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Monday, June 20, 2005

She sings silly songs by the seashore

It must be summer that's doing it to us, Therese. Building on your opus of jump rope rhymes, I've found myself thinking of the silly riding-in-the-car songs that we've sung with our kids, many of which go back to my own elementary school days. Don't tell anyone, but we still break out into these sometimes on a long drive or sitting out on our porch.

How about:

A peanut sat on the railroad track
His heart was all a-flutter.
Along came a big freight train.
Toot, toot. Peanut butter.

or,

Down by the bay
Where the watermelon grow
Back to my home
I dare not go.
For if I do
My mother will say
Did you ever see a Fish
Washing a dish
Down by the bay.
(What you see and what they're doing grow in ludicrousness as the song goes on.)

And here's a fun one:

Sing "Row Row Row Your Boat" quickly.
Start again, sing all but the last word.
Start again, omit the last two words, then the last three, and so on.

By the time you get to "Row row row your" "Row row row" "Row row" "Row", if the group is not convulsed with laughter you have more self control than we ever did.

4 comments:

Justin said...

uh oh... you're getting into the "camp song" realm. Be very careful!

Do your ears hang low,
Do they wobble to and fro?
Can you tie them in a knot?
Can you tie them in a bow?
Can you throw them over your shoulder,
like a continental soldier?
Do your ears hang low?

(I'm sure I've heard 20 unique verses of "Down by the bay" growing up, but can't think of any at the moment..)

Therese Z said...

Yay, Justin! We did that one and sang it faster and faster and faster.

Another faster-and-faster song, but this one comes with vaguely Roaring 20's flapper-like GESTURES: (I have to be phonetic about the first word...)

Wattlee a cha,
Wattlee a cha,
Wattlee ooo,
Wattlee ooo, (repeated)

Simplest thing,
there isn't much to it,
all you gotta do,
is just doodly-do-it,
I love it so,
wherever I go,
it's doodly oodly oo - woo!

These are all camp songs, but a lot of them made it into the car.

Anonymous said...

A whale with a polk-a-dot tail

Kathryn Judson said...

Ooh, Justin, I'd forgotten that one about the ears. Too fun. And, yes, like Therese Z. we sang it faster and faster.

One mustn't forget Mairzy Doats. Or "High Hopes" (oops, there goes another rubber tree plant...)

Too fun. Thanks for the memories. I've linked.

 

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