100 bottles of beer on the wall
'100 bottles of beer.
You take one down and pass it all around
99 bottles of beer on the wall
Sung by billions of kids on millions of bus trips, this song was a fond part of my childhood.
Is there a similar song in foreign countries. If so, please post the lyrics and the literal English translation.
Let’s rephrase that: Please post a template for the lyrics. I don’t think we need the whole thing.
And I’ve only ever seen it start at 99 bottles, not 100.
Well in the UK the song is ‘ten green bottles’.
Only 10? You guys must either sing really slow or drive really fast!
Smaller country, innit? 
It has always started with 100 in my experience, not 99.
99 for me. Never heard anybody start with 100.
I always said “If one of those bottles should happen to fall…98 bottles of beer on the wall.”
Kids shouldn’t be passing around beer. That implies their drinking it 
Wikipedia’s got an entry for “99 Bottles”, which is how I’ve always heard it.
To get further off the original post (hey, I didn’t start it), there’s a nifty site that lists the song in 1348 different programming languages and variations. It’s actually kind of a cool learning tool for comparing the different languages.
We have a version of the Elephant song in Finland (the one where he goes out onto a spiderweb to play or something…the tune is the same). Basically, one little elephant is marching down a sunny road and because it’s so much fun he asks for a friend. So two little elephants are marching down a sunny road and because it’s so much fun etc.etc. This can lead to slight difficulty if it’s a really long trip and you get to an inordinate amount of elephants; numbers in Finnish tend to be quite long. Trying to fit “sataseitsemänkymmentäkahdeksan pientä elefanttia marssi näin” into the correct rhythm can be a bit of a challenge.
Does it have to involve bottles?
The translations are literal without breaking grammar.
There is el señor conductor, which you’re supposed to make along as you go and describe the bus driver’s life. I’ve sung bus drivers having sex changes, going to heaven, getting reincarnated…
El señor conductor ha nacido, ha nacido, ha nacido,
el señor conductor a nacido, ha nacido el señor conductor…
Mr Driver has been born, has been born, has been born,
Mr Driver has been born, has been born Mr Driver…
There’s the frog song, where each animal or item is forced into silence by the next one. It ends when someone makes a mistake in the long string. Like the previous one, you should make items along as you go.
Estaba la rana cantando
debajo del agua.
Cuando la rana se puso a cantar,
vino la mosca y la hizo callar.
La mosca a la rana que_estaba cantando debajo del aaaaaaaa-¡gua!
Cuando la mosca se puso a cantar,
vino el sapo y la hizo callar.
El sapo a la mosca, la mosca a la rana que_estaba cantando debajo del aaaaaaaaa-¡gua!
…
The frog was singing
under the water.
When the frog started to sing,
the fly came by and made it shut up.
The fly to the frog who was singing under the waaaaaaaaaaaaa-ter!
When the fly started to sing,
the toad came by and made it shut up.
The toad to the fly, the fly to the frog who was singing under the waaaaaaaaaaa-ter!
…
There’s la hormiguita, which is also a song used to teach the vowels to little children. Spanish has only five vowel sounds: you sing it once with all the vowels, next with a, next e… and end with all five vowels again. Facial expression should be exaggerated.
Tengo, o o o
una hormiguita en la tripita, a a a
que me está_haciendo cosquillitas, a a a
que me pica, que me pica
I have
a little ant on my belly
it’s tickling me,
how it tickles, how it tickles.
Then there’s lots of shorter songs which you just repeat again and again, like el barquito chiquitito (when my brothers were little we could spend upwards of 20 minutes on this one):
Había una vez un barquito chiquitito,
había una vez un barquito chiquitito,
que no podía, que no podía, que no podía navegar.
Pasaron un dos tres cuatro cinco seis semanas, (1)
pasaron un dos tres cuatro cinco seis semanas,
y aquel barquito, y aquel barquito, y aquel barquito navegó.
Si esta historia os parece corta,
volveremos, volveremos, volveremos a empezar.
Había una vez…
(1): grammatically speaking it would be “una”
There once was a little boat,
there once was a little boat,
who couldn’t, who couldn’t, who couldn’t sail.
One two three four five six weeks passed,
one two three four five six weeks passed,
and that little boat, and that little boat, and that little boat sailed.
If this story is too short for your liking,
we will again, we will again, we will again begin.
There once was…
Or babor y estribor. Each side of the bus sings the part which corresponds to them; it keeps getting louder and louder, then at one point goes back down to a whisper and starts going up again.
Es babor quien gana quien gana, es babor quien gana a estribor.
Estribor quien gana, quien gana, estribor quien gana a babor.
It’s portside who wins, who wins, it’s portside who wins over star.
Star side who wins, who wins, star side who wins over port.
In the Netherlands you have “Ik heb een potje met vet”. I would have to listen for this for four straight days, every time I would participate in our local Avondvierdaagse.
The lyrics can be translated as:
This is the first verse
I have put a pot of fat
on the table already.
I have put a pot of fat
on the table.
This is the second verse…
and so on and so on.
In France:
1km à pied, ça use, ça use!
1km à pied, ça use les souliers!
2km à pied, ça use, ça use!
2km à pied, ça use les souliers!
etc.
Translation from here, keeping the rhyme: Un kilomètre à pied ça use, ça use - Belgian Children's Songs - Belgium - Mama Lisa's World: Children's Songs and Rhymes from Around the World
One kilometer on foot is wearing, is wearing,
One kilometer on foot, wears out your shoes for good.
In Germany we are limited to ten verses of “Zehn Kleine Negerlein”, which is actually based on the song “Ten Little Niggers”. :eek:
I prefer the variant “Zehn Kleine Jägermeister” from Die Toten Hosen. 
We (dutch) ahve the ‘Tien kleine negertjes’ as well. And some others, but I cant be bothered to find the exact lyrics (potje met vet?)
I’m curious to how these songs end. Do the children simply give up? The 99 bottles appears to have an ending at least, assuming there aren’t any negative bottles. The French foot walking song, does it go into eternity?
See my post above. I have participated in enough “Avondvierdaagse” (lived in the Netherlands for twelve years) that I have nightmares based on that song.
The Dutch “potje met vet” basically goes on until the kids get sick of it or the hike ends. Whichever comes first.
There are no botles of beer on the wall.
No bottles of beer.
So you go to the store,
Buy a hundred more.
100 bottles of beer on the wall
Repeat ad nauseum