# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![2\_More\_Bits](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2_more_bits/32/4148_2.png) [@2\_More\_Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2_More_Bits)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2026, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/81 "2026-08-28T19:54:00Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > – Rise and Shine (i.e. “Children of the Lord”). It was a public school also. Maybe 1 or 2 other religious songs we also sang but I can’t remember the specifics. No other religious teaching in the public school that I can remember. “Ri-ise and shi-ine and give god your glory glory” (repeat) Have I got it right? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2026, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/82 "2026-08-28T21:21:26Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > “There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza” This. The Farmer in the Dell (that poor little lonely cheese.) There Was an Old Lady (who swallowed a fly) I’m Being Eaten by a Boa Constrictor The Head Bone’s Connected to the… There are more just on the tip of my tongue… Also, this was later in high school but we were taught a song in Spanish called Los Cuatro Muleros (four mule boys) and the lyrics translated to: "Of the four mule boys Who are going to the river The one on the dapple-grey mule is my husband Oh, my mistake! It’s my brother-in-law." I still get a kick out of that. It is so pointless. I wonder if I’m missing context (other than the obvious.) ---
**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 28, 2026, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/83 "2026-08-28T21:21:58Z")
“Dad, the heathen’s getting away!” [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5K_xX6guZ2o/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGH8gWSgTMA8=&rs=AOn4CLDUQov-1v5oTAed4iKNhKRhRSdSMw "The Simpsons - Get Those Animals Out On The Arky Arky") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K_xX6guZ2o) ---
**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 28, 2026, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/84 "2026-08-28T21:23:22Z")
Green Grow the Rashes The Rattlin’ Bog Chad Gadya ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2026, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/85 "2026-09-04T17:54:29Z")
Fifty Nifty United States (Very useful, as it teaches all 50 states in alphabetical order which helped me so much in Social Studies.) Senor Don Gato On the Dummy Line (I think it was a hobo song, and the lyrics, in retrospect, were really…questionable.) I just looked up the lyrics and the ones I see are different from the ones we learned, which were about train guards throwing people onto the track or hitting them with two by fours. ---
**Author:** ![dcbwhaley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcbwhaley/32/21437_2.png) [@dcbwhaley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dcbwhaley)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2026, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/86 "2026-09-05T15:12:12Z")
Bobby Shaftoe Shenandoah ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2026, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/87 "2026-09-08T06:34:36Z")
Like **Dendarii\_Dame** , I also recall the joys of singing all of the names of the states in alphabetical order. I never really gave too much thought as to what it might actually be titled, so that was kind of fun to learn. I just typed it into one of those lyrics websites and discovered that I had forgotten half the song. I only remembered the part with all of the states and the part at the end, where you dramatically sing that “(name of your state) is the best.” And the cherry on top is finding out that it was written by Ray Charles – no, not HIM – who also happened to be one of the singers of the theme to _Three’s Company_. ---
**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:** [September 9, 2026, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/88 "2026-09-09T16:07:31Z")
How about “Rubin and Rachel” where the boys and girls contemplate expulsion of the other gender to an icy death. [Lyrics](https://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=2650) ---
**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:** [September 9, 2026, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/89 "2026-09-09T16:11:01Z")
Oh yes, “There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza dear Liza” In our class the boys sung the male part and the girls sang the female part. It seemed to take FOREVER. ---
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/90 "2026-09-09T16:15:04Z")
Rural New England elementary school in the 1960s - we were taught to sing “Man Smart, Woman Smarter” > **[Man Smart (Woman Smarter)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_Smart_(Woman_Smarter))** > > "Man Smart (Woman Smarter)" is a calypso song variously credited as being composed by Norman Span (King Radio), D. L. Miller, F. Kuhn, and Charles Harris. Span's authorship seems most likely since, as a popular calypso musician and songwriter, he first recorded the song in 1936, and none of the other ascribed composers are associated with calypso. Miller's music industry career began around 1950. Artists from many genres, including the Duke of Iron (on 1957's Calypso Carnival), Joan Baez (on 1964... ---
**Author:** ![squidfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@squidfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squidfood)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/91 "2026-09-09T23:36:19Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Fifty Nifty United States (Very useful, as it teaches all 50 states in alphabetical order which helped me so much in Social Studies.) Fifty years later, it’s the only thing I learned at age 5 that has stuck like that, and has been - quite useful at times, I can go through the list super-fast. Only problem is I have to start at the beginning every time to get to a particular state, and always drag out O–hiiii—o in my head whenever that state comes up. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/92 "2026-09-09T23:42:26Z")
I went to Catholic grade school, so lots of Catholic songs at Mass. I remember us singing **Do-Re-Mi** from _ **The Sound of Music** _. At the time I didn’t know anything about the film. I thought it was just a song. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2026, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/93 "2026-09-10T13:30:56Z")
I thought the same thing when my class sang it. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2026, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/94 "2026-09-16T21:10:32Z")
_Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam_ (clue: he doesn’t). We felt embarrassed by this nonsense even at the time. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/95 "2026-09-23T15:26:29Z")
When I was in elementary school - roughly 1957 to 1964 - we had an assembly every Friday afternoon. We sang songs from old songbooks called The New Blue Book of Favorite Songs. Our teachers were especially fond of the songs of Stephen Foster, who despite his many ditties about the Old South, was a native Pennsylvanian. We sang many of his songs. The songbooks had the original words in dialect, and that’s how we sang them. I found one of those songbooks at a yard sale a few years ago, and could hardly believe my eyes. Here’s the chorus of one of them: _Down in de corn-field_ _Hear dat mournful sound:_ _All de darkeys am a-weeping,—_ _Massa’s in de cold, cold ground._ And that’s just one example. Of course, I lived in all-white suburbia, and there were no Black students, but still it’s hard to believe we were still singing those tunes in 1964. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514/96 "2026-09-23T17:34:02Z")
Let There Be Peace On Earth (and let it begin with meeeeeeeeee) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-they-made-you-sing-in-elementary-school/1032514.md?page=4)