# Song Survey: The Wheels on the Bus **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 28, 2001, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-survey-the-wheels-on-the-bus/52156 "2001-01-28T20:15:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![choosybeggar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@choosybeggar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choosybeggar)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2001, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-survey-the-wheels-on-the-bus/52156/21 "2001-01-29T07:08:05Z")
**EEE-III-EEE-III-OOOOOOOOOOOO** Shucks, I thought everyone knew that. ---
**Author:** ![brachyrhynchos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brachyrhynchos/32/376_2.png) [@brachyrhynchos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brachyrhynchos)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2001, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-survey-the-wheels-on-the-bus/52156/22 "2001-01-29T08:35:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Arden Ranger \* > **mobo85** : Itsy-bitsy spider. :eek: Blasphemy, sez I! It’s “eensy-weensy.” (As far as the wheel-turning bus is concerned…I dunno.) ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2001, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-survey-the-wheels-on-the-bus/52156/23 "2001-01-29T10:46:40Z")
When I was a very small Tansu, we sang ‘all day long’. What one does with the drunken sailor is ‘earlie in the morning’ What do you sing for other verses of ‘the wheels on the bus’? I remember ‘the wipers on the bus go swish swish swish’ and ‘the horn on the bus goes beep beep beep.’ I know there were more verses. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2001, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-survey-the-wheels-on-the-bus/52156/24 "2001-01-29T10:58:21Z")
More verses? Heck yeah. The kids at my preschool once went on for full 5 minutes on that blasted song. They did the ones you mentioned, **Tansu** , and one or two others. ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2001, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-survey-the-wheels-on-the-bus/52156/25 "2001-01-29T11:39:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tansu \* > \*\* > What do you sing for other verses of ‘the wheels on the bus’? I remember ‘the wipers on the bus go swish swish swish’ and ‘the horn on the bus goes beep beep beep.’ I know there were more verses. \*\* The windows on the bus go up and down… The lights on the bus go blink-blink-blink… The kids on the bus go ‘let’s get off’…\* The parents on the bus go ‘please be quiet’… The babies on the bus go ‘wha-wha-wha’… That’s all I can remember right now. I’ve heard a few diferent things for ‘the kids on the bus’ and one of the other directers for the daycare added verses about the grandparents and I seem to recall some other stuff, but can’t remember for certain right now. What I do recall is that I _hated_ this flippin’ song because it went on and on and on and on…AGH! ---
**Author:** ![Stella\_Fantasia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@Stella\_Fantasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stella_Fantasia)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2001, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-survey-the-wheels-on-the-bus/52156/26 "2001-01-29T12:09:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zoggie \* > \ > \*\*(Hehe. Any excuse for the Simpsons.) \*\* “I’ve been sittin’ on the toilet All the live-long day!” ~Homer Simpson ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2001, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-survey-the-wheels-on-the-bus/52156/27 "2001-01-29T17:19:34Z")
All over town. “through” sounds odd. ---
**Author:** ![Brunetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@Brunetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brunetter)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2001, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-survey-the-wheels-on-the-bus/52156/28 "2001-01-29T21:51:36Z")
All through the town - 7 votes All day long - 3 votes All round the town - 2 votes Earlie in the morning - 2 votes All over town - 1 vote All the livelong day - 1 vote Till the kids throw up - 1 vote E-I-E-I-O - 1 vote Anyone else want to get in on this? ---
**Author:** ![Lexicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ac8455/32.png) [@Lexicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lexicon)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-survey-the-wheels-on-the-bus/52156/29 "2001-01-30T00:11:57Z")
It’s “all around town.” Trust me on this. My niece is three, and we sing that song until I want to rip my hair out and hunt down the fool that penned it. This song has more verses than the spanish birthday song “Las Maranitas” which, if sung in it’s entirety, would last from a child’s first birthday to their 21[sup]st[/sup] birthday. The wheels on the bus song just goes on forever and my niece just loves to dance around and make everyone sing it for hours and hours. One would think a three-year-old would lose interest in something after about half an hour, but no. So I can tell you, the last line is “all around town”. It says so on the CD jacket of my niece’s children’s song CD that her aunt (may she rot) got her for last Christmas. It says so on the tape jacket of a similar cassette Gramma got her at the same time. Blue’s Clues says so, and so does Sesame Street. So let me tell you, it’s “all around town”. And that’s that. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-survey-the-wheels-on-the-bus/52156/30 "2001-01-30T03:46:09Z")
