St Albans Mum scores a hit with 'Mum, can you wipe my bum'

A St Albans mum has started a widening ripple of laughter as a song she composed, 'Mum, can you wipe my bum', has struck a chord with mum's locally and across social media networks.

Mum of two, Vicky Arlidge, who is a professional music composer, and who also runs Pitter Patter Music classes for kids in St Albans, wrote the catchy tune and lyrics to 'Mum, can you wipe my bum' at the end of the challenging summer holidays.

Vicky said: "The song came about after a long summer of lots of childcare... no au pair, no husband, no grandparents.... After finding myself at boiling point a few times I squirrelled myself away and got it all off my chest - in the form of a song. Most cathartic it was too. When I sang it accapella to my nearest and dearest and had to pause for laughter breaks I thought I might be onto something. Ironically even my children found it hilarious! "Can you sing the poo bits again mummy?!" And of course I could have written many more verses, some of my favourite 'demands' were left on the cutting room floor. My daughter said to me the other day, "Mum, can you help? When I cough my foot hurts". Wasn't sure what to say really…!"

Vicky went on to record a version with ukulele, dispatching the video clip to friends and family, uploading it onto youtube and posting links on Facebook and Twitter.

Vicky went on to say: "The response has been quite astounding really. Immediately lots of comments came in from people who don't know me from adam saying that they were 'dying of laughter'. Even one non-parent admitted to watching it twice! But I've obviously struck a chord with mums and dads, particularly with this week being the first week back at school. People have been picking out their favourite lines. What is particularly thrilling though is that I've been compared to Victoria Wood (love her!) and a work colleague of my husband's called it 'Monty Python meets mumsnet'. Praise indeed."

One fan remarks on youtube "OMG this is brilliant! Perfect timing as they all go back to school."

With in excess of 200 viewings in 24 hours on youtube, the positive response to the song may inspire Vicky to create further numbers. "Goodness knows," she commented, "there's enough material! And after a day of singing nursery rhymes at Pitter Patter and then picking my two little devils up from nursery/school, writing a new song will be much better for me than several glasses of wine at the end of each day!"

Meanwhile, we'll watch this space, and re-watch the video clip. You never know, this St Albans mum may become an overnight star of the internet!