The Laughing Policeman

"The Laughing Policeman" was a song sung by the Magic Mice and Colonel Fuzz as they killed Sergeant Appleby in the 1890s. (AUDIO: Encore of the Scorchies)

Lyrics

 * I know a fat old police-man,
 * He's always on our street.
 * A fat and jolly red faced man,
 * He really is a treat.
 * He's too kind for a police-man.
 * He's never known to frown.
 * And everybody says he is the happiest man in town!


 * [Laughing Interlude]


 * He laughs upon point duty,
 * He laughs upon his beat.
 * He laughs at everybody when he's walking in the street.
 * He never can stop laughing,
 * He says he's never tried,
 * But once he did arrest a man and laughed until he died!


 * [Laughing Interlude]

(AUDIO: Encore of the Scorchies)

Behind the scenes

 * is a real song, although its use in the eighth series of Jago & Litefoot, set in the 1890s, is anachronistic by 30 years, since whilst the tune was contemporary, it had an entirely different subject matter, and the "policeman" lyrics used in the audio were not written until the 1920s. Additionally, the final line is often bowdlerised to "laughed until he cried" in modern renditions of the song. The 1920s lyrics are presumably used in the audio due to being more applicable to the scene featuring them, which features the literal death of a policeman (as well as the outdated racial attitudes expressed in the contemporary version of the song).