This was a popular taunt when someone started to cry. I know my sisters and I didn’t make it up, but no one else I know has ever heard of it. Have you heard this taunt before? Please let me know!
Hear the song now in this video! Featuring the vocal stylings of my sister, Charlotte Belanger the Third!
The Middlest Sister 
just brilliant. it’s like a clever 3D puppet show but without the scary puppets.
Thanks! Good description!
I heard this growing up in Brooklyn back in the late 60’s…
hahahahaha, I love the literal breakdown of the song’s lyrics…so weird and so good.
Of COURSE I remember that one. I may have to revive its use in my house. Not with the kids. Only with my husband.
Yay! I personally use the “I am right, you are wrong, you are the dirtiest thing of all” taunt at least once a week. It keeps me young.
Yes, my cousins and I would sing this song.
I have so heard this before! My sister and I used to sing this too! Bahahahaha
P.S. I love your comic sooooooo much
Thanks! :)
I haven’t heard that before, but it’s amazing! Kids come up with the most nonsensical things.
Definitely have heard this one before, but not since I was a little kid, I think in New Jersey!
How about…Baby Baby Suck Your Thumb…Wash your hair in bubble gum? I’ve never heard the lyrics you wrote but “these words” follow the same tune amd I would bet the same theme and purpose.
Your illustrations are amazing!!! I love them and want to see and read more.
I’ve never heard that version!
Hah best song ever. =D
Thanks!
i think i may have heard it once.
I remember that rhyme from elementary school, only it was “wash it off with applesauce,” because “sauce” sort of rhymed with “off.”
yup, applesauce
First of all, I’m the middle child of 5 girls also! Crazy. And yes, my sisters used to taunt me with this song all the time, I completely forgot about it until reading this, good times.
Love the background music to the video.
Ours was always, “Baby, Baby, Stick your head in gravy. Wrap it up in toilet paper, send it down the elevator.” haha.
I read this…I think in a Baby-Sitter’s Club Book…and the version in there was of the “wash it off with applesauce” variety. I think the Pike triplets sang it to Claire? I don’t really remember exactly, but I’m pretty sure that’s where I first heard (read) it.
Hmm, I’ve never heard of this till my sister saw it on your blog. I did some research, I came up with Baby baby, stick your head in gravy, wrap it up in bubble gum, and send it to the navy. I just want to know, if you didn’t come up with it, then where did you hear it?
I really like your blog, it’s so creative!
It was just one of those things that you pick up from the neighbor kids who heard it at school from kids who picked up up from their older siblings who heard it from their out-of-state cousins…. that sort of thing :)
I see, okay.
Great artistic talents BTW!
Thanks :)
I remember this from 40+ years ago, how long has it been around?
That’s awesome! Maybe it’s as old as the Navy, bubble gum, and gravy.
I am 44 and grew up in Bergen County, NJ… Yes, this is “word for word” the taunt I remember! I was just teaching my kids this the other day. So funny!
My wife (64 yrs old, from 5 Towns, LI) just used this this taunt on me. She couldn’t remember all the words and asked me to look it up. I’m from SF Bay area and had never heard it before.
My wife (64 yrs old, from Long Island) just taunted me with this. She couldn’t remember all the words, so I found this blog. I’m from SF Bay area and had never heard it.
I’m sixty something, we always sang baby, baby stick your head in gravy wash it off with apple sauce and send it to the navy, I too love your illustrations.
Kindergarten baby wash your face in gravy. Wrap it up in bubblegum and send it to the Navy. That’s how we sang it in the 50’s in Royal Oak, Michigan.
Yup. Totally used this in the 70s. Grew up on Long Island. Just taught it to my teenaged daughter who never heard it before.
It was a taunt that the children of WWI vets used to sing. I wish I knew the origin of the song. One father had been in the Navy and eventually opened a law practice. Adding insult to injury, not only were you going to have bubble gum in your hair, you were also going to be reprimanded by Navy, Lawyer, Mr. Harris.
I too am a middle sister. And yes, I have heard of this many times. My older sister said this to me all the time and when I became a big sister, I said it to y little sister.
Another Long Islander who remembers this–found your site on a google search to see if anyone else did! It was a playground taunt where I was … It seems pretty ridiculous now, yet it still stings a little to remember it, too, because of how painful it was to hear it chanted at the time.
I just recounted this to my adult children who think I’m one of the weirdest people they know anyway…I had to go online to see if the lyrics were to be found. These are exactly as I remember it! I grew up in Buffalo, NY., how about any of you?
And how about this one: “Made you look, you dirty crook, stole your mother’s pocketbook, turned it in, turned it out, turned it into sauerkraut!” That one my grandmother taught me. She had so many funny sayings, I wish I could remember them all.
Kids in St. Louis would say this in the late 60s.
Forgot to add the St. Louis version was slightly different in that, “Baby, baby, stick your FACE in gravy……”.