Miss Susie

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Miss Lucy (also Miss Suzy, Miss Susie, Miss Molly or Miss Mary) is the name of a schoolyard rhyme in which almost each verse leads up to a rude word or profanity, which then appears at the start of the next verse as part of an innocuous word or phrase. Sometimes various hand signs accompany the song, such as making a phone with one's hand at the "hello operator".

[edit] Allusions

The rhyme is sometimes referenced in popular culture:

Bob Saget sings a similar song at the end of his live comedy act.
In the White Stripes song "Hello Operator" (on the album De Stijl): "Hello operator / Can you give me number nine?"
In the Self song "Pattycake" (a reminiscence of the narrator's 1970s childhood, on the album Gizmodgery, which was performed using only children's toy instruments): Verses 2 through 4 and a modified version of verse 5 as a bridge.
In The Simpsons episode Bart Sells His Soul, Sherri and Terri sing, "Bart sold his soul, and that's just swell / Now he's going straight to / Hello operator / give me number nine" in Bart's nightmare.
In The Simpsons episode Fat Man and Little Boy, Lisa and her friend Janey recite this rhyme. An eavesdropping Homer gasps whenever he expects profanity and lets out sighs of relief when they turn out to be innocuous.
In the episode "Something You Can Do with Your Finger" from the fourth season of South Park, Wendy Testaburger sings a parody song (see below).
On Rocko's Modern Life, Rocko and Heffer Wolfe sing the first few bars of the song on a car trip.

[edit] Related

Other popular songs and poems employ similar gimmicks for humorous effect:

Emilie Autumn's "Miss Lucy Had Some Leeches" is a darker version of the children's rhyme, to the same tune.
The folk song "Sweet Violets" ("There once was a farmer who took a young miss / In back of the barn where he gave her a / Lecture...")
Various versions of the poem which substitute the name "Suzanne" for "Miss Susie" - ("Suzanne was a lady with plenty of class / Who knocked 'em dead when she wiggled her / Eyes...")
Dr. Demento mainstay Benny Bell's 1946 song "Shaving Cream": "I have a sad story to tell you / It may hurt your feelings a bit / Last night when I walked into my bathroom / I stepped in a big pile of / Shaving cream, be nice and clean / Shave everyday and you'll always look keen"
Dr. Demento has also played "In my country" as sung by the Lemon Sisters from The Groundlings.
Through the mirror on the CD Into the Electric Castle by Ayreon is a dialogue between two warriors sung in similar way.
Canadian comedy duo Bowser and Blue included on their first album a Bob Dylan pastiche called "Polka Dot Undies" which subverts the "Miss Susie" structure by repeatedly leading up to a rude rhyme before suddenly veering off, much of the time to the phrase "polka dot undies".
There is a similar song in the movie "Hot Chick":