# Old songs that you know **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 19, 2019, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-songs-that-you-know/837308 "2019-07-19T14:56:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-songs-that-you-know/837308/21 "2019-07-19T23:20:47Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > all y’alls, nobody else is permitted to call me that. :mad: > > \ Confederate scum \ 😉 > > I was at a Fourth of July parade that included some treasonous bastard trash. Totally inappropriate, so I sang the chorus of another of Work’s works, Marching Through Georgia. Oops.😉 ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-songs-that-you-know/837308/22 "2019-07-19T23:31:03Z")
Just to clarify, I take the American Civil War personally. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Marine\_One](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marine_one/32/3461_2.png) [@Marine\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marine_One)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2019, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-songs-that-you-know/837308/23 "2019-07-19T23:37:55Z")
**One Hen, Two Ducks** This is known as the Announcer’s Test from the 1940’s. Professional announcers would be asked to perform the entire speaking test within a single breath without sounding rushed or out of breath. _One hen Two ducks Three squawking geese Four Limerick oysters Five corpulent porpoises Six pairs of Don Alverzo’s tweezers Seven thousand Macedonians in full battle array Eight brass monkeys from the ancient, sacred crypts of Egypt Nine apathetic, sympathetic, diabetic, old men on roller skates with a marked propensity towards procrastination and sloth Ten lyrical, spherical, diabolical denizens of the deep who haul stall around the corner of the quo of the quay of the quivery, all at the same time._ ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-songs-that-you-know/837308/24 "2019-07-20T00:22:43Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/PzzuEojqai0/hqdefault.jpg "Flo and Eddie: The Sanzini Brothers Return") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzzuEojqai0) ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-songs-that-you-know/837308/25 "2019-07-20T01:07:14Z")
20th Century: The Lost Chord (Seated one day at the organ… the same music book had “My Grandfathers Clock” The Desert Song (Blue Heaven and you and I…) And the Beetles 🙂 19th Century: Soldiers of the Queen. A bit of Gilbert & Sullivan. And a bunch of Aus Folk, but generally in their 1960’s - 70’s version: Waltzing Matilda,The Wild Colonial Boy, Click Go the Shears, Botany Bay Apart from Greensleeves, anything earlier I know would probably be religious. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-songs-that-you-know/837308/26 "2019-07-20T03:40:20Z")
I grew up watching old Harveytoons with their sing-a-longs on TV, and I remember each and every one of them. F’rinstance, “Shine On, Harvest Moon,” “Come, Josephine, in My Flying Machine,” “Yes, We Have No Bananas,” “Shine Little Glowworm, Glimmer, Glimmer,” “I Want to Go Back to the Farm,” “Oh, Mama, Oh Get That Man For Me,” and “I’ve Been Workin’ on the Railroad.” I always liked the way the lyrics were transformed into clever pictures as the little bouncing ball went over them. :o ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-songs-that-you-know/837308/27 "2019-07-20T07:18:17Z")
Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill The Bowery Daisy Bell (AKA A Bicycle Built for Two) The Sidewalks of New York Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight Hello, Ma Baby When You and I Were Young, Maggie Li’l Liza Jane There are many old songs that everyone knows, such as Yankee Doodle. I don’t think the OP is looking for these. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-songs-that-you-know/837308/28 "2019-07-20T07:59:20Z")
“Tyin’ a Knot in the Devil’s Tail.” “Rye Whiskey”. (My family didn’t drink, but we did play cards, so Dad would often sing the “Jack of Diamonds” verse.) “Big Rock Candy Mountain”. The version we learned in school was severely bowdlerized, compared to the version Dad sang. It was not until the _O, Brother, Where Art Thou?_ soundtrack came out that I heard a complete version. “John Henry”. “Casey Jones”. “Erie Canal”. “Oh, Suzannah”. “My Darling Clementine”. I fell in love with the chorus from “There’s a Long, Long Trail” in an episode of _M_A_S_H\*. Finally found a complete recording on YouTube a few months ago. I got “Minstrel Boy” from an episode of _Star Trek_(TNG or DS9, I forget which), and “Over the Hills and Far Away” from _Sharpe_. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-songs-that-you-know/837308/29 "2019-07-20T08:52:58Z")
“It’s Nobody’s Fault but Mine” - Blind Willie Johnson, 1927. By an accident of geography, it was recorded in the same metro area that I was raised in and currently live. ETA: I certainly “know” of older songs than that, but that is one I know all the words to and can do a facsimile of playing. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-songs-that-you-know/837308/30 "2019-07-20T13:03:37Z")
