What are the items Pappa’s gonna buy, and what is the order?
I’ll start…
Mockingbird,
Diamond ring
Looking glass…
something
horse and cart
Dog named Rover
…you’ll still be the sweetest little baby in town
PLease help! - Jinx 
Billy goat
Oh, yes…and what is it the Billy Goat won’t do, so I’ll buy a horse and cart?
“If that Billy Goat should part? fart? get a wart?..”
Can’t recall…
- Jinx
I’ve been making up the words to this as I go along for years. My little baby’s had apple pies, baseball bats, shoes, you name it… I’ve rhymed it. I can’t wait to see the real words.
[hijack]
What happens to Little Bunny Foo-Foo at the end of the story? I grew up thinking he turned into a Goon but a friend swears he’s turned into a Troll. One person I’ve asked says he goes to Heaven- :dubious:
[/hijack]
When I was little, my grandmother always sang,
“If that billy goat gets tony,
Granny’s gonna buy you a saddle ‘n’ pony”.
And I never got a dog named Rover. She ended it:
“If that saddle ‘n’ pony runs away
Granny’s gonna love you anyway.”
(AFAIK, Little Bunny Foo-Foo was turned into a goon, not a troll. But I remember one version where he got turned into a bug, and a field mouse ended up bopping him on the head. :))
“If that billy goat won’t pull, mama/papa/granny’s gonna buy you a cart and bull”.
apparently around here bulls pull carts instead of ponys. And I’m not sure what the goat"won’t pull".
If that cart and bull turn over
PGBY a dog named Rover
If that dog named Rover won’t bark,
PGBY a horse and cart.
If that horse and cart fall down,
You’ll still be the sweetest little baby in town.
I was going to find the words on Google, but instead after searching on “momma’s gonna buy you a” I was flooded with responses to some sort of “newage” “Pagan” version (their descriptions, not mine) involving crystall balls and magic wands.
Strange.
Of course little bunny Foo-Foo turns into a Goon at the end.
Because the moral of the story is, “Hare today, Goon tomorrow.”
My little sister used to have a recorded version of the song which ended:
*Then little goonie Foo-Foo
went running through the forrest
being laughed at by the field mice
who bopped him on the head *
Mockingbird, diamond ring, looking glass, billy goat, cart and bull, dog named Rover, horse and cart - is the version in the book that I had as a wee bitty thing.
And the good fairy turned Little Bunny Foo-Foo into a goose, not a goon, where I was from. We often segued into “Go Tell Aunt Rhodie” at that point . . .
Mamapotomus
I’ve been making up the words to this as I go along for years
That’s immensely reassuring! This song for me always turns into a bizarre and endless free-association. Example:
don’t you cry … apple pie
tastes foul … giant owl
ain’t wise … plague of flies
don’t sting … the Emperor Ming
won’t rule … some rocket fuel
explodes … bag of toads
won’t croak … line of coke
… and so on.
Exactly raygirvan! I’ve never managed to get to any kind of ending, I just get bored or my critter falls asleep.
I’m officially adopting the ending where L.B.F.F gets turned into a bug and bopped.
'cause that’s justice- and what the heck’s a goon, anyway?
Did y’all happen to read the comic strip Baby Blues for January 25, by any chance?
If not…check it out.
"Hush little baby, don’t say a word,
Mama’s gonna buy you a mocking bird.
If that mocking bird won’t sing,
Mama’s gonna buy you a diamond ring.
If that diamond ring don’t shine,
Tough shit, kid, do you have any fucking idea how much a diamond ring costs?!"
Where is Mockingbird…
This is the version my mother used to sing:
[sub hijack]Turned into a goon…the moral of the story Hare today Goon tomorrow:D
My 4 yo son has heard the Daniel Kirk version so many times, that he was shocked to hear someone singing “mockingbird”.