CHILDRENS' SONG (from way back)

[Oldbutgold]

Can anyone tell me anything more about this song my parents (now dead) taught me 50 years ago? (The song is sung at a rollicking pace)

Title: Askasdabaska-oompahorah-inkywinkywoe.

First verse: When I was young I went to school to learn my ABC, I stepped upon a Chinese ship and sailed across the sea. A Chinese man came up to me and said I was a spy. And if I did not tell the truth he'd throw me on the fire.

Refrain: Askadabaska ........... (repeated twice).

[Wordist]

My Dad used to sing that song too. I remember it as follows:

When I was young I went to school to learn my ABC
I jumped upon a nanny-goat's back and sailed the ocean free
A Chinaman came up to me and said I was a spy
And if I didn't sing this song he'd punch me in the eye
He cut my hair with a knife and fork and tied me to a cabbage stalk
I grew so fat I couldn't walk, so I joined the christian army
The captain's name was Bongo, and he had two black eyes
And he played on his whiskers till the clouds rolled by
Till the clouds rolled by, till the clouds rolled by
And he played on his whiskers till the clouds rolled by.

I haven't heard anyone else sing it in 50 years.

[polecatvn]

Amazing. I've never met anyone who knows this song. Had presumed it was a family thing, but I'm so happy to find this. A little internet investigating suggests it may have roots in a couple of old (19th c?) songs - The Hungry Army and King of the Cannibal Islands.
Here's the version I know, which I can trace back to Kent in the 1950s

As I came home from school one day I thought I'd go to sea
So I jumped aboard a Chinese ship to sail the ocean waves
A Chinaman came up to me and said I was a spy
And if I did not sing him a song he'd put me on the fire.

So on the fire he put me, till I began to boil
And all the time I was boiling, I sang this Irish song
"Aska-da-whaska oojerum, a piggy wiggy thee,
Upon my Lord, upon my Lord, a piggy wiggy thee."

Then he cut me up with a knife and fork
And tied me to a cabbage stalk
I grew so fat I could not walk
So I joined the Christian army

The captain's name was Bimbo, he had two pearly black eyes
And he played upon his whiskers till the clouds rolled by

[Barbydoll]

This is so interesting - I thought it was a nonsense sing that my dad sung to us! I never expected it to be known by other people.

In his version, the Captain's name was Rhubarb and 'he said if you don't sing a song,  I'll tie you to the mast'

At the end if the verse was 'and he played on his whiskers 'til the beer rolled by'