Grandma's Lye Soap

In the early 1950's, my dad used to play a recording of this song incessantly. A month ago, I was in the Payson, Arizona Ace Hardware store and saw a bar of Grandma's Lye Soap! I had to buy a bar. Unlike what the song would indicate, it is a great soap. A hundred years ago, most rural people made their own soap, lye soap. the bar of Grandma's Lye Soap I bought is still by my sink. It is very mild and has hardly gone down in a month. It is worth the $3+ I paid for it. You can find Grandma's Lye Soap on the internet-or visit Ace Hardware in Payson! For those of you who have never heard the song, here are the funny lyrics.




Grandma's Lye Soap
written by Johnny Standley and Art Thorsen


Do you remember Grandma's Lye Soap,
Good for everything in the home,
And the secret was in the scrubbing,
It wouldn't suds, and wouldn't foam,

Oh, let us sing right out (sing out!)
For Grandma's Lye Soap,
Sing it out, all over the place!
For pots and pans, and dirty dishes,
And for your hands,
And for your face!

Little Therman, and Brother Herman,
Had an aversion to washing their ears...
Grandma scrubbed them with her lye soap,
And they haven't heard a word in years!

Oh, let us sing right out (sing out!)
For Grandma's Lye Soap,
Sing it out, all over the place!
For pots and pans, and dirty dishes,
And for your hands,
And for your face!

Mrs. O'Malley, out in the valley,
Suffered from ulcers, I understand,
She swallowed a cake of Grandma's Lye Soap,
Has the cleanest ulcers in the land!

Oh, let us sing right out (sing out!)
For Grandma's Lye Soap,
Sing it out, all over the place!
For pots and pans, and dirty dishes,
And for your hands,
And for your face!

Alternate Verse: 

Mrs. O'Malley
Down in the valley
had a hound, I understand.
It swallowed a cake
Of Grandma's lye soap.
Now it's the cleanest hound in all the land

Oh, let us sing right out (sing out!)
For Grandma's Lye Soap,
Sing it out, all over the place!
For pots and pans, and dirty dishes,
And for your hands,
And for your face!