# Mysterious childhood song **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 24, 2004, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-childhood-song/276442 "2004-11-24T08:10:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-childhood-song/276442/1 "2004-11-24T08:10:49Z")
OK, this is a longshot here, but I am trying to attribute the origin and meaning of a nonsense song (nonsense to me at least) that I grew up with. My late grandmother used to sing this to me when I was little, and the tune and words have stuck in my mind ever since. I really have no idea of where the song could have come from, except that my grandmother was a second generation Italian and there are a number of bastardized Italian terms floating around the family. On the other hand, it may have nothing to do with that. This is what I remember of the song: “… a dooooray oh, a doray rett sett sett, a doray doray rett sett sett, a say pah say ohhhh…” Sorry I can’t post the tune! Can anyone shed any light on this? ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-childhood-song/276442/2 "2004-11-24T10:10:57Z")
I can repeat it only as I hear it in my head – not as it would be spelled. It’s called _Sarasponda_ – but I don’t know even how that is spelled. Sarasponda, sarasponda, sarasponda, ret-set-set. Sarasponda, sarasponda, sarasponda, ret-set-set. Adore-ray-oh! Adore-ray-boom-bay-oh! Adore-ray-boom-bay-ret-set-set Ah-say-poss-say-oh! I’ll see if I can find a coherent version for you! ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-childhood-song/276442/3 "2004-11-24T10:14:16Z")
[This](http://www.macscouter.com/Songs/CampfireSongs.html#Sarasponda) is close. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-childhood-song/276442/4 "2004-11-24T10:29:39Z")
Here we go. [This one](http://xenia.media.mit.edu/~kristin/songbook/PartSongsAndRounds/Sarasponda.html) is as I remember it. I forgot about the “Boom da” that is repeated at the beginning. It’s been 42 years since I was a camp counselor and song leader. Okay. Ready, kiddos? Do you know these? 1. “Kookaburra sits in the old \_\_\_\_ \_\_\_\_” 2. “One dark night while we were all in bed, Mrs. \_\_\_\_\_\_ left a lantern in the shed.” 3. “This old \_\_\_\_\_ killed John Henry.” ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-childhood-song/276442/5 "2004-11-24T10:42:33Z")
1 is definitely “gum tree”; I used to sing that one as a young’un. I don’t know the other two (although context leads me to guess that 2 is “O’Leary” and 3 is “hammer”). ---
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-childhood-song/276442/6 "2004-11-24T11:03:02Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > [This](http://www.macscouter.com/Songs/CampfireSongs.html#Sarasponda) is close. Wow! That is definitely it! I had no idea it was a campfire song. I was a cub scout in my time, but don’t think we ever sang Sarasponda. I am pretty sure that I heard it from my Grandmother. I am curious as to its origins and meaning. One site mentions it is a Dutch folk classic. I’ll have to look into it. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![PaulFitzroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@PaulFitzroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulFitzroy)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-childhood-song/276442/7 "2004-11-24T11:07:50Z")
Does anyone know what culture that song from the OP comes from? The words sure as hell aren’t English, that’s for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Freejooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba8739/32.png) [@Freejooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freejooky)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-childhood-song/276442/8 "2004-11-24T11:28:24Z")
Anyone remember “All me rock?” "All me rock, me rock boy-z boy-z couldn’t sleep all me rock, me rock boy-z, boy-z couldn’t sleep Go uptown go downtown see Boy-z there All me rock, me rock boy-z, boy-z couldn’t sleep" I haven’t been able to find _any_ evidence of its existence in ~20 years. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-childhood-song/276442/9 "2004-11-24T20:14:10Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > Here we go. [This one](http://xenia.media.mit.edu/~kristin/songbook/PartSongsAndRounds/Sarasponda.html) is as I remember it. I forgot about the “Boom da” that is repeated at the beginning. > > It’s been 42 years since I was a camp counselor and song leader. > > Okay. Ready, kiddos? Do you know these? > > 1. “Kookaburra sits in the old \_\_\_\_ \_\_\_\_” > > 2. “One dark night while we were all in bed, Mrs. \_\_\_\_\_\_ left a lantern in the shed.” > > 3. “This old \_\_\_\_\_ killed John Henry.” 1. Gum Tree. 2. We always said “Old Lady Liza.” I have always wondered what OLL’s last name was! ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-childhood-song/276442/10 "2004-11-24T20:48:01Z")
Liza? I thought that it was a reference to Mrs O’leary (We sang it ‘old lady Leary’) Her Cow and the [Chicago Fire](http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?isbn=0-7864-1424-3) ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-childhood-song/276442/11 "2004-12-15T04:22:52Z")
