99 Bottles of Beer

Encyclopedia : 9 : 99 : 99B : 99 Bottles of Beer

"99 Bottles of Beer" is a popular, traditional song to sing on long trips, as it has a very repetitive format which is easy to memorize, and can take a long time to sing. In particular the song is frequently sung by pre-teen children on long bus trips, such as class field trips, or on Boy Scout and Girl Scout outings. The song is derived from the English Ten green bottles.

Contents

1 The basic song
2 Similar songs
3 Variants in other media
4 Still other variants
5 External links

The basic song

The verse format is very formulaic, and can be expressed as follows:

From 99 down to 1:

bottles of beer on the wall

bottles of beer!

Take one down, pass it around

bottles of beer on the wall!

The penultimate line in each verse is sometimes changed to "if one of those bottles should happen to fall" and there is much variation in the final verse. One common final verse (which could potentially cause an infinite-loop motif) is:

No bottles of beer on the wall!

No bottles of beer!

Go to the store and buy some more (or Go to the store, steal some more)

99 bottles of beer on the wall!

Another variation is:

No bottles of beer on the wall!

No bottles of beer!

You barf one up, and bottle it up,

1 bottle of beer on the wall!

In this case, the bottles will incrementally increase back to 99, at which point (conceivably) all the consumed beer has been regurgitated, and the song can resume from its original start point. This version also has the "gross" factor that appeals to many youngsters.

Another end variation includes:

No bottles of beer on the wall!

No bottles of beer!

Get one off the ground and put on the wall

1 bottle of beer on the wall!

1 bottle of beer!

Take one down, pass it around

No bottles of beer on the wall!

Eventually, the song reaches "one bottle of beer", although the performance is usually interrupted well before this point is reached. Thus, the song has a definite end, in contrast to infinite loop songs, such as "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt" and "The Song That Never Ends".

Performances tend to become an interesting experiment in group dynamics. Enthusiasm for singing another verse tends to flag as the song drags on. Eventually, non-verbal cues that the singers are weary of the game communicate that it is time to stop singing the song.

It takes about 10 seconds to sing each verse, which means the song should take 16.5 minutes to sing all the way.

also, as a variant to this song, to end it quickly:

bottles of beer on the wall

bottles of beer

Kick the wall, watch them all fall

No more bottles of beer on the wall!

bottles of beer on the wall

bottles of beer

Kick the wall, watch them all fall

What a waste of alcohol!

Some parents or guardians, to avoid the mention of alcoholic beverages, substitute pop or soda for beer.

Another innocuous varient is 99 truckloads of cheese on the wall.

Similar songs

In a similar vein, there is "Ten in a Bed". From 10 down to 1:

There were in a bed and the little one said,

"Roll over! Roll over!"

So they all rolled over and Leslie fell out;

And banged her head and gave a shout!

"Please remember to tie a knot in your pyjamas!"

Single beds are only made for 1,2,3..

There were

in a bed, etc.

(until)

There was one in the bed and the little one said:

The final line of the song is either:

"That's fine!"

or (sung as such children's television shows as Barney & Friends):

"Alone at last"!

or (to the tune of the first verse in He's Got The World In His Hands as of in one of Sharon, Lois and Bram's songs):

"I got the whole mattress, to myself"

"I got the whole mattress to myself!"

Other more complex counting down rhymes include nursery rhymes such as "Ten Little Indians". These vary the tale from one verse to another, though.

There is also "Five Little Monkeys" for a similar vein of note. It is a song for pre-school children, but is actually sung whenever it is a parody or joke. It is also recorded in many children's CD albums and TV shows.

The lyrics for the song are listed here. From 5 down to 0:

little monkeys jumping on the bed,

One fell out and bumped his/her head;

Momma called the doctor, the doctor said,

"No more monkeys jumping on the bed!".

little monkeys jumping on the bed, etc.

(until)

One little monkey jumping on the bed,

He/she fell out and bumped his head;

Momma called the doctor, the doctor said,

"No more monkeys jumping on the bed!".

No little monkeys jumping on the bed,

None fell out and bumped their heads;

Momma called the doctor, the doctor said,

The final line of the song is:

"Put those monkeys straight to bed."

Variants in other media

On a few episodes of the TV series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Rita has been known to sing a variant of the song, titled 99 Bottles of Slime on the Wall. Zordon has also mocked her a couple of times, and Lord Zedd joined in as well when they were riding Serpentera.

In the direct-to-video movie, [[Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation]]. Plucky is riding with Hamton's family and they are singing 99 Bottles of Non-Alcoholic Beverages on The Wall, Plucky askes why they are not singing beer, and Mrs. Pig looks at him angrily and says "We don't drink in our family, Plucky!"

On an episode of The Simpsons, during a long bus trip to a factory that makes boxes, Principal Skinner and Martin were shown singing a variant called 99 Boxes of Bottles of Beer on the Wall in reference to the box factory they were about to visit.

In another episode of The Simpsons, called The Old Man and The "C" Student, after unsuccessfully trying to sell hundreds of surplus springs, Homer proceeded to flush all the springs down the toilet, whilst singing 999 Springs to Flush Down. In a scene where the springs save Grampa and Bart, Homer can be heard through a pipe, down to 156.

In a Calvin & Hobbes comic strip, Calvin gets his way on an issue during a car trip with his parents by starting to sing (and, presumably, making a veiled threat to keep on with) "Ten million bottles of beer on the wall..."

In the Muppet Treasure Island game for PC, Rizzo the rat begins the song "Ninety-nine pieces of cheese on the wall; ninety-nine pieces of cheese..."

In Naked Gun 33 1/3, Jane (Priscilla Presley) comes out of a bar crying. She relates to a friend that the band was playing "their song", being "99 Bottles Of Beer".

Still other variants

Ten green bottles
"Infinite Bottles of Beer on the wall," a nerdish variant. If one of those bottles is taken down, there are still infinite bottles of beer on the wall.
"Aleph-Null Bottles of Beer on the wall," same as above. Aleph-Null is specifically the size of the set of all natural numbers, and is the smallest infinity.
The "Buttons" song from the absurdist play Ubu Rocks. Instead of counting down, the song counts UP. This is done until the audience reacts negatively.
"Negative Bottles of Beer on the wall," is a means of annoyance. When the song is sung to annoy others, instead of to keep the singers amused, surrounding listeners take great relief once there are 0 bottles of beer on the wall. A brief pause happens, at which point they singers begin to descend into the negatives.

External links

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