# Songs you sang in school **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 10, 2018, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-sang-in-school/812188 "2018-04-10T22:47:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-sang-in-school/812188/21 "2018-04-11T17:36:50Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > What years were you folks who sang the “Don Gato” song around? Seems to be a popular tune. I was in grade school in the 80s, and never came across it. My kids are now in pre-K and day care, and I haven’t heard it from them yet, either. Is this like a 90s thing or something? Mid 1980s for me. ---
**Author:** ![epolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@epolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epolo)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-sang-in-school/812188/22 "2018-04-11T18:42:56Z")
My mother was a nursery school teacher and my father was in the folk music scene so we got a lot of this growing up. School was big on music too. Now I have a two year old and sometimes I find that we’ve passed more than an hour on the swing with me singing without repeating. Some others songs I haven’t seen mentioned yet: The chivalrous shark (a little sexist, but still funny) Froggy went a’courtin (we have a chorus that appears to be idiosyncratic to my family) When the great ship went down This land is your land Voi Che Sapete (middle school chorus) Polly wolly doodle Oh Susanna Bluebird bluebird Country roads Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-sang-in-school/812188/23 "2018-04-11T21:11:07Z")
[Another Brick in the Wall - Part 2.](http://www.pink-floyd-lyrics.com/html/another-brick-2-wall.html) Well, I did, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-sang-in-school/812188/24 "2018-04-11T21:18:13Z")
> [@epolo](#): > > Froggy went a’courtin (we have a chorus that appears to be idiosyncratic to my family) > When the great ship went down It wasn’t until my 20s, I think, that I finally figured out the name to this song. I remember it clearly from Tom and Jerry, but could never understand any of the words, except for what sounded like “crambone!” I always called it by that name. [Apparently, it wasn’t just me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FyJyurljoM). ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-sang-in-school/812188/25 "2018-04-11T23:28:20Z")
…sword and p-p-p-p-p-p-p revolver by his side, crambone! ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-sang-in-school/812188/26 "2018-04-12T00:33:46Z")
**Up With People** : Man the nuns just thought was greatest thing ever and we even learned some choreography to go with it. I hated it even then. **The Ballad of the Green Berets** : Again some serious nun-love going on with the war still in full swing. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-sang-in-school/812188/27 "2018-04-12T00:41:45Z")
^ **Everything is Beautiful** by Ray Stevens. Thanks for making me remember that. ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-sang-in-school/812188/28 "2018-04-12T00:53:46Z")
Christopher Columbus What do you think of that? A big fat lady Sat upon my hat. My hat she broke, Oh, what a joke. My hat she broke, Oh, what a Jooooooooke… Christopher Columbus What do you think of that? In class in the third grade. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-sang-in-school/812188/29 "2018-04-12T02:07:56Z")
Remember off the top of my head… Down by the Bay The Canadian version of This Land is Your Land (‘This land is your land, this land is my land, from Bonavista, to Vancouver Island/From the Arctic Circle, to the Great Lakes waters’) An a capella version of Heart and Soul. A French version of the Banana Boat Song. I wish I could remember the lyrics to that one… On the ‘yeah, it was a few decades ago’ front, What You Gonna Do When the Rent Comes 'Round? ---
**Author:** ![Grumbacher\_Red](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Grumbacher\_Red](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumbacher_Red)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-sang-in-school/812188/30 "2018-04-12T02:33:28Z")
I recall singing “Bingo” with the claps and the adding/dropping of letters, too. We also sang: America the Beautiful My Country 'Tis of Thee This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land (American version, of course) And we also used to sing: _There’s a Hole in my bucket Dear Liza, Dear Liza There’s a Hole in my bucket Dear Liza, a hole_ And then there would be a whole bunch of verses with Liza telling Henry how to fix it, and him sounding like a moron. I also remember a song from the old Captain Kangaroo Show that was one of those building songs about a tree with a branch and a twig and a leaf and a nest and a bird, “and the green grass grew all around, all around, and the green grass grew all around”. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-sang-in-school/812188/31 "2018-04-12T03:18:59Z")
Glory, glory hallelujah– Teacher hit me with a ruler So I bopped her on the bean With a rotten tangerine And boy did she turn green ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-sang-in-school/812188/32 "2018-04-12T03:46:53Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > Glory, glory hallelujah– > Teacher hit me with a ruler > So I bopped her on the bean > With a rotten tangerine > And boy did she turn green Our variant would likely scramble a swat team today… \*Glory, glory hallelujah– Teacher hit me with a ruler So i met her at the door with a Colt .44 And she won’t do that anymore. \* ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-sang-in-school/812188/33 "2018-04-12T03:49:24Z")
Fifty Nifty United States. We had to memorize it. It’s actually come in handy a few times. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-sang-in-school/812188/34 "2018-04-12T04:51:37Z")
There are only a few songs I specifically remember singing in school (although there must have been others). “America” “As the Caissons Go Rolling Along” Sister Joan (6th grade, I think) had us do “Row Row Row Your Boat” as a round. Then she taught us “The Orchestra Song” which starts “The violin singing with lovely ringing” (there are slightly different versions). ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-sang-in-school/812188/35 "2018-04-12T08:27:09Z")
My 4-5th grade teacher had a piano in class and every morning we’d learn and sing American patriotic songs. The ONLY classroom in the whole school to do this. Songs included: The Star-Spangled Banner America the Beautiful My Country, ‘Tis of Thee Marines’ Hymn This Land Is Your Land etc. ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-sang-in-school/812188/36 "2018-04-12T09:56:20Z")
Funiculì, Funiculà. “Ra-rakatum,” or something similar. Google’s got nuthin’ so I’m probably spelling it wrong. Anyone know it? We had to learn and sing these and other songs in elementary school. It would be very cool to discover that they were taken from the same source material (teacher’s book). ---
**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:** [April 12, 2018, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-sang-in-school/812188/37 "2018-04-12T10:57:11Z")
Down by the station Early in the morning See the little pufferbellies All in a row See the station master Turn the little handle Chug chug puff puff Off they go My hat, it has three corners. Three corners has my hat. And had it not three corners. It would not be my hat! ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-sang-in-school/812188/38 "2018-04-12T12:36:36Z")
Father Abraham had many sons Many sons had Father Abraham You were one of them And so was I So let’s just praise the Lord! (Christian school) I hated to sing Father Abraham because in between verses the teacher would call out, _left hand!_ or whatever and then you were supposed to flap your left hand while you sang the next verse. All the “dance moves” were cumulative so after we sang the damn thing like six times we’d all be flailing around like idiots. Teachers loved the song, probably believing that it wore us little brats out. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-sang-in-school/812188/39 "2018-04-12T13:36:24Z")
_Here comes teacher, floatin’ down the Delaware Chewin’ on her underwear, couldn’t find another pair Ten days later, eaten by a polar bear That’s why the polar bear died!_ ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-sang-in-school/812188/40 "2018-04-12T14:35:12Z")
We used to sing a song about the Titanic. “Oh they built the ship Titanic to sail the ocean blue…” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-sang-in-school/812188.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-sang-in-school/812188.md?page=3)