Old childhood songs

Daisy Daisy I still sing to my lovely grandaughter called Daisy.

Lovely post 😊

Let's go hunting said Risky Rob
Let's go hunting said Robin to Bob
Let's go hunting said Daniel and Joe
Let's go hunting said Billy Barlow

I've been to Harlem
I've been to Dover
I've travelled this wide world over
Over, over three time over
Drink all the brandywine and turn the glasses over
Sailing east, sailing west
Sailing over the ocean
You better look out when the boat begins to rock
Or you'll lose your girl in the ocean

And so it goes on.

I read something recently that "Puff the Magic Dragon" was a song written about smoking cannabis? I remembered some of the words and the tune and looked up the lyrics , I suppose it might have been but I am sure Peter, Paul and Mary didn't have that interpretation of it. It's surprising how harmless songs/ lyrics from the past get interpreted these days yet seemed innocent at the time but perhaps it was our innocence.

Green grow the rushes oh
Green grow the rushes oh
Kiss her quick and let her go
Never mind the weather
If the wind don’t blow.

Or
I’ll sing you one oh
Green grow the rushes oh

The keeper would a-hunting go,
and under his cloak he carried a bow,
All for to shoot at a merry little doe,
among the leaves so green-o!
Jackie boy!
Master!
Sing ye well?
Very well!
Hey down,
ho down,
derry derry down,
among the leaves do green-o!
To my hey down down!
To my ho down down!
Hey down,
ho down,
derry derry down,
among the leaves do green-o!

The first doe he shot at he missed, the second one he trimmed, he kissed,
The third one went where nobody wist among the leaves so green-o!
Jackie boy! Master! .....

The fourth doe she did cross the brook, the keeper fetched her back with a hook,
Where she is now you may go and look, among the leaves so green-o!
Jackie boy! Master! .....

The fifth doe she did cross the plain, the keeper fetched her back again,
Where she is now she may remain, among the leaves so green-o!
Jackie boy! Master! .....

What a lovely thread this is 🥰

rubysong

Oreo Hey ho, away we go, donkey riding, donkey riding, hey ho, away we go, riding on a donkey.
Where you ever in Quebec, stowing timber on the deck.etc. etc. (Sorry, can't remember any more. )
What a lovely thread this is. My lifelong love of folk music dates from 'singing together ' at primary school.

That’s it! Many thanks for remembering this, brings back happy memories.

62Granny

I read something recently that "Puff the Magic Dragon" was a song written about smoking cannabis? I remembered some of the words and the tune and looked up the lyrics , I suppose it might have been but I am sure Peter, Paul and Mary didn't have that interpretation of it. It's surprising how harmless songs/ lyrics from the past get interpreted these days yet seemed innocent at the time but perhaps it was our innocence.

That rumour came out shortly after the song was released, but has been rejected by the band ever since.

One can interpret lots of things in many ways, and someone obviously did with the lyrics, but I am believing the original meaning of the song.

We had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner last night and it reminded me of this ditty we used to sing in the playground at primary school. Sung to the tune of "On top of Old Smokey", there were about a dozen verses but I can only remember the first one now.

"On top of spaghetti, all covered in cheese,
I lost my poor meatball when somebody sneezed.
It rolled off the table and on to the floor
And then my poor meatball rolled out of the door....."

Does anyone remember the other verses in this sad culinary saga?

My abiding memory of Singing Together is the tragic tale of William Taylor, press ganged into naval service leaving his fiancée heartbroken. Being a feisty lass, she disguised herself as a man and joined the navy to try and find William. She succeeded but all did not end well. It always struck me as a strangely unsuitable offering for a class of 9 year olds!

@Scribbles “it rolled in the garden and under a bush and then my poor meatball was nothing but mush “

We sang a ruder one to that tune. About Betty Grable and Roy Roger’s.
I won ‘t write the words here as I don ‘t want to upset anyone. But when you are 9 or 10, it was a very naughty song to sing .

"On top of spaghetti, all covered in cheese,
I lost my poor meatball when somebody sneezed.
It rolled off the table and on to the floor
And then my poor meatball rolled out of the door.....

Rolled into the garden and under a busy
And then my poor meatball was nothing but mush.

