Songs & poems you remember from childhood

Cafe Society
21

My babysitter used to play that all the time – I loved it!

My mother sang me a version of that song that went:

Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, guess I’ll go eat worms
Big worms, little worms, ooshy gooshy gooshy worms, worms that wiggle and squirm
First one’s greasy, slips down easy, second one sticks to my tongue
Third one’s rusted, fourth one’s busted, fifth one tries to run
Ha Ha!

Ours was kind of a combination of the two:

Kindergarten baby
Stick your head in gravy
Wrap it up in bubble gum
And send it to the navy

Here are a few that always bring me back:

The Ants Go Marching One By One - Hurrah! Hurrah!

I’ve Got Sixpence, jolly, jolly sixpence. I’ve got sixpence to last me all my life. . .

There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza
There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, a hole. . .

The prettiest girl I ever saw
Was sippin’ ci-der through a straw. . .

there was a hole (there was a hole)
in the middle of the ground (in the middle of the ground)
the prettiest hole (the prettiest hole)
that you ever did see (that you ever did see)
and the hole in the ground
and the green grass grows all around all around
and the green grass grows all around. . .

Miss Mary Mack, Mack Mack
All dressed in black, black, black
With silver buttons, buttons, buttons
All down her back, back, back. . .

22

I’m just glad I have songs like this to remember, instead of this mess.

23

Great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts,
Marinated monkey meat
Chopped-up baby parakeet.
Great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts
And me without my spoon!

and

Do your boobs hang low
Do they wobble to and fro?
Can you tie them in a knot?
Can you tie them in a bow?
Can you throw them over your shoulder
Like a Continental soldier?
Do you boobs hang low?

(Yes, I know it’s supposed to be “ears”. But that’s the way we sang it. :slight_smile: )

ETA: thought of another one:

*I ran around the corner
And I ran around the block
And I ran right into the donut shop.
Well I picked up a donut
And I wiped off the grease
And I handed the lady a five-cent piece.

Well, she looked at the nickel
And she looked at me
And she said “This nickel is no good, you see.
It’s got a hole in the middle
And it goes right through.”
And I said, “There’s a hole
In the donut, too!
Thanks for the donut! Bye now!”*

24

(Cite from Miss Fran circa 1959):
“Romper-bomper-stomper boo
Tell me, tell me, tell me do
Magic Mirror tell me today
Did all my friends have fun at play?”

Miss Fran would then “tell” the names of friends she saw through the Magic Mirror…“I see Suzie and Toby and Debbie and Tommie and…” I listened closely to find out whether she “saw” me. As my name was (in the late 1950’s) fairly uncommon, she rarely saw me. My little sister, Peggy, on the other hand, she saw regularly, so I heard, “Ha, ha, ha…she saw me…didn’t see you!” To a six-year-old, this was a rotten thing to say, especially because my six-year-old self believed her. Man, was I gullable back then.

Love, Phil

25

Found a peanut, found a peanut, found a peaaaanut last night
Last night I found a peanut, found a peanut last night
Cracked it open, cracked it open, cracked it open last night…
and on and on…

99 Bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer, take one down
and pass it around, 98 bottles of beer on the wall
and on and on…

Who put the overalls in Mrs. Murphy’s chowder?
Nobody answered so I’ll ask a little louder
[louder] Who put the overalls in Mrs. Murphy’s chowder?
Nobody answered so I’ll ask a little louder[\louder]
and on and on until everyone is screaming at the top of their lungs.

I guess we drove quite a few bus drivers crazy.
26

Bringing back this old thread simply to link you to this great version of the full song!

Me pals is a couple of bulldogs
With mustard I sweetens me tea—
“Why, there’s only two guys in the world who’s that tough!”
Well, both of them babies is me!

27

My mom would always chant this one whenever the moon came into view:

I see the moon and the moon sees me,
The moon sees somebody I’d like to see,
God bless the moon and God bless me,
And God bless the somebody I’d like to see.

28

I heard this long before Bruce did it:

*Old Dan Tucker was a fine old man,
Washed his face in a fryin’ pan,
Combed his head with a wagon wheel,
Died with a toothache in his heel

So get out the way, old Dan Tucker,
It’s too late to get your supper
Supper’s over and dinner is cookin’,
Old Dan Tucker just standin’ there lookin’*

29

Although I found the online text for this at a nursery rhymes place, my grandfather recited it as something he had learned in school. He tried to get me to learn it so I could also recite it, but all I remember now is the first stanza.

Contented John

(My grandfather’s title was “Honest John Tomkins,” and the spelling of the surname might have had a “p” in it, although I don’t remember seeing a printed version until I tried looking it up just now. Also, the “digger” was a “hedger.” There could be other subtle differences in versions, but the gist is close to the same.)

