Boom Boom Ain’t It Great To Be Crazy is an excellent example of a “patchwork” song which has gradually evolved and changed over time, taking inspiration from lots of previous songs.
The first copyright registration for Boom Boom Ain’t It Great To Be Crazy was credited to Sidney Lippman and Josephine Moore Profitt but the song is believed to have been around for much longer. Songs from the World War I era have been suggested as the inspiration, such as Tide de Um and the slightly later, The Story the Crow Told Me.
Although experts can’t agree on a date when this song was first created, it has a long history of being sung around a campfire. This makes Boom Boom Ain’t It Great To Be Crazy particularly popular with Scouts and other groups.
The song is made up of several verses and choruses, with each verse telling a nonsensical story designed to make children laugh.
Boom Boom Ain’t It Great To Be Crazy Lyrics
Boom, boom, ain’t it great to be crazy
Boom, boom, ain’t it great to be crazy
Giddy and foolish all day long
Boom, boom, ain’t it great to be crazy?
A horse and a flea and three blind mice
Sat on a curbstone shooting dice
The horse he slipped and fell on the flea
“Whoops,” said the flea, “there’s a horse on me!”
Chorus
Way down South where bananas grow
An ant stepped on an elephant’s toe
The elephant cried with tears in his eyes
“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?”
Chorus
Eli, Eli, he sells socks
A dollar a pair, a nickel a box
The longer you wear them the shorter they get
Throw’em in the water and they don’t get wet.
Chorus
Way up North where there’s ice and snow
There lived a penguin and his name was Joe
He got so tired of black and white
He wore pink pants to the dance last night!
Chorus
There was an old doctor and his name was Peck
Fell down the well and broke his neck
Served him right, he was doing wrong
Should have tended to the sick, and let the well alone.
Boom, boom, ain’t it great to be crazy
Boom, boom, ain’t it great to be crazy
Giddy and foolish all day long
Boom, boom, ain’t it great to be crazy?
Boom, boom, ain’t it great to be crazy?