> [@PaulFitzroy](#): > > Does anyone know what culture that song from the OP comes from? The words sure as hell aren’t English, that’s for sure. I was told that it’s just nonsense words, made up by a woman keeping time with her spinning wheel. ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Hutchison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@Bob\_Hutchison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Hutchison)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-childhood-song/276442/12 "2009-08-08T15:46:20Z")
I have just been learning “Twi”, the language of the Ashanti in Ghana and in the last line, “Ase pase O” could have come from the Twi phrase, “Ase Paa” which means, Thank you very much." - Or not. Maybe this is a clue. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-childhood-song/276442/13 "2009-08-08T18:49:23Z")
Might be Gullah, too. Kumbaya is Gullah. > **[Gullah](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gullah)** > > The Gullah (/ˈɡʌlə/) are an African American ethnic group who predominantly live in the Lowcountry region of the U.S. states of South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida within the coastal plain and the Sea Islands. Their language and culture have preserved a significant influence of Africanisms as a result of their historical geographic isolation and the community's relation to their shared history and identity. > Historically, the Gullah region extended from the Cape Fear area on Nor... ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-childhood-song/276442/14 "2009-08-09T00:13:52Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > I can repeat it only as I hear it in my head – not as it would be spelled. It’s called _Sarasponda_ – but I don’t know even how that is spelled. > > Sarasponda, sarasponda, sarasponda, ret-set-set. > Sarasponda, sarasponda, sarasponda, ret-set-set. > Adore-ray-oh! > Adore-ray-boom-bay-oh! > Adore-ray-boom-bay-ret-set-set > Ah-say-poss-say-oh! > > I’ll see if I can find a coherent version for you! I hope you find out what it is, because I learned it back in the 70’s somehow - but have no idea where (in school? in the gutter?), and now that I know I didn’t imagine it, I’m rather eager to learn more about it. Andy ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-childhood-song/276442/15 "2009-08-09T16:29:39Z")
We sang this at summer church camp when I was a kid (1970s). A part of the kids (usually the boys) would do the “Boom-da, boom-da, boom-da” part as the underlying rhythm, and then the girls would sing the rest of the words…although we had it as “Ado-ray-boom-_day_-oh”. I want to say that the old books we sang it from gave an African origin, but I don’t remember for certain (it was over 30 years ago, after all). We sang another one that was also (to us, anyway) nonsense syllables, but may also have been presented as African, as well. It was a round, so the first two lines were sung by one part of the group, and then they were sung by the second part as the first part sang the last two lines. It went like this: A ram-sam-sam, a ram-sam-sam, gooli-gooli-gooli-gooli ram-sam-sam A ram-sam-sam, a ram-sam-sam, gooli-gooli-gooli-gooli ram-sam-sam A rafi, a rafi, gooli-gooli-gooli-gooli ram-sam-sam A rafi, a rafi, gooli-gooli-gooli-gooli ram-sam-sam What on earth any of _that_ meant, I have no idea; but it used to piss off the counsellors if we’d sing it backwards. The fun thing about the “Sarasponda” song was that with every repetition, we’d have to sing it faster and faster until it was too fast to articulate and we were laughing too hard to continue. There may be arcane demons walking the earth as a result of this. I have no idea. It had to mean _something_, though… :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Jerseyman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@Jerseyman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jerseyman)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-childhood-song/276442/16 "2009-08-09T16:37:50Z")
Gooli is interesting because it reminds me of this old Scout song: [ging gang gooly - Google Search](http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=ging+gang+gooly) I doubt that Baden-Powell was thinking of _goolies_ at the time, but right behind where I live is rows of small cottages that look suspiciously like 19th century or earlier barracks by the name of Gulistan Terrace, so presumably Gooli _could_ refer to a place in India. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mysterious-childhood-song/276442/17 "2009-08-09T16:46:43Z")
> [@Dijon\_Warlock](#): > > We sang another one that was also (to us, anyway) nonsense syllables, but may also have been presented as African, as well. It was a round, so the first two lines were sung by one part of the group, and then they were sung by the second part as the first part sang the last two lines. It went like this: > > A ram-sam-sam, a ram-sam-sam, gooli-gooli-gooli-gooli ram-sam-sam > A ram-sam-sam, a ram-sam-sam, gooli-gooli-gooli-gooli ram-sam-sam > A rafi, a rafi, gooli-gooli-gooli-gooli ram-sam-sam > A rafi, a rafi, gooli-gooli-gooli-gooli ram-sam-sam That was the theme song to a 60’s era Chicago-area produced show called “The Magic Door”; it was a kids religious (Jewish) show that featured a leprechaun-ish live-action guy named Tiny Tov and various hand puppets. The show opened with Tov singing what you wrote above, and finish with “Come through the Magic Door with me” etc, inviting you to a tiny door in an acorn. I’m guessing the TV show appropriated the song from some traditional (Yiddish? No clue.) source.