When I was a young choirboy in the long forgotten past we had an organist who ocasionally played a piece which had a fugue that he called 'Uncle Jim has lost his trousers'. Does anyone know this piece? I would love to find a recording of it. Thank you.

I'm afraid I don't know the piece, but I do fear for Uncle Jim!

I reckon its a Bach fugue and those words tend to fit the main theme of the fugue. Ive been singing a few of them to myself but so far haven't found one to fit Uncle Jim. Incidentally there are plausible words to all the Bach fugues in the Well Tempered Clavier, first devised by a fellow called Ebenezer Prout. Im sure this is on the web somewhere.

Ah, just got it ! I think its the Bach A Major fugue! (Prelude and Fugue in A BWV 536). Fits perfectly

It's the Fugue in C minor. Uncle JOE has lost his trousers, I thought. Don't know the BWV number at the moment, but it's the Fugue that's coupled with the Prelude which starts off with a pedal solo. I can find the BWV number if that would help.



Prout forgot to set words to the G minor Fugue BWV 542. So some bright spark came up with "O Ebenezer Prout, you are a silly man, coz you play Bach's fugues as quickly as you can!"

On a slight tangent, theres always the Dupre Op7. No.3 (G Minor)

'Marcel Dupre, Marcel Dupre, you cannot play, you cannot play, so go home and practice another day, so go home and practice another day'

What other ones does anyone know?

Echo HGs words. I saw it first in those old Gordon Reynolds books, 'Organo Pleno' or the other one. Very funny and unPC booklets, just big enough for the cassock pocket when I was a choirboy.

It's BWV 549.

when the organ builders were ready to assemble a new organ in St Giles cathedral in Edinburgh, and were taking apart the old one first, they found a forgotten pair of trousers stuffed into what had obviously been a ciphering pipe in it...

in that case, it's thought it was uncle Herrick who'd lost his trousers, as the organist who'd been in post for decades was one Herrick Bunney: he used to keep a spare shiny pair up in the loft, for better sliding on the organ bench, and they must've come in handy one day...

The version I remember was similar ...

O Ebenezer Prout, you are a silly man,
what on earth inspired your silly little plan?
you make Bach 's fugues as nasty as you can

Hmmm, I always thought it was Uncle JAMES has lost his trousers. Anyone else with other names to offer? I haven't found anyone who knows how it got that names - anyone?

Anyway, it's BWV549(a).

David.

Oh, yes, must dig those out again - very funny!

Have you seen the latest offering from Organist Publications? Claiming to be written by a "Horatio Netherwallop", it is very much in the style of Gordon Reynolds's definitions of terms used by organists, and very amusing.

Indeed, it fits to BWV 539, and to BWV 536, though it seems rather more urgent in BWV539 ! I should have spotted both as I play both of them.

I once heard Richard Baker on BBC Radio 2 say he remembered the BWV542 theme as referring to the price of cigarettes in WW II: "A penny for a cig, a penny for a cig, what a darned good price is a penny for a cig." Since smoking is now non-PC, perhaps we'd better stick to Ebenezer Prout

Joe, Jim, James, I've heard them all. I first heard it from Roy Massey when I was a kid: "Uncle Joe has lost his trousers. Uncle Joe has gone and lost his trousers." No idea where it originated though.

Ebenezer Prout was the guilty party who wrote words to fit all of Bach's organ fugues, apart from BWV 542 which he apparently forgot (hence "Oh Ebenezer Prout, you are a silly man, cos you play Bach's fugues as quickly as you can"). Uncle Joe was the original version for this fugue (BWV 549), I believe.

Actually, knowing this has rather ruined the work for me, because I can no longer listen to it without hearing "Uncle Joe has lost his trousers"....

Similarly ..

' John Sebastian Bach sat upon a tack, but he soon got up again - with a howl.

Any guesses?

The C minor fugue from Well-tempered Clavier book 1, BWV 847!