I know some pretty old ones. “The wild rover” , “The keys of Canterbury” and “En Passent Par La Lorraine” come to mind. “Myn Lyking” is probably my oldest, which is a Chaucerian English Christmas carol. I used to know most of “Green grow the rushes-o” but these days I get lost after “four for the gospel makers” ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-songs-that-you-know/837308/31 "2019-07-20T13:45:34Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Great tune, I first encountered it in our old Unitarian church. BTW, here’s the lyrics we used in our Unitarian church, as arranged by Pete Seeger: [Die gedanken sind frei](https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/1035647/Pete+Seeger/Die+Gedanken+Sind+Frei) My thoughts freely flower Die gedanken sind frei My thoughts give me power No scholar can map them No hunter can trap them No man can deny Die gedanken sind frei further lyrics in the link ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-songs-that-you-know/837308/32 "2019-07-20T14:03:39Z")
The Seikilos Epitaph song, 1st century AD. I made a guitar arrangement for it and I sing it in ancient Greek. _Hoson zes, phainou Meden holos sy lypou Pros oligon esti to zen To telos ho khronos apaitei_. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-songs-that-you-know/837308/33 "2019-07-20T14:11:00Z")
We had an old player piano when I was growing up. One of the rolls we liked to play was the [Tennessee Waltz](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MybmZnamHdU). ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-songs-that-you-know/837308/34 "2019-07-20T14:23:15Z")
I know a lot of the traditional songs mentioned, but there’s an obscure one that sticks in my mind because I first heard it on an old original cylinder recording. My friend’s grandfather had a machine to play these up at his mine in Alaska. The song is “ **Hey, Wop** ”, written in 1914 by Irving Berlin. A product of Tin Pan Alley, it was meant to be humorous at the time, and is clearly derogatory by today’s standards. [Lyrics here](https://lyrics.alternatifim.com/artist/irving-berlin/hey-wop). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-songs-that-you-know/837308/35 "2019-07-20T14:36:56Z")
From doing Living History: “The Liberty Song” (sung to the tune of “Hearts of Oak”) “The World Turned Upside Down” “Hail, Columbia!” “Bonnie Eloise” (aka “The Belle of the Mohawk Vale”) “The Bonnie Lass of Fyvie-Oh” “The Minstrel Boy” “The Mermaid” “Green Grow the Rushes, Oh!” “Kingdom Comin’” “Garry Owen” “The Bonnie Blue Flag” “Jesus Don’t Love You (When You’ve Got the Clap)” “The Ball of Ballynoor” “Blaydon Races” Lots of others whose melodies I recognize and can play on the fife but don’t remember the lyrics to. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-songs-that-you-know/837308/36 "2019-07-20T14:45:45Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > “ **Hey, Wop** ”, written in 1914 by Irving Berlin. A product of Tin Pan Alley, it was meant to be humorous at the time, and is clearly derogatory by today’s standards. [Lyrics here](https://lyrics.alternatifim.com/artist/irving-berlin/hey-wop). If you’re gonna insult the Italians, you have to make fun of the Irish, too: [The Dubliners - Seven Drunken Nights Lyrics | AZLyrics.com](https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/dubliners/sevendrunkennights.html)😛 ---
**Author:** ![Madam\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madam_librarian/32/3123_2.png) [@Madam\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madam_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-songs-that-you-know/837308/37 "2019-07-21T01:05:21Z")
> [@Marine\_One](#): > > **One Hen, Two Ducks** > > This is known as the Announcer’s Test from the 1940’s. > Professional announcers would be asked to perform the entire speaking test within a single breath without sounding rushed or out of breath. > > _One hen > Two ducks > Three squawking geese. . ._ I first learned this (I had no idea of its origin) at YMCA camp in the early 1970s as a nightly call-and-response recitation at our campfire, but with the exchange of Don Alverzo’s tweezers for Todd Murphy’s, the camp director. Thanks for the sweet reminder! ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-songs-that-you-know/837308/38 "2019-07-21T02:19:49Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > BTW, here’s the lyrics we used in our Unitarian church, as arranged by Pete Seeger: > > [Die gedanken sind frei](https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/1035647/Pete+Seeger/Die+Gedanken+Sind+Frei) > My thoughts freely flower > Die gedanken sind frei > My thoughts give me power > No scholar can map them > No hunter can trap them > No man can deny > Die gedanken sind frei > > further lyrics in the link Many thanks, that is very moving! I didn’t know Pete Seeger did a transcription, but I’m not surprised though, well, he had a knack for picking good songs. I found his [version on youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbwQXVcbkU0). I adore Pete Seeger, but I’m still glad that someone took the axe from him with which he wanted to cut the cable to Bobby Dylan’s first electric performance at Newport 1965 ;). ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-songs-that-you-know/837308/39 "2019-07-21T03:05:18Z")
I learned that German song from a TV movie, of all places. It was The Birdmen, from 1971. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-songs-that-you-know/837308/40 "2019-07-21T04:03:08Z")
From WWI: “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” “Mademoiselle from Armentières” “Keep the Home Fires Burning” “Over There” “Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag” [![](https://www.davisenterprise.com/files/2015/01/Davis.0106_img_8-1024x242.jpg) ](https://www.davisenterprise.com/files/2015/01/Davis.0106_img_8-1024x242.jpg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-songs-that-you-know/837308.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-songs-that-you-know/837308.md?page=3)