When I was about 8 years old, I knew a song. I think it went something like this:
Where hens lay eggs as big as rocks
And roosters crow like 8-day clocks
And roasted pigs run all about
With knives and forks stuck up their snouts
Ole-ole-ana, Ole-ole-ana, Ole-ole-ole-ole-ole-ole-ana
Does anyone know all of the lyrics? I didn’t turn up anything on infoseek or hotbot.
Oh, come now! Someone must know the words!
I’m sorry I can’t answer your question. I just wanted to add that the Drill Sergeants at my Basic Training at times used “Oleana” as a cadence.
My guess is there are as many different versions as there are people that know this little ditty. Given my experience, the verses I heard I’m sure ranged from suggestive to profane.
I don’t know either, but you did jog my memory that the title of David Mamet’s play, “Oleanna,” was apparently taken from a song, “Oh, to be in Oleanna/ That’s where I’d like to be/Than to be in Norway/ And wear the chains of slavery.”
Does that ring any bells? Maybe you should try searching for the name with two n’s.
Contact Josepha Sherman at jsherman@attglobal.net. She’s the co-author of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts: The Subversive Folklore of Childhood, a volume of children’s verses very much like the one you quoted. She may have collected that song.
Seeing that name gave me a Fort Leonard Wood flashback, too. We marched along, merrily doing the call-and-response cadence like this:
“Two old maids were laying in bed.
Ole-ole-ana.
One rolled over to the other and said…
Ole-ole-ana.
I wanna be an airborne ranger…”
and so on.
Those lyrics seems to be related to Big Rock Candy Mountain, which seems to be related somehow to Oleana. But the melodies are different.
I e-mailed Ms. Sherman, so maybe she’ll have the lyrics.
I was up in Washington last week, when a new friend started singing it. I mentioned the lyrics (the ones I posted) and she had a laugh, saying that few people knew the song. Now I’m back down in Los Hideous, and she’s 1,200 miles away and I don’t know how to contact her to get the rest of the lyrics.
sorry, all i know is what i learned in Ft.Benning same cadences as already mentioned most likely. ahhh such fond memories.
Oh! Great question!
Yes the Oleana song is campfire song (and I can see where the marching cadence works too).
I am part of a specialized Girl Scout program called Mariners, and Oleana is one of our Sailing and Canoeing songs. We often song it while doing a long canoe trip (to keep time) or while doing Kapers (glorified chores). It can also be a campfire song.
As mentioned by someone earlier the song is very similar to another. The lyrics provided by them are also part of Oleana. I don’t know all the lyrics off the top my head but here are a few:
Oleana, that is where I’d like to be, than to be here in Norway, wearing chains of slavery
Chorus:
Ole Oleana, ole Oleana, ole ole ole ole Oleana .
(Adj) little piggies running through the marketplace, asking so politely, if a slice of ham you’d like to taste.
Chorus
Etc.
I hope this answers your question!
Did you ever get an answer?
I never did!
The only “help” I can provide is that it reminds me of a ditty of sorts from my early days.
Based on the sound of what I heard as a title or even the lyrics I thought it was
“Ollie Ollie Able sings” or that sound anyway.
Later in life (a few years anyway) I saw something in print that had my “Able sings”
as “Oxen free” and had no idea what that meant.
Later still I saw
and figured that must have been what I heard.
Still not very sure of much else.
Hope this helps others get you a better answer.
Old campfire song.
Oh, to be in Oleanna!
That’s where I’d like to be,
Than be bound in Norway,
And drag the chains of slavery.
[Chorus:]
Ole, Oleanna, Ole, Oleanna,
Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole, Oleanna.
In Oleanna land is free,
The wheat and corn just plant themselves,
Then grow a good four feet a day,
While on your bed you rest yourself.
Beer as sweet as Muchener
Springs from the ground and flows away,
The cows all like to milk themsleves
And hens lay eggs ten times a day.
Little roasted piggies
Just rush about the city streets,
Inquiring so politely if
A slice of ham you’d like to eat.
Aye, if you’d begin to live,
To Oleanna you must go,
The poorest wretch in Norway
Becomes a Duke in a year or so.
I learned this one in elementary school (1974 or so) and a few years ago, I traced it back to Seeger and beyond
The lyrics for Oleanna were written by Ditmar Meidell, a Norwegian magazine editor who set his words to the melody “Rio Janeiro”.[2] The song was first published on March 5, 1853, in Krydseren (The Cruiser), a satirical magazine which Meidell had founded.[3]
It looks like a version – there are pigs running around – but not the way we sang it in San Diego.
Aside re: the eggs. I liked Jonny Quest, and I think there was an episode where they found rocs. So I imagined the eggs were huge, having come from a huge bird.
I’m impressed that he had a 23 year old thread revived with a legitimate answer! Kudos to all, and a warm welcome to @Srrita!
(I’ve never heard of Oleana, but i didn’t do much scouting. I do know the marching one about cold Eskimo love, however; but that’s thanks to Full Metal Jacket).
I was still living in L.A.! And the World Trade Centers still existed!
Here’s a link to the lyrics from the Kingston Trio songbook
I have backtracked this far back in the log looking for my most recent post that showed up with the “Z” and my name. Today is Sunday March 3 2024 and this is the first occurrence of that event that I have found! Nothing all that exciting for anybody else but at least I have something to show for the past couple of hours!
Zeldar
I thought, “just text to her smartphone!”
Then I saw the date.
Oh.