The music for “Three Little Fishes,” a nonsense song, was written by UT student Josephine Carringer, and she modified the words of an English nursery rhyme, “Over in the Meadow” to fit the tune. In the summer of 1938, Berenice Iddens had heard the verse from a friend and recited it to her friends, Josephine Carringer and Teddy Bomar. They repeatedly recited it in unison, and then one of them conceived the notion of putting it to music, which Josephine did. During the midwinter dances featuring Hal Kemp’s orchestra, the three girls rode in the same automobile with Saxie Dowell, lead singer for the orchestra, on their way to the SAE breakfast. Carringer was humming a tune, and Dowell commented on the quality of her voice and asked her to sing a song for him. She could not think of one, and the other two girls suggested “Fish Talk.” They sang it together, and Dowell was impressed. A week later, Jimmy Roberts of SAE received a call from Dowell, asking where the song originated and whether it was copyrighted. Roberts did not know, and Bomar, who talked with Roberts about it, did not know where the original nonsense verse came from and did not mention the writing of the music and the partial claim to the words of the song. Dowell proceeded to copyright the song, and it became a smash hit, being played by hundreds of orchestras and hummed nationwide.
Carringer wrote to Dowell about the song, and he eventually made a settlement with her to satisfy her claims. Carringer and Betty Lynn got the contract first in the case of the sale of “Wanna Hat With Cherries” to bandleader Larry Clinton. A contract, which provided that Carringer and Lynn retained copyright and received royalties, was drawn up on a napkin in an off-campus restaurant. Carringer and Lynn wrote three sets of lyrics, from which Clinton assembled his version. In 1939 Carringer and Lynn wrote “Fight on, You Vols” as a new fight song, and Mel Force bought “Entertain Me” from them in 1941.