The song has developed many variations over an extended period, as is common for such rhymes. Even 21st-century versions, however, typically preserve long-outdated references to the dangerousness of
19th-century steamers and to the need for a
switchboard operator to
manually connect a telephone call. The earliest recorded version—about a girl named
Mary—appears among the
vaudeville jokes collected by
Ed Lowry during his career in the 1910s, '20s, and '30s, although versions about
Robert Fulton, inventor of the
steamboat) and Lulu (the star of "
Bang Bang Lulu") may record older traditions. The Lulu tradition—including "
Miss Lucy had a baby"—already record
enjambed double entendres during the
World Wars, but the first version of this song known to have done so—versions about Fulton and a girl named Helen—date to the 1950s. Later versions developed by embellishment: adding, removing, and adjusting stanzas involving kissing, boys in bathrooms, a little black boy, bras,
King Arthur, questions and lies, German spies, raving aunts, An adaptation—"Miss Lucy had some leeches"—has been recorded by
Emilie Autumn and another—"Mrs. Landers was a health nut"—featured in the
South Park episode "
Something You Can Do with Your Finger". "Miss Lucy had a steamboat" was
interpolated on "Pattycake", a song by
Self from their fourth studio album
Gizmodgery (2000). ==See also==