# Songs they made you sing in elementary school **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 23, 2026, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514 "2026-08-23T22:47:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2026, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/61 "2026-08-24T17:30:30Z")
I went to a religious elementary school, so it was mostly children’s Bible songs. Some of the common ones: Father Abraham (had many sons) Jesus Loved the Little Children Of the World I’m In the Lord’s Army Apparently this is a common topic on /r/exvangelical (ex-evangelical). I also got exposure to some secular songs through nature camp. ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2026, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/62 "2026-08-24T18:01:07Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > – Gee Mom I Want to Go Home (i.e. I don’t want no more of army life). I couldn’t relate to any of the lyrics, not having experienced anything like them except for occasional bad food. Our version even had a verse about movies with Raquel Welch versus Frankenstein. And while I understood the meaning of that verse in general, I still couldn’t completely grok its meaning, not having seen movies with either of them in it. Not in school, but during the summer between Grade 2 and Grade 3 I was enrolled in a “summer studio” arts program at what would later be my middle school. One of the sessions involved a lady taking us into a back room behind the cafeteria and teaching us songs which she accompanied on IIRC a zither. I remember “Tom Dooley,” “Milly Molly Mandy Went A-Fishing” (to the tune of “John Brown’s Body”), the Canadian version of “This Land is Your Land,” and this song you mention, in this version: They say that in the Army, the drinks are mighty fine You ask for Coca Cola, they give you turpentine Oh, I have quite enough of Army life; Gee, Mom, I want to go Back to Ontario Gee, Mom, I want to go home! > [@Spoons](#): > > Thinking of folk music, one year, we had a teacher who loved the stuff. So we spent a lot of time doing Peter, Paul, and Mary songs, Pete Seeger songs, Kingston Trio songs, and so on. But always by commercial artists. How I learned the traditional/folk songs that I know now, I have no idea. It sure wasn’t at school. Going to elementary school in the 80s, my teachers’ choices were also heavily influenced by Folk. My junior kindergarten teacher taught us “When I First Came to this Land,” about a farmer who ekes out a living through his toil. I had trouble with this one because I was too young to understand the concept of irony, so I didn’t understand why he gave everything he acquired bad names (I called my duck “Out of Luck”…I called my shack “Break my Back”, and so on). But then the refrain always said “But the land was sweet and good / And I did what I could.” Another song she taught us was the Scottish folk song “Aiken Drum” (the Raffi version where “His hair was made of spaghetti”). In Grade 2 or 3, another teacher would come to my class and play us songs like “Shoo Fly, Don’t Bother Me” or “George Washington Bridge” (you repeat the title words in order to fill out the melody of “Sobre Las Olas”), or “Father Abraham Had Seven Sons, Sir.” Then in Grade 5, we sang pieces from the educational LP “Music Builders V” (published by the Canadian Berandol company). These included “Turn On the Sun,” “If I Had the Wings of a Dove,” “Cuckoo,” and by far my favorite, a Newfoundland medley.[Here is the same Newfoundland set](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjZpsWaLq5w&list=RDVjZpsWaLq5w&start_radio=1) republished and remixed on the LP “Canada’s Favourite Folksongs for Kids.” > [@P-man](#): > > The music teacher at a school where I subbed last year taught third graders to play “Eye of the Tiger” on the recorder. In lower elementary school we rather dabbled in the recorder. We got them in Grade 3, where I learned almost nothing, I could just peep out “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” Then in Grade 5 we did them a little more; we learned “Scarborough Fair,” maybe also something else from the aforementioned record “Music Builders V.” In middle school, we had a dedicated music class from Grade 6 with band instruments (the teacher somehow managed to get us to play “Grandfather’s Clock” or “Rakes of Mallow” all together on different instruments). Some members of my generation were harsh on the instruments and there was a gentleman who constantly came to school to fix them. The next school year it was decided to give “proper” musical instruments to seventh graders and give the sixth graders a recorder class. I was like, “ha! I escaped that and got the trumpet.” But the recorder teacher also put together a recorder band and at the annual arts night they performed three compositions / arrangements with synthesizer accompaniment by a Don Muro. “Capriol’s Caper” (Tordion, Pavanne and Bouffons from Arbeau’s Orchesographie), “Simple Serenade,” and “Rockin’ Easy.” I was impressed; it led me to pick up my recorder and teach myself that and more music on it. ---
**Author:** ![mtnmatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@mtnmatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mtnmatt)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2026, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/63 "2026-08-24T18:07:13Z")
My northern NJ, early 70s public-school music classes tried to teach us how to rhythm (and rests), and we had to learn a song that went: Ta, Ta, tee-tee ta Tee-tee, tee-teh, ta-ah Recently Questlove was interviewed and he also knew that song, from his schooling down in Philadelphia ---
**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:** [August 25, 2026, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/64 "2026-08-25T04:40:05Z")
Ole Dan Tucker saw a ghost In his kitchen eating a roast …and I already have Ole-ole-ole-ole-ole-ole-aana! stuck in my head. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/65 "2026-08-25T05:16:00Z")
It was either 4th grade or 5th grade, Sister Adele was my social studies teacher and we focused the entire year on learning about the state of Wisconsin. And we had to stand up and sing both the college fight song and state anthem version of “On Wisconsin” each week. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/66 "2026-08-25T08:23:54Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Gee Mom I Want to Go Home We sang that at Steiner Boy Scout camp, which makes a lot more sense than in elementary school. The biscuits at Steiner They say are mighty fine, One rolled off the table And killed a pal of mine. Gee ma, I wanna Where do you wanna go Gee ma, I wanna go home ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/67 "2026-08-25T08:58:10Z")