30

From the first grade, way back in the day, I recall:

Black socks, they never get dirty
The more you wear them, the more they get sturdy
Sometimes I think of the laundry
But something tells me “Don’t think of that yet”

And

There once was a man named Dirty ol’ Bill
Who lived on top of a garbage hill
He never took a bath and he never will
Phee-yew! Dirty ol’ Bill!

First grade taught us mixed messages on personal hygiene.

In the fourth grade, the library had a copy of Edward Lear’s Complete Book of Nonsense and I could recite “The Owl & the Pussycat” from heart.

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
‘O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!’

31

This is the song that doesn’t end,
Yes it goes on and on my friend,
Some people started singing it not knowing what it was,
And they’ll continue singing it forever just because
This is the song that doesn’t end,
Yes it goes on and on my friend,
Some people started singing it not knowing what it was,
And they’ll continue singing it forever just because
This is the song that doesn’t end,
Yes it goes on and on my friend,
Some people started singing it not knowing what it was,
And they’ll continue singing it forever just because
This is the song that doesn’t end,
Yes it goes on and on my friend,
Some people started singing it not knowing what it was,
And they’ll continue singing it forever just because
This is the song that doesn’t end…

Hey, almost forgot the Fox Song!

Fox went out on a chilly night
Prayed to the moon for to give him light
For he’d many a mile to go that night
Before he reached the town-o, town-o, town-o,
Man a mile to go that night
Before he reached the town-o.

He ran till he came to a great big pen
Where the ducks and the geese were put therein
“A couple of you will grease my chin
Before I leave this town-o, town-o, town-o,
Couple of you will grease my chin
Before I leave this town-o.”

32

There’s a merry brown thrush singing up in a tree.
He’s singing to you. He’s singing to me.
And what does he sing, little girl, little boy?
Oh the world’s running over with joy.

Memorized that for my Kindergarten graduation and soon forgot it. However, on the day of my high school graduation, it all came back to me. Talk about mood-state-dependent memory!

33

** Miss suzie had a steam boat
The steamboat had a bell
Miss suzie went to heaven
The steamboat went to
Hell-o, operator
Please give me number nine
And if you disconnect me
I’ll kick you right
Behind The 'frigerator
There lay a piece of glass
Miss suzie sat upon it
And cut her little
Ask me no more questions
I’ll tell you no more lies
The boys are in the bathroom
Zipping up their
Flies are in the meadow
Bees are in the park
T the boys and girls are kissing
In the D-A-R-K,.dark, dark dark!**

34

I also have The Owl and the Pussycat memorized from a kids’ record that set it to music.

Froggy went a-courtin’, he did ride,
Uh-huh, uh-huh,
Froggy went a-courtin’, he did ride,
Sword and pistol by his side,
Uh-huh, uh-huh…

[Rattler is a dog.]
Here, Rattler, here!
Here, Rattler, here!
Call ol’ Rattler from the barn,
Here, Rattler, here!..

35

Deck the halls with gasoline,
fa la la la la la la la la
Light a match and watch it gleam,
fa la la la la la la la la
Watch the school yard burn to ashes,
fa la la la la la la la la
Aren’t you glad you played with matches?
fa la la la la la la la la

36

I remember the.Fox song too, and little bunny foo foo!
Eta: I recently taught the very young daughter of a friend little bunny foo foo, complete with hand.gestures, and she made me sing it round about 50 times. That and the bumblebee song were big hits.

37

(From memory.* Can’t beat Henry Clay Work, 1875. God, I feel old!)

My grandfather’s clock stood to tall for the shelf so it spent ninety years on the floor.
It was taller by half than the old man himself, though it weighed not a penny-weight more.
It was bought on the morn of the day that he was born,
And was always his treasure and pride,
But it stopped
Short
Never to go again
When the old man died.

Ninety years without slumbering,
Tick-tock, tick-tock,
His life’s seconds numbering,
Tick-tock, tick-tock,
But it stopped
Short
Never to go again
When the old man died.
I never thought of myself as especially ethnic, but the earliest lullabyes I can remember hearing were in German.

38

“All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth, my two front teeth, my two front teeth!”

39

Opie sang that one to his Pa back in the early '60s.

This was my Dad’s favorite:

I know a dog and his name is Rover
He is a very clever pup
He can stand up on his back legs
If you hold his front ones up
mmm

40

The Oroweat bread man at our supermarket taught me this one when I was a tiny kid:

“The mule has two legs behind
And two he has before.
If you stand behind, then you will find
What the two behind be for.”