. Makes me wonder if a non-uke-playing American millennial without a familiarity with old cartoons would have any idea what we're talking about!

I'm sixty-five, and I remember singing it as a kid, but it certainly had nothing to do with ukuleles.

So when it was in cartoons and you were singing it as children, the notes followed the tuning of a reentrant uke? And was it part of a song, or literally just that one line?
 
Why "My dog has fleas".

Because it is better than your partner having fleas.............that is a little North American humor Victoria, very little.

Haha, thanks Dave! I think I'd prefer "nobody in my house has fleas", but I suppose that would require 6 strings - perish the thought!
 
So when it was in cartoons and you were singing it as children, the notes followed the tuning of a reentrant uke? And was it part of a song, or literally just that one line?

Just that one line, following the same notes as reentrant uke tuning. I don't seem to recall it being specific to uke in cartoons - it was more as a sort of shorthand for music in general, usually music played badly, usually by a hack, if my memory is correct. Probably says a lot about the public perception of ukulele at the time! :)
 
I've always imagined it was an early twentieth century phrase coined by some hipster from San Francisco upon learning that "Ukulele" literally means "jumping flea". Possibly just as a way to tune by ear.


Scenario at the Pan Pacific Expo in 1915 (introduction of the Uke to the mainland masses):

Hip American Musician:
Wow! What an amazing little instrument. What is that?

Authentic Hawaiian Musician:
It's an Ukulele, the newest and most popular instrument in Hawaii.

HAM:
Ukulele? Why do you call it that?

AHM:
Well, the name means "jumping flea" in Hawaiian, and the fingers moving on the strings look like jumping fleas!

HAM:
Well whatta ya know, my dog has fleas! (People standing around all laugh at the joke.) Say, can I try it?

AHM:
Of course! (Hands it over.)

HAM:
So how is it tuned?



...and the rest is history!



Scooter
 
Here's a reference to it regarding violins in a Stephen King book... maybe evidence that it's more widespread in tuning instruments than just ukulele??
 
"Yo mama has fleas" could work but I don't think it has wings.
 
Just that one line, following the same notes as reentrant uke tuning. I don't seem to recall it being specific to uke in cartoons - it was more as a sort of shorthand for music in general, usually music played badly, usually by a hack, if my memory is correct. Probably says a lot about the public perception of ukulele at the time! :)

Perhaps a violin player could comment.
I have found a post from 1995 which calls the Handel Violin Sonata in D the "my dog has fleas" sonata. I have also found the term in some other violin posts about other pieces. So perhaps it is actually more ancient than the ukulele?

Here's a reference to it regarding violins in a Stephen King book... maybe evidence that it's more widespread in tuning instruments than just ukulele??

Thanks guys, this is quite intriguing, I feel like it's raising more questions than answers!
 
I've always imagined it was an early twentieth century phrase coined by some hipster from San Francisco upon learning that "Ukulele" literally means "jumping flea". Possibly just as a way to tune by ear.


Scenario at the Pan Pacific Expo in 1915 (introduction of the Uke to the mainland masses):

Hip American Musician:
Wow! What an amazing little instrument. What is that?

Authentic Hawaiian Musician:
It's an Ukulele, the newest and most popular instrument in Hawaii.

HAM:
Ukulele? Why do you call it that?

AHM:
Well, the name means "jumping flea" in Hawaiian, and the fingers moving on the strings look like jumping fleas!

HAM:
Well whatta ya know, my dog has fleas! (People standing around all laugh at the joke.) Say, can I try it?

AHM:
Of course! (Hands it over.)

HAM:
So how is it tuned?



...and the rest is history!



Scooter

I love this scenario! I think I'm going to choose to believe that this is EXACTLY what happened :)
 
It's most certainly originally coined by May Singhi Breen in her teaching methods and radio shows, as a simple mnemonic device, not an entire song. And it was popularized beyond ukulele players when it was used in a tuning sketch in the George Burns and Gracie Allen film 'Honolulu' (1939): "You see what's wrong, Dorothy...the dogs are all right, but the fleas are out of tune." Later some people did try to put a second line behind it, using the reverse order of the same notes: ‘they bite his knees’. But my favourite is Rowlf’s version in the Muppets, who sings it on while exchanging his upright piano for a ukulele: “My man has mosquito bites.”

In Japan, I've heard Hanako-San being used for the same purpose (Hanako is a girl's first name, Hanako-San is the 'toilet ghost' in the playground urban legend).

In France the Lefebvre manual and the Ukulele Club de Paris did recommend an actual song from the Jules et Jim film by Truffaut (1962), using the lines 'Elle avait de bagues à chaque doigt' (she had rings on every finger) from the song 'Tourbillon de la Vie' (the whirlwind of life) by Rezvani.
 
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