I went to a Catholic grade school, every week grades four through eight would gather in the gym and sing. Chairs to mend, old chairs to mend, Mackerel, fresh mackerel, Any old rags, any old rags? Born Free Clime every Mountain Civilization, Bingo Bango, Bongo, I’m so happy in the Jungle etc. Seventy Six Trombones ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/68 "2026-08-25T09:56:38Z")
Thinking back, I remember “music class” in Grade 7. While it was supposed to be vocal music for all of us who did not play band or string instruments (i.e. we were to learn singing), it was apparent that while the teacher was quite capable musically, he was fed up with teaching kids who didn’t really want to sing, to sing. So he didn’t. And besides, he had to deal with boys whose voices were changing. Best to avoid the “singing” part of the curriculum. So what did he do? He looked at music appreciation. I recall him playing Ravel’s “Bolero,” the whole thing, behind a lecture about Ravel and “Bolero.” He played the entirety of _Jesus Christ Superstar_, urging us to look at the rock aspects (“Superstar”) and the not-rock aspects (“I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” a gentle ballad). He read us _Jonathan Livingston Seagull,_ which had nothing to do with music, but he liked it and he wanted to share it with us. That was rather nice, as he had a nice speaking voice and knew how to use it. He had no intent to give us a test, but the school made him do it. So, we wrote his test. “Draw a half note. Who wrote the Ode to Joy? Draw the treble clef. Who wrote 'Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring?” Stuff like that. Easy-peasy, especially for those of us who had some degree of musical training. Odd, but I kind of liked it. While we didn’t fulfil the Board of Education’s mandate to learn how to sing, I look back on that year and realize that I learned a helluva lot more about music in that classroom than “learning to sing” would have given me. I’d learn to sing in a few years, when I joined church choir. As things turned out, in spite of knowing how to play a few musical instruments, I really like to sing. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/69 "2026-08-25T13:06:48Z")
In grammar school we sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic with a fake black-slave accent. (Obviously in an all-white town.) All the kinds were confused about why we had to sing that way. It was printed that way in the music book. “Mine eyes hab seen de glory ob de comin ob de lord…” ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/70 "2026-08-25T14:09:31Z")
> [@teelabrown](#): > > I Ride An Old Paint One of my favourite pieces of music is this adaptation of that tune: [Cattle from The Plow That Broke The Plain](https://youtu.be/FBPFcEWL_FU?si=yEDix50FaDFG5Ybr&t=160) ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/71 "2026-08-25T14:17:47Z")
In addition to BINGO previously mentioned, we had: - Belgium Put The Kibosh On the Kaiser. A little odd since WWI was about 45 years before I was in elementary school. - Drill Ye Terriers Drill - Mein Hut Der Hat Drei Ecken. Also odd since we sang the German version more often than the English - Chiapanecas (In English) ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/72 "2026-08-25T14:19:06Z")
One song I have not seen mentioned yet that I learned as a child in the 80s: “Big Rock Candy Mountain” The cleaned up version of course. I only learned of the original lyrics with mentions of alcohol well into adulthood, ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/73 "2026-08-25T14:33:55Z")
It was really depressing to have to sing “Sixteen Tons” at the start of class in first grade. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/74 "2026-08-25T15:13:09Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Where in Salt Lake City, if you don’t mind saying? Rose Park area. We moved to Holladay a couple years later. > [@TokyoBayer](#): > > it was much more Mormon then than it is now. Boy howdy, was it ever. I haven’t been there for a very long time now, though. Hopefully it continues to become less saturated. > [@Jackmannii](#): > > It was really depressing to have to sing “Sixteen Tons” at the start of class in first grade. Oh. That does sound awful! ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/75 "2026-08-25T15:22:14Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > The cleaned up version of course. I only learned of the original lyrics with mentions of alcohol well into adulthood, We were taught “Jamaica Farewell” with the lyric “I miss all my friends in Kingston town.” ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2026, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/76 "2026-08-26T15:49:19Z")
The Kookaburra Song must have been in some Canadian Primer back in the '60s because a lot of us Canucks know it. Although my wife (from BC) does not. It ended up being notorious in the [Down Under lawsuit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_Under_(song)#Copyright_lawsuit) that directly or indirectly led to the death of two people ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2026, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/77 "2026-08-27T02:41:46Z")
I have scanned the thread looking for a few of the other songs we sang in southern NJ elementary school in the years around 1970, but nobody else here seems to have done them (or considered them memorable): Sarasponda Heidi pupeidi (English lyrics) Canoe Song (“my paddle’s keen and bright”) I remember Kookaburra and She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain, too. First heard My Grandfather’s Clock at a community sing one summer. Oddly, it blew me away, and I remembered lots of the lyrics for years afterwards. Not sure why I was so impressed, but it was fun. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2026, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/78 "2026-08-27T19:10:20Z")
Johnny with the Bandy Legs Donkey Riding ---
**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:** [August 28, 2026, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/79 "2026-08-28T19:37:30Z")
We had obscure ones like “Down the river, O down the river, O down the river we go / Down the O-hi-o.” And “You work all day for sugar in your tay / Drill, ye tarriers, drill.” And of course the “Erie Canal,” “Kookaburra,” and “Zip-a-dee Doo Dah.” Then there was some guy putting his corduroy breeches on, to work upon the railroad. This was Ohio in the 1960s. In one grade the teacher was a nun who had been in an “Up With People” group and had us all singing the “Up With People” theme song. When my kids were in grade school in the 1990s, they sang “Don Gato.” ---
**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:** [August 28, 2026, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/80 "2026-08-28T19:47:19Z")
> [@susan](#): > > the album _[Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsley%2C_Sage%2C_Rosemary_and_Thyme)_ I got that album because my school band was playing “Scarborough Fair.” It was the first pop album I ever bought. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514.md?page=5)