I honestly don’t know about the freewheeling bus song… but does anyone know the words to a song that have the refrain: Meep meep Meep meep His horn went meep meep meep There’s something about a Cadillac in there too… ---
**Author:** ![brachyrhynchos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brachyrhynchos/32/376_2.png) [@brachyrhynchos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brachyrhynchos)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-survey-the-wheels-on-the-bus/52156/31 "2001-01-30T04:15:40Z")
Beep beep Beep beep His horn went “beep beep beep.” While riding in my Cadillac, what to my surprise A little Nash Rambler was following me, about one third my size The guy must have wanted to pass me out as he kept on tooting his horn I’ll show him that a Cadillac is not a car to scorn. The rest of the lyrics are at [this site](http://www.bbhq.com/lyrics.htm). Go about halfway down the page to “Beep Beep.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kiffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/d78d45/32.png) [@kiffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiffa)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-survey-the-wheels-on-the-bus/52156/32 "2001-01-30T04:25:20Z")
For example: The wheels on the bus go round and round round and round, round and round The wheels on the bus go round and round all around Bangui… well, that’s how I learned it. I guess it doesn’t work very well if you live in Albuquerque or Jacksonville ---
**Author:** ![KJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b2d939/32.png) [@KJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KJ)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-survey-the-wheels-on-the-bus/52156/33 "2001-01-30T04:34:58Z")
It’s definately not “all around town.” The notes go daaa-daaa-da-daaa (okay, I can’t write it out very well…quarter note, eighth, eighth note, quarter note, rest, I think, with some kind of special beat pattern that I don’t know the exact term of, but it makes it sound like "da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM instead of “dum dum dum dum dum”) Other verses: Other than the ones already mentioned, the only other one I remember is “The pennies on the bus go clink clink clink.” Re. The Spider: I always knew it as “Itsy Bitsy,” and I think that actually is the correct way. But many people seem to think it’s “Eency Weency.” I saw a TV commercial for some kind of record of childrens’ songs (the logic behind that just baffles me; it’s like the “Songs To Annoy Bus Drivers” tape Otto was playing on The Simpsons; “Why’d I even buy this tape!?”) and in the commercial the lyrics are said as “Incy Wincy.” I guess they couldn’t figure out which one it was, so they made a compromise, but “Incy Wincy” sounds really stupid. ---
**Author:** ![kiffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/d78d45/32.png) [@kiffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiffa)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-survey-the-wheels-on-the-bus/52156/34 "2001-01-30T05:00:16Z")
Well, Little Richard sang “itsy bitsy spider”… that’s good enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Doris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Sir\_Doris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Doris)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-survey-the-wheels-on-the-bus/52156/35 "2001-01-30T11:24:51Z")
For me it’s “All day long” and “Incy-Wincy” spider and I could dig out the books and tapes to back me up, but since these are kids’ songs and nursery rhymes used throughout the English speaking world, I guess there are many variants out there. Now trying to track down the lyrics for the Little Green Frog as I vaguely remembered it was a challenge … ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-survey-the-wheels-on-the-bus/52156/36 "2001-01-30T11:29:45Z")
Incy Wincy Spider! That’s it! Not itsy bitsy at all! Maybe we’ve finally found the real difference between Brits and Americans. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-survey-the-wheels-on-the-bus/52156/37 "2001-01-30T14:32:22Z")
Itsy-Bitsy Spider gets my vote. What the heck does Incy-Wincy mean? It’s a little, itsy-bitsy spider. Itsy-bitsy, just like “Itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny, yellow polka-dot bikini…” And it’s Loobey-Loo, as in “Here we go loobey-loo, here we go loobey-lie”. Not loopty-loo. As for “The Wheels On The Bus” song, it’s “all around the town” or “all through the town.” There can be tons of verses: The driver on the bus says, “Move on back…” The doors on the bus go open and shut… The horn on the bus goes “Beep, beep, beep…” The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish (or back and forth)… The windows on the bus go up and down… The babies on the bus cry “Boo-hoo-hoo…” The mommies on the bus say “Shh, shh, shh…” ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-survey-the-wheels-on-the-bus/52156/38 "2001-01-30T15:55:18Z")
the engine on the bus goes vroom vroom vroom…all day long… ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2001, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-survey-the-wheels-on-the-bus/52156/39 "2001-01-30T17:50:43Z")
Early in the morning and “all the way to school” are the two versions I’ve heard. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2001, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-survey-the-wheels-on-the-bus/52156/40 "2001-01-31T23:17:59Z")
Thanks brachyrhynchos! I’ve wondered what the actual words to that song were for _years_! (Well, not continuously, just on and off…) 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-survey-the-wheels-on-the-bus/52156.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-survey-the-wheels-on-the-bus/52156.md?page=3)