Indeed, this sounds like it’s from the 1910’s or so.Β  Β A “rum tale” is what Arsenio Hall might call, a story that makes you go Hmmm….

It’s Procul Harum, who also brought us this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW2KN7Tz89s

and in fact, they debuted with this eternal earworm:

Strong.