Song lyrics to Hinky dinky Parley voo, aka. Mademoiselle from Armetieres, performed in For Me and My Gal. Editor’s note: there are dozens, if not hundreds, of variations on these lyrics
Oh, Mademoiselle from Armentieres,
Parley-vous
Oh, Mademoiselle from Armentieres,
Parley-vous
Mademoiselle from Armentieres,
She hasn’t been kissed for forty years!
Hinky-dinky, parlez-vous?
Oh, Mademoiselle from Armentieres,
Parley-vous
Oh, Mademoiselle from Armentieres, Parley-vous
She got the palm and the croix de guerre,
For washin’ soldiers’ underwear,
Hinky-dinky, parlez-vous?
Hinky Dinkey Parley Voo on Television
- On I Love Lucy, Fred Mertz (William Frawley) was a World War I veteran, the song is performed or referenced in Equal Rights and The Passports.
- Lucy Carmichael (Lucille Ball) references the song in “Lucy and the French Movie Star,” the third episode of the sixth season of The Lucy Show.
- In season 3 episode 3 of Malcolm in the Middle, Roy the truck driver makes Francis sing this song while wearing a red clown wig.
- In episode 113 of The Golden Girls, titled “Ebb Tide,” Sophia sings a variation of the song with a group of guests, to whom she is renting rooms while Blanche and Dorothy are out of town.
- In episode 612 of Mystery Science Theater 3000, the song is started by the “United Servo Academy Men’s Chorus,” only for Mike Nelson to try and stop them from singing the song just as the show goes to commercial break.
- The song was the tune of Clarabell‘s theme song from Howdy Doody.
- On season 1, episode 11 of Cheers, a garbled first verse was attempted by the gang of Cheers to lighten the spirits of a World War I veteran who had realized that he was the only member of his unit to appear at their scheduled reunion.
- Fred Sanford sings the song in the season 2 Sanford and Son episode “Whiplash.”
- An elderly woman sings the song on season 8, episode 17 of Quincy.
