Mairzy Doats

Mairzy Doats is a novelty song composed in 1943 by Milton Drake, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston. It was first played on radio station, WOR New York, by Al Trace and his Silly Symphonists. The song made the pop charts several times, with a version by the Merry Macs reaching No. 1 in March 1944. In addition to its success on the home front, it was also a hit with American servicemen overseas, who allegedly used its nonsensical lyrics as passwords.

At first glance, the song's refrain, as written on the sheet music, seems to be meaningless:
 * Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
 * A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?
 * Yes! Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
 * A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?

However, the lyrics of the bridge provide a clue:
 * If the words sound queer and funny to your ear, a little bit jumbled and jivey,
 * Sing "Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy."

With this aid, the refrain is easily comprehended, and the ear will detect the hidden message of the final line: "A kid'll eat ivy too, wouldn't you?"

History
One of the writers, Milton Drake, says the number was based on an English nursery rhyme.

Drake says the idea came to him when his four-year-old daughter came home singing the English rhyme which starts "Cowzy tweet and sowzy tweet and liddle sharksy doisters." ("Cows eat wheat and sows eat wheat and little sharks eat oysters.")

The three writers then got together and came up with a tune for the nursery rhyme. While they tried to publish the song, no one would take it because it sounded so silly. After a year, the writers gave Al Trace, a bandleader of the Silly Symphonists, a shot. He liked the song and completed it. After it was produced it became a huge hit. Spike Jones also covered it, substituting sound effects for the "food" words. Even the American troops sang it in World War II marching off ships at foreign ports. Soldiers also used the lyrics as passwords. It was then spread around the world. After many years it was also used in movies and TV shows, including the first episode in series two of Twin Peaks, and Woody Allen's Radio Days.

It has also been used on the UK BBC radio show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, several times in "Pick Up Song" and "One Song to the Tune of Another," most notably by Graeme Garden.