# "Oleana" - Camp song? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 20, 2000, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oleana-camp-song/23009 "2000-06-20T18:05:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RedSalmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@RedSalmon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedSalmon)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2024, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oleana-camp-song/23009/21 "2024-06-25T05:51:23Z")
It took me years to find the lyrics to the Oleanna song I learned in elementary school in Los Angeles. Wanted to find it because I couldn’t remember the first verse just the last 3. Anyhow, I think it’s the version you learned in San Diego. I found it at the following website ([Songs: For Scouts - PDFCOFFEE.COM](https://pdfcoffee.com/songs-for-scouts-pdf-free.html)). **Oleana** Chorus: Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole Ole, Ole, Ole, Oleana O that is where I’d like to be There where the land is free Wheat and corn they grow so high The tassels dusting off the sky Chorus The hens lay eggs as big as rocks Roosters crow like eight-day clocks Roasted pigs run all about With knives and forks stuck in their snouts Chorus The salmon leap so high up there Hold your kettle in the air They’ll jump in, pull on the lid And cook themselves to look like squid Chorus O come and bring your fiddle Dance to the middle Ole with his violin Will help us make a merry din Note: This song was originally Norwegian. Maybe after 24 years you will find Oleana peace. 🙂 FYI: The chorus here is slightly different from what I was taught. But, hey, the verses are the same. Woohoo! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2024, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oleana-camp-song/23009/22 "2024-06-25T13:28:36Z")
I never heard of Oleana, but the sentiment – about a land where the good livin’ in free – dates back before “The Big Rock Candy Mountain”. You can see it in the painting (and engraving) by Pieter Brueghel the Elder _The Land of Cockaigne_(1567). In the background on the right you can see a pig with a knife stuck through its flesh (no fork, and not in the snout), and with a big chunk taken out of its back. In the foreground, though, an eggshell wanders by on a pair of legs with a fork in it. To the left of the pig a bird obligingly lays down on a plate to be eaten. In the left background a knight in a structure with pancakes on the roof accepts a goose flying into his mouth (not clearly visible in the painting, but it is in the engraving) > **[The Land of Cockaigne (Bruegel)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Land_of_Cockaigne_(Bruegel)#/media/File:Pieter_Bruegel_d._%C3%84._037.jpg)** > > Het Luilekkerland (Dutch, "Cockaigne", literally "The Lazy-Tasty Land") — known in English as The Land of Cockaigne — is a 1567 oil painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1525–1569). In medieval times, Cockaigne was a mythical land of plenty, but Bruegel's depiction of Cockaigne and its residents is not meant to be a flattering one. He chooses rather a comic illustration of the spiritual emptiness believed to derive from gluttony and sloth, two of the seven deadly sins. > In the painting, a cler... > **[The Land of Cockaigne (Bruegel)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Land_of_Cockaigne_(Bruegel))** > > Het Luilekkerland (Dutch, "Cockaigne", literally "The Lazy-Tasty Land") — known in English as The Land of Cockaigne — is a 1567 oil painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1525–1569). In medieval times, Cockaigne was a mythical land of plenty, but Bruegel's depiction of Cockaigne and its residents is not meant to be a flattering one. He chooses rather a comic illustration of the spiritual emptiness believed to derive from gluttony and sloth, two of the seven deadly sins. > In the painting, a cler... > **[Attributed to Pieter van der Heyden | The Land of Cockaigne | The...](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/338703)** ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2024, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oleana-camp-song/23009/23 "2024-06-25T15:23:28Z")
> [@RedSalmon](#): > > Chorus The hens lay eggs as big as rocks Roosters crow like eight-day clocks Roasted pigs run all about With knives and forks stuck in their snouts That’s the verse I remember from elementary school in Sa Diego, and the rest of it sounds familiar. Thank you, ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2024, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oleana-camp-song/23009/24 "2024-06-25T15:35:01Z")
It was a poke at the utopianism intended to entice people to move to North America. Cf. misrepresentations such as “Greenland” (so very not green) and pitches to US east coast folks to go homestead with the promise of rich land. ETA: I know it from Pete Seeger, hence I learned it with the verse extolling the beer. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2024, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oleana-camp-song/23009/25 "2024-06-25T23:13:52Z")
[Moderating] The Cafe Society forum didn’t exist at the time this thread was started, but it does now, and that’s a better place for it. Moving. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oleana-camp-song/23009.md?page=1)