Talk:Ten Green Bottles

Merge this?
The Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer article is being flagged for non-notability. Would it be appropriate to merge it with this article instead?

"Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer" is a nursery rhyme similar to Ten Green Bottles in its format. The text is as follows:

Five little men in a flying saucer Flew to the Moon one day. They looked left and right But they didn't like the sight, So one man flew away.

The verse is then repeated, but with one little man fewer each time. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Lee M (talk • contribs) 20:52, 16 January 2007 (UTC).

Word Choice
I don't know if Google results count as research, but "ten green bottles hanging" gets 349 Google hits, whereas "ten green bottles sitting" gets only 32. I'm going to be bold and edit the article accordingly. --The Lazar 20:51, 30 October 2006 (UTC)


 * It was "standing" when I went to school. -- Smjg 01:01, 9 December 2006 (UTC)


 * "green bottles hanging on the wall" - 2,240 hits


 * "green bottles standing on the wall" - 1,240 hits


 * "green bottles sitting on the wall" - 9,20 hits


 * I think the article will probably benefit by identifying all 3 variations, without attempting to indicate which is most popular. 217.28.34.132 (talk) 17:04, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

DIscussion at this page http://www.standingstones.com/greenbot.html suggesting the song was born in teh London criminal underground in the 1830s. The newly formed Metropolitan Police Force wore green uniforms with domed helmets, and were called 'green bottles' by the criminal classes of the time. The scholar suggests that the idea of ten such law enforcement officials hanging from a wall would be something to sing about. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.168.139.126 (talk) 09:45, 5 February 2011 (UTC)

Additional citations
Why and where does this article need additional citations for verification? What references does it need and how should they be added? Hyacinth (talk) 08:48, 10 March 2012 (UTC)

14th century English version an April Fool's Joke?
I can't find any valid citations for it, though this page seems to indicate it was an April Fool's day article in the National Post: http://www.standingstones.com/greenbot.html Maccam94 (talk) 06:38, 18 August 2014 (UTC)


 * I removed that text from the article. A. Parrot (talk) 16:10, 21 September 2014 (UTC)

Sticks of Dynamite
Remembered from playgrounds in the late 60s: 10 sticks of dynamite hanging on the wall 10 sticks of dynamite hanging on the wall And if one stick of dynamite should accidental fall, There'll be no sticks of dynamite and no flaming wall! Flaming" was changed from time to time, depending upon the age of the singer and if any adults were within earshot. Since it's a memory from childhood I have no citations, if anyone can find one I'd appreciate it. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 10:21, 4 September 2018 (UTC)
 * I always remembered "10 green grenades" which ended similarly. Del ♉ sion23 (talk)  18:14, 4 September 2018 (UTC)

Superfluous photograph?
I'm sure the picture of green bottles on a "wall" - looks more like a window sill to me - is very pretty, but there aren't even ten of them, and we all know what a green bottle looks like. So what is the point of including this photograph?84.243.236.9 (talk) 15:44, 14 June 2019 (UTC)


 * True, but it's decorative and the best we have for now. MichaelMaggs (talk) 07:41, 23 August 2019 (UTC)

Additions to "In Popular Culture" Section?
I found a variation on this song in the movie "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" (1994), sometime around the 11:40 mark. It unfortunately does contain a slur in it (a great example of a vulgar version as mentioned previously in the article).

The show Bluey also had a short called "Green bottles" that contained this poem.

I don't know if we should do examples in the section, but here are some if anyone is interested. 2601:983:C180:9710:ACD9:D5E5:3744:A2EF (talk) 06:30, 14 June 2024 (UTC)