Do Your Ears Hang Low?

"Do Your Ears Hang Low?" is a children's song that is often sung in schools and at camps. The melody of this song was partially taken from another: "Turkey in the Straw." Various theories exist concerning the origin of the lyrics, but no conclusive evidence seems to exist. A common belief is that the lyrics refer to the ears of a hound dog. It is most likely that this was a crude wartime soldiers' song that, in sanitized form, has made its way into other circles.
History
The origins of the song are obscure. Variant versions with obscene lyrics exist, notably "Do Your Balls Hang Low?" and "Do Your Boobs Hang Low?". Although these have sometimes been regarded as parody versions of the campfire song, it is more likely that the obscene versions came first, and that "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" is a sanitized version.
Certainly "Do Your Balls Hang Low?" is known to have been sung by British soldiers on the Western Front during the First World War. Lyn MacDonald...