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What did we sing in school?

(105 Posts)
JessM Thu 21-May-15 10:26:53

When I was in primary school in the 1950s we used to do singing in the hall every week. Most teachers in those days seemed to be competent pianists. I've been trying to remember the songs that we sang and can only come up with:
Greensleeves
Green Grow the Rushes Oh
and
A frog he would a wooing gob(Hey-ho said Roly).
But there were lots more. And didn't they come out of a standard collection that was used in schools across the land?

AlieOxon Fri 22-May-15 13:49:22

School:
A German one about a rose in a hedgerow? 'Roslein Rote'
Lillibulero?

Irish songs from my grandmother - and my father:
Where the praties grow
The Sally Gardens
MacNamara's Band

Atqui Fri 22-May-15 13:55:08

I remember 'cargoes' and 'What is this life if full of care'. In grammar school the school hymn was Forth in thy name oh lord O go!!

Daisyanswerdo Fri 22-May-15 15:18:42

I hope this won't upset anyone. When I was with my daughter last January, two days before she died, she suddenly began to sing 'Wey hey, blow the man down'. Her face was radiant in spite of her illness. I sang along with her, as much as I could remember. When I got home, I suddenly remembered a book called 'Singing Together' that she'd had at school when she was about 8. I've kept it. That song is in it. I'm convinced now that her painkilling drugs were inducing hallucinatory memories, and that when she sang that, in her mind she was back at the school she loved, singing that song with her classmates. It's making me tearful to write this, but I think that was a happy moment for her.

nightowl Fri 22-May-15 15:26:57

Oh Daisy how sad, but how lovely to think she was in a happy time and place at the end. I can't imagine what you have been through, and continue to feel (((hugs)))

trisher Fri 22-May-15 15:28:26

Daisyanswerdo just touched, not upset. Big hug for you. A moment of happiness in what must have been a nightmare for you. You must be an amazing person. Stay strong.

numberplease Fri 22-May-15 17:47:04

I remember most, not all, of the songs that have been mentioned so far. Trisher, could your red book be the one we used, it was called The Britannia song book?
Greyduster, I remember having a 78 recording of the Band of the RAF playing Lillibolero, and I loved it, but never knew that there were words to it.
One that we sang on a regular basis was The Trout, by, either Schubert or Schumann, can`t remember.
And another song we loved in juniors, used mainly by ice cream vans nowadays, was The Happy Wanderer. It was played a lot on radio, recorded in German by the Obernkirchen childrens choir, I think that`s how it`s spelt.

AshTree Fri 22-May-15 18:05:53

Daisy so very poignant, so lovely that you could see some happiness shine from your daughter's face so late in her illness. What a beautiful memory for you.
When my DH visited his mother 2 days before she died, she sang 'Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner' all the way through to him. We decided to have that played at her funeral, as people were leaving the chapel. The vicar told everyone the story of her singing it, so they would understand the choice of song. My DH thought it might be considered irreverent, but I thought it was rather touching. She was, after all, a Londoner born and bred, but had lived the last third of her life in Devon. Everyone loved it being played and were quite moved by it.

AshTree Fri 22-May-15 18:12:59

Lilygran I remember The Angel Gabriel from Heaven came down, but not Adam lay ybounden. I shall have to look that one up.

We were at our GS's junior school this afternoon for the annual Grandparents event. Today the theme was silver as they were celebrating the school's 25th anniversary. Each class put on a singing, dancing or musical act, and I was so pleased to see that one class sang Land of the Silver Birch (home of the beaver...). I remember singing this one at school and absolutely loved it (boom didi boom boom, boom didi boom boom...)

Eloethan Fri 22-May-15 18:19:59

Daisy What a poignant but beautiful memory for you to treasure.

JessM Fri 22-May-15 19:19:47

Ashtree Adam etc is a carol usually sung at Christmas.
oh I had not thought about "land of the silver birch" for many decades. Going to have to print out this thread I think.

