i have this tape of folk songs, ballads and kiddie songs that we play at the preschool/daycare where i work, and in some of the songs that i like, there are words or phrases that i don’t quite catch. i don’t know anywhere to find folk song lyrics on the 'net (only rock songs). can you help?
song number one:
*oh dear, what can the matter be?
dear dear, what can the matter be?
oh dear, what can the matter be?
johnny’s so long at the fair.
he promised to buy me a trinket to please me,
???
???
he promised to buy me a bunch of blue ribbons
to tie up my bonnie brown hair…*
song number two: you take the high road,
and i’ll take the low road,
and i’ll be in scotland before you.
but my true love and i will never meet again
on the bonnie, bonnie banks of loch [lowland?]
if you can help me figure out these words, i’ll be much appreciative. also if anyone knows where i can find the rest of the lyrics to this song:
my grandfather’s clock was too big for his shelf
so it sat ninety years on the floor.
it was taller by half than the old man himself
but it weighed not a penny-weight more.
it was bought on the morn of the day he was born
and it [always was?] his [joy and his pride?]
but it stopped short
never to go again
when the old man died.
if you can help, thank you so much! if not, thanks for trying!
ah… thank you. it’s a copy of a tape, so there aren’t any song titles to go by, and though i know it’s a famous song, i’d never paid attention to it before.
Oh, dear! What can the matter be?
Oh, dear! What can the matter be?
Oh, dear! What can the matter be?
Johnny’s so long at the fair.
He promised to buy me
A trinket to please me
And then for a smile,
Oh, he vowed he would tease me
He promised to buy me
A bunch of blue ribbons
To tie up my bonnie brown hair.
Oh, dear! What can the matter be?
Oh, dear! What can the matter be?
Oh, dear! What can the matter be?
Johnny’s so long at the fair.
He promised to bring me
A basket of posies
A garland of lilies,
A wreath of red rosies
A little straw hat to
Set off the blue ribbons
That tie up my bonnie brown hair.
Oh, dear! What can the matter be?
Oh, dear! What can the matter be?
Oh, dear! What can the matter be?
Johnny’s so long at the fair.
He promised he’d buy me
A beautiful fairing,
A gay bit of lace that
the lassies are wearing,
To set off the hat that
Sets off the blue ribbons,
That tie up my bonnie brown hair.
Oh, dear! What can the matter be?
Oh, dear! What can the matter be?
Oh, dear! What can the matter be?
Johnny’s so long at the fair.
Song number 1 immediately started to drive me nuts too - will let you know if I come up with anything - maybe I’ll ask my mother tomorrow, (although I’m trying to recall how it went when I was younger, and I do think it possible that the “trinket to please me” line just gets repeated).
As for Song number 2 - your “lowland” word is certainly Lomond. Not a made-up name, a large loch in Scotland. Pretty sure it is the largest “lake” in Britain. Actually, I think there are more words, so I’ll check that. There will be sites that would help you, but I can’t provide a reference right now. Will try to come back to this - I’ll have to, for my own benefit!
I cannot recall any more words to the clock song. This, too, will drive me mad.
You might find it faster just to invent a time machine and transport all the kiddiewinkies to my primary school in in 1968 or thereabouts.
trion, yes! that’s it, exactly! except that the tape only sings the first verse. but i know it had something to do with “tease me.” the damn tape just slurs it so badly that i can’t understand it – even when the kids aren’t screaming.
I believe the tape is “Children’s Favorite Songs” Volume 3 by Walt Disney Records. It is readily available at Wal-mart or K-mart on CD, and the words would be much clearer. I have all four volumes, and know every word to every song on them. Larry Groce and the children’s chorus are the performers on all four. I have always preferred these CDs to other children’s recordings (my son has many) because they are less grating than most, and I like their folksy style.
Let me chime in with another question… I had, mumble years ago as a child, a collection of kiddie songs on 45. Among them was a song I found unaccountably charming, sung by a man whose father was “the keeper of the Eddystone Light.”
I think his mother was a mermaid. I seem to remember:
My father was the keeper of the Eddystone Light
And he married a mermaid one fine night
Of this union there came three
A porpoise and a porgy and the third was me
Singing yo ho ho
The wind blows free
Ah, for the life of the rolling sea
Some other things happened, which might include the siblings ending up being served in a chaffing dish. ANd I don’t remember the end.
But I’d love to find (a) the lyrics, and (b) the song.
Those are the words in this book; are they similar to what you remember of the words on your 45? I never saw this until you mentioned it, and then I looked in the title index, which also indexes first lines.
Oh, the cow kicked Nelly in the belly in the barn
Oh the cow kicked Nelly in the belly in the barn
Oh the cow kicked Nelly in the belly in the barn
{what comes next?}
I don’t even know if this is real song, actually; there’s a long, funny story behind it but my sister and I caught this on Married, With Children once.
Those are the words in this book; are they similar to what you remember of the words on your 45? I never saw this until you mentioned it, and then I looked in the title index, which also indexes first lines.
[/QUOTE]
That’s it!
I undoubtedly had a children’s version, since I clearly recall “…and he married a mermaid one fine night,” as well as “…to quibble with the keeper of the Eddystone Light,” at the last line. I guess it would have highly inappropriate to sing to children about any union, other than a marriage, producing offspring.
It is a Loch, but that precludes it from bein’ a lake as it has one end open to the sea (like loch Ness, which y’all may also have heard of)
I know that doesn’t help you with the songs…sorry!
