Perhaps the most well-known of them all:
Jingle Bells, Batman Smells
Robin laid an egg
Batmobile broke it's wheel
and the Joker got away
(there are plenty of minor variations - one that my little sister used to sing was "the Joker took ballet.")
As is so often the case, no one knows where the heck this came from, or when it started, though we can safely assume that it doesn't pre-date Spring, 1940, when Robin first swung into action (Joker was introduced around the same time). Some say it's been around since Christmas of 1940; the earliest versions I can find i print are from the 1960s (interestingly, the second line in most of the early printed versions is "Robin flew away." Since then, it's been all over, from The Simpsons to Hobie Hanson, You're Weird, a 1988 book by Jamie Gilson (who always had a way with working this sort of thing into her books). It's even in the title of a Junie B. Jones book.
How far back does it go? Anyone have a source on this from before the 1960s?
The version I learned in the early 80s, which is no doubt specific to Australia, and to the time when Trans-Australian Airlines still existed was:
ReplyDelete"Jingle bells, batman smells, robin flew away. Wonder-woman lost her bosom flying TAA."
I heard this same version in Australia in the 70's.
Deleteheard it in the early 80's
DeleteJingle Bells
ReplyDeleteBatman Smells
Robin laid an egg
Batmobile lost its wheel
and the Joker got away
Batman's in the kitchen
Robin's in the hall
Joker's in the bathroom,
peeing on the wall.
We used to sing
ReplyDelete"Jingle Bells
Batman smells
Robin ran away
Wonder Woman lost her bosoms
Flying TAA
HEY!"
(TAA being an Australian domestic airline from the 40s-70s or thereabouts).
Australia - 1970s.
Another variant:
ReplyDeleteJingle Bells
Batman Smells
Robing laid an egg
He blows his nose
In Cheerios
And eats it anyway.
1990 Bel Air, Maryland
I remember hearing a variation of that one as the second chorus... the first chorus ended with the familiar "Batmobile broke a wheel, and the Joker got away", but the second time around, it ended with "(name here) picks his nose in Cheerios and eats it every day"
Deleteon an episode of justice league they had been framed (by lex luthor) and were supposed to turn themselves in they all did except batman.when asked "where's batman" the flash replied "he had some car trouble the bat mobile lost it's wheels and joker got away...what I heard anyway" lol
ReplyDeleteTwo versions I've heard and cracked up about
ReplyDeletePokemon version:
Jingle bells, Muk smells
Chansey laid an egg
Pidgeotto broke its wing
And Hitmonchan took ballet
SpongeBob version:
Jingle bells, Mermaid Man smells
Barnacle Boy laid an egg
The Invisible Boatmobile lost a wheel
And the Dirty Bubble got away
Joker sang this one in a Christmas themed episode of Batman:the Animated Series as he was escaping from Arkham.
ReplyDeleteMy ex-wife, the philistine, insisted it was:
ReplyDeleteJingle bells, Batman smells
Robin laid an egg
Batmobile lost a wheel
and the Commissioner broke his leg
She insisted that this was the true and correct version because it rhymed. I pointed out that the meter was all wrong, not to mention that the Commissioner was a secondary character whose health does not in any way reflect on Batman.
Around 1966, 1967, Kincheloe AFB Michigan, about the time of the Batman television show, we were singing in the elementary school playground:
ReplyDeleteJingle Bells, Batman smells
Robin laid an egg
The Batmobile lost a wheel
The Commissioner lost a leg
So a variant of the Commissioner version of the song.
David.
There are several variants to this one sung in 1970's Huddersfield UK.
ReplyDeleteJingle bells Batman smells
Robin flew away
Superman lost his underpants on the M1 motorway!
Jingle bells Batman smells
Robin flew away
The batmobile lost a wheel on the M1 motorway!
Jingle bells Batman smells
Robin laid an egg
Batmobile lost a wheel
And the joker got away!
The version grew up singing:
ReplyDeleteJingle bells, Batman smells
Robin laid an egg
The Batmobile got lost in time
And the Joker took ballet!
Minnesota, late 90s