Ariadne Fri 22-May-15 19:32:05

We sang some very, very English folk songs - must have been "Singing together"! But there was one:

"The fly, the fly, the fly is on the turmot(?)
And it's all my eye for we to try
To keep fly off the turmot."

What?!!!

Soutra Fri 22-May-15 19:48:05

"Singing Together" from a great big brown wireless set in the classroom.
The Soft Lowland Tongue o the Borders, The Road tae Dundee, Down by the Sally Gardens, something about Trelawney and (?) thousand Cornishmen Will Know the Reason Why, all spring to mind!

Soutra Fri 22-May-15 19:50:02

Ariadne might it not have been " to keep the flies off the turbot"?? grin

AshTree Fri 22-May-15 19:57:56

Oh Trelawney! It's the Cornish National Anthem Soutra here it is

AshTree Fri 22-May-15 20:08:48

I've just found Adam lay ybounden on Youtube - beautiful, but entirely unfamiliar to me, which I found surprising. I expected to think "Oh yes, of course, I know this!", but I didn't!

Ariadne Fri 22-May-15 21:02:01

Well you'd think so, Soutra but I just looked it up - think it's a turnip. Apparently it's the song of the Wiltshire Regiment...:

"T'were on a jolly zummer's day, the twenty-vust o' May,
John Scruggins took his turmut 'oe, wi' this 'e trudged away,
Now some volkes they loike haymakin', and some they vancies mowin'
But of all the jobs as Oi loike best, gi'e Oi the turmut 'oein'.

The vly, the vly,
The vly be on the turmut,
'Tis all me eye,
For Oi to try,
To keep vlies off them turmuts" etc. etc.etc. (it goes on and on and on)

In central Nottingham, not a great deal of relevance!

boheminan Fri 22-May-15 22:54:59

"Lucy Locket lost her pocket, Kitty Fisher found it"
but the only thing that was left
was the ribbon hanging round it"....

grannyjan57 Fri 22-May-15 23:25:15

yes remember the Time and Tune, loved the songs.

Lonely and Faraway

The Dashing White Sergeant

Kelvin Grove

etc etc we also used them to play the tunes on the recorder.

JessM Sat 23-May-15 09:30:20

I always thought Dashing WS was a dance. There words?

Elegran Sat 23-May-15 09:42:48

Dashing white sergeant lyrics

Grandma2213 Sat 23-May-15 23:39:31

I too remember Singing Together on the 'wireless' at primary school. I loved it! Also can anyone remember the Christmas Carol Sheets, I think from Doctor Barnardos? That's why I now know all the words, as we were allowed to keep them.
Our music lessons at Grammar School were always 'singing'. Again I remember so many, even 50 + years later eg Funiculi Funicula, Where the Bee Sucks There Suck I (in a cowslips bell I lie), La Reve Passe which I now know means 'The Soldier's Dream?' I loved the line 'Rhythmical beat of soldiers' feet upon the ground' . Was anyone else taught these songs or was it just Mr Bosworth (bless him). I've heard the music since them but never the words!

seasider Mon 25-May-15 23:37:14

My Grandfather's clock
The River Clyde
John Peel
Soldier Soldier
Early one morning
Greensleeves
British Grenadiers

Lots of rousing hymns and carols .We also.learnt Silent Night in German and various French songs. Loved singing

Greyduster Tue 26-May-15 09:51:21

"glad that I live am I". We never sang this as a hymn and I don't know whether it is or not, but it was one of my favourites at school.

grannyactivist Tue 26-May-15 10:18:54

Daisyanswerdo flowers

As I was going to sleep last night I suddenly remembered 'My brother did a-tell me that you go mango walk'. Anyone else remember that one?

We sometimes used to sing 'Glad that I live am I' as our dismissal song on a Friday afternoon. I still know the words.

Daisyanswerdo Mon 22-Jun-15 15:06:12

Yes grannyactivist, 'Mango Walk' is in the same book.

Thank you for the flowers.