<P> Seven Old Ladies was assigned motif number X726. 4.1 by Hoffmann . The oldest recovered American text of this song is in "The One, The Only Baker House Super-Duper Extra Crude Song Book" (on pages 1--2) that was probably compiled at Massachusetts Institute of Technology around 1955 . Many other versions are in print or have been recorded, including a recording by Oscar Brand in volume 3 of his record series . British variants are recorded as Three Old Ladies in Baring Gould's Mother Goose . One variant, recorded by Laycock, has 21 old women . </P> <P> The song has been parodied several times, the best known of which is the American bawdy song "Seven Old Ladies", sung to the same tune but with different lyrics . Here are the chorus and the first two verses, of seven, as published in Ed Cray's The Erotic Muse: </P> <P> Oh, dear, what can the matter be, Seven old ladies were locked in the lavat'ry, They were there from Monday till Saturday, And nobody knew they were there . The first old lady was' Lizabeth Porter, She was the deacon of Dorchester's daughter, Went there to relieve a slight pressure of water, And nobody knew she was there . The second old lady was Abigail Splatter . She went there' cause something was definitely the matter . But when she got there, it was only her bladder, And nobody knew she was there . </P> <P> One suggested precursor to the bawdy song, recorded in William's Upper Thames collection is the following "old morris fragment": </P>

Oh dear what can the matter be nursery rhyme lyrics