It may go on to be eaten by worms, but I'm not sure if I'm mixing it up with Ilkley Moor Bah't 'At....

...under a bush.....

Singing ooompah ooompah,
Stick it up your jooompah!
Rule Brittania, marmalade and jam,
We threw sausages at our old man!'

Did anyone else sing
Where have you been, Henry my son?
Where have you been, my beloved one?
To the woods, dear mother, to the woods, dear mother.
Oh mother come quick, ‘cause I feel very sick and I’m gonna lay down and die.

What did you do there, Henry my son?
What did you do there, Henry my son?
Ate, dear mother. Ate dear mother.
Oh mother come quick, ‘cause I feel very sick and I’m gonna lay down and die.

It went on
What did you eat there, Henry my son?
Worms, dear mother.

What colour were they, Henry my son?
Green and yellow, green and yellow . . .

Those worms were snakes Henry my son.

Yuck, dear mother, yuck dear mother

Oh mother come quick, ‘cause I feel very sick and I’m gonna lay down (silence)

All righty! If we're into truly revolting - this was often chorused in the school yard c.1960, usually accompanied by biting, sucking and throwing actions! Obviously a hardy perennial because 20 years later, in a different school, different region, small daughter and friends were happily singing the same words 😅

"Nobody loves me, everybody hates me.
I'm going out to eat worms.
Long, thin skinny ones,
Short, fat slimy ones,
Itsy bitsy teeny weeny worms.
I bite off the heads and suck out the juice
Then throw the skins away.
Nobody knows how I can survive
On worms three times a day."

5...4...3...2...1
Grandad got a gun.
Shot my nanny up the fanny
5....4...3...2...1

Scribbles
How rude we were!
We said,
Nobody loves me, everybody hates me
I’m going into the garden to eat worms.
Long, thin, slimy ones slip down easily
Short fat fuzzy ones, stick!

My brother sang
Percy was a pigeon, a pigeon, a pigeon
He flew in the morning. He flew through the night and if he flew over, you’d be covered in xxx!
My mum told him if he must sing it, he had to sing
He flew all day through, and if he flew over, you’d be covered in poo, because she said it wasn’t as rude

From Punch magazine WW2
Hans is a sailor sailing west
Tattooed with an artists tender care
There's a portrait of Hitler on his chest
And a talking Goebbels I won't say where 🤣

5 4 3 2 1 I've got an itchy bum 🤣

I've just found this thread, thank you all so much.
Mum sang a lot of the well recalled upthread by many above all the time but added a couple of French ones like Frere Jaques

but at school one teacher, piano player, loved all the songs like "the Oak and the Ash" and "Drink to me only with thine eyes" "Art thou troubled music will soothe thee" and all those, oh I treasured them.
I'm liking the ones from Dads and Grandads as Dad never could hold a tune or try to.

Does anyone know the song
"Your baby has gone down the pĺughole...."?
My ex used to sing it to his daughter, and it always made her cry.

MissAdventure

Does anyone know the song
"Your baby has gone down the pĺughole...."?
My ex used to sing it to his daughter, and it always made her cry.

My baby has gone down the plughole, my baby has gone down the drain, the poor little thing was so skinny and thin, you never will see him again.

I looked up and it is part of a longer song called;The Mother's Lament
A muvver was barfin' 'er baby one night
The youngest of ten, and a tiny young mite
The muvver was poor and the baby was thin
Only a skel- lington covered with skin
The muvver turn'd round for the soap off the rack
She was but a minute, but when she looked back
Her baby was gorn and in anguish she cried
'Oh where is my baby?' The Angels replied,

Chorus: 'Your baby has gorn dahn the plug-'ole
Your baby has gorn dahn the plug
The poor little thing was so skinny and thin
It should 'ave been barfed in a jug
Your baby is perfectly 'appy
'e won't need a bath any more
Your baby has gorn dahn the plug'ole
Not lost but gorn before.'

Thank you!!!
That's exactly how the ex sang it.

I need to add, his daughter was 19.

Mournful, isn't it?

Really sad. I was in hospital many, many moons ago ,on the gynae ward .
There was a young woman who had lost her third baby. She stood , one afternoon, in the middle of the ward, and sang that song. It was heartbreaking.