Rhymes and poems that we said to our children

hidajenni I used to sing the full version at bed time when I stayed with grandma, we only sang the first verse at school. Such a simple belief. Did you sing it too?

My Aunt' version goes:-

I went to the pictures tomorrow
I took a front seat at the back
A lady gave me a banana
I ate it and gave her it back.

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear
But Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair
So Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't very fuzzy, was he?

My two used to laugh like drains at that one.

Here's another version on "three robbers"

'Twas a dark and stormy night
Three robbers built their tent,
One said "Antonio tell us a tale",
And this is how it went...

There was an old man called Michael Finnegan
He grew whiskers on his chin again
The wind came out and blew them in again
Poor old Michael Finnegan, begin again

There was an old man called . . . .

Another favourite nonsense rhyme...

Yesterday upon the stair
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today,
I wish that man would go away.

Elegran my father had a version of that:
Ask your mother for nine pence to see the elephant walk
It walks so fast it wobbles its.....
Ask your mother for nine pence. Etc etc
Similar word play! And my Dad was very strait laced normally!

I went downstairs to let them in
they knocked me down with a rolling pin.
The rolling pin was made of glass
It cut three slices off my . . .

Ask no questions, tell no lies.

More nonsense rhymes have just come to mind after reading the robbers one:

One fine day in the middle of the night
Two dead men got up to fight
Back to back they faced each other
Drew their swords and shot each other.

And...

You know last night, well the night before
Three tom-cats came knocking at our door
One had a fiddle and one had a drum
And one had a pancake stuck on his bum.

Our two loved these silly rhymes. Might try them on DGS - about right for a 9-year old boy!

Juliette here is the rest of it:-

We are all thy children here
Listen while we pray
Keep us while the night is here
And through every day.

HildaW Thank you for reminding me of that one! Ours was a bit different but, like you, I always enjoyed it, even though I found it quite scary when my lovely mum recited it in a rather spooky voice which was quite out of character!

T'was a dark and stormy night
Three robbers sat in a cave
'Tell us a tale said one
And Antonio began...
T'was a dark and stormy night...

Ooh I've not heard that one for years merlotgrann- it stirred up some memories!. I remember my mother singing it to me when I was quite small.

Ana - doh ;) of course ;)

I still have the Ladybird books of Memory Rhymes and Nursery Rhymes, which the DGD are enjoying.

But yes, that sort of humour is always popular with littlies!

Wouldn't that be to the tune of 'Au clair de la lune'?

From US friends, they also loved

When you kiss your honey
when your nose is runny
you may think it's funny
but it's not (it's snot!)

Our family definitely like silly rhymes, not romantic, lol.

And from French friend, they always sung this one in the bath when little, on the tune of 'Frère jacques'

au clair de la lune
j'ai pèté dans l'eau
ça faisait des bulles
c'était rigolo

Again, not very 'delicate'

in the moonlight
I farted in the water
it made bubbles
it was funny.

Simple souls we are.

Grannyknot - he has a CD called Songs of Home - so lovely.

It is lovely hearing these lovely rhymes; and brings back memories.

Girls loved

hooie gooie was a worm
a fearless worm was he

one day the railway tracks
he didn't see

hooie gooie

Gentle Jesus meek and mild
Look upon a little child
Pity my simplicity
Suffer me to come to me

Night night,
Sleep tight
Hope the bugs
Don't bite

It is a hymn by Rev Sabine Baring-Gould:
cyberhymnal.org/htm/n/o/nowtheda.htm

I went to his house once (not when he was still alive you understand!) and there is a wooden cradle on the landing which apparently rocks by itself.

Now the day is over hildajenni I remember that one too, I always thought it was a hymn but perhaps not.

Wow mishap. Thanks for the link.

Said to me as a child and subsequently by me as an adult when someone complains about a cough.

It's not the cough
That carries you off
It's the the coffin
They carry you off in.

Merlot - my Mum used to sing that one to me
Eldest daughter was either a little angel or a little .... ( I won't say it!)
So I used to sing to her:
There was a little girl
And she had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good she was very very good
But when she was bad she was HORRID!