# work-songs for kids **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 29, 2002, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/work-songs-for-kids/121311 "2002-07-29T01:53:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cessandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cessandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cessandra)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/work-songs-for-kids/121311/1 "2002-07-29T01:53:17Z")
What songs do you think would be good for small kids to listen to as they clean their room or do ther chores? So far I’ve thought of: [ul] [li] **Whistle While You Work** from Snow White[/li][li] **A Spoonful of Sugar** from Mary Poppins (that is the one they sang while cleaning their room, right?)[/li][li]and maybe **Sing Sweet Mockingbird** , which is the song that Cinderella sang as she scrubbed the floor in the Disney flick[/li][/ul] Yours? ---
**Author:** ![grendel72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/work-songs-for-kids/121311/2 "2002-07-29T01:57:21Z")
“Day’s nearly finnished/ Massa got me workin’/ Someday massa set me free…” ---
**Author:** ![grendel72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/work-songs-for-kids/121311/3 "2002-07-29T02:09:58Z")
Ummm… just for the record that was a _South Park_ quote, and I’m not trying to be any more of a jackass than I naturally am. I would recommend “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” or “The Bannana Boat Song” as good songs for kids. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/work-songs-for-kids/121311/4 "2002-07-29T15:03:08Z")
Aw, c’mon, don’t you think Paul Robeson belting out _Ol’ Man River_ would set the mood perfectly for picking up that messy room? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/work-songs-for-kids/121311/5 "2002-07-29T22:01:07Z")
Swing lo…sweeeet chariot…comin forth ta carry me home or Thats the sound of the men…workin’ on the chain…gaaeeaanng ---
**Author:** ![AbbySthrnAccent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@AbbySthrnAccent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbbySthrnAccent)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/work-songs-for-kids/121311/6 "2002-07-29T22:33:57Z")
Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere. Clean up, clean up, everybody do your share. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/work-songs-for-kids/121311/7 "2002-07-30T04:10:45Z")
(Paraphrased from a possible translation) “Yo, heave ho! Yo, heave ho! Mighty stream so deep and wide. Volga, Volga you’re our pride. Yo, heave ho! Yo, heave ho!” 😃 Failing that, I highly recommend “The Wheel of Pain” from the _Conan_ soundtrack. ---
**Author:** ![BraheSilver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@BraheSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraheSilver)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/work-songs-for-kids/121311/8 "2002-07-30T06:04:07Z")
When I cleaned, I’d belt out “16 Tons” as I shoved stuff around. Of course, it was more like: _Sixteen tons And whaddya get? Another day older and_ ::crash:: Arghargh my foot! After about 15 minutes of this, it got on everybody’s nerves, so I’d move on to whistling tunelessly and muttering like Popeye until I was told to shut up. 😃 Then I discovered “Classical Music for Home Improvement,” when was played nonstop during spring cleaning. ---
**Author:** ![QueenAl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/d26b3c/32.png) [@QueenAl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QueenAl)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/work-songs-for-kids/121311/9 "2002-07-30T10:09:38Z")
There’s a Carribean one you can probably download somewhere, which we like to sing when cleaning: Mama says no play, this is a work day Up with the bright sun, get all the work done If you will help me, wash all the dishes Stack them up tidily… And it goes on with different chores for the last two lines. Great rhythm, and a good song for 2-5yr-olds. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/work-songs-for-kids/121311/10 "2002-07-30T23:41:31Z")
Say, that reminds me…what about “Day-O”? Ranchoth (Though I admit, as a child, I was left wondering who the “Daylight Kong-Man” was, and if he was similar to King Kong) ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/work-songs-for-kids/121311/11 "2002-07-31T14:50:15Z")
Ranchoth–I think “Day-O” and “The Banana Boat Song” are one in the same. I’m not 100% certain though. Damn, now that parody is in my head. “Come Mr. Taliban, turn over bin Laden (Daylight come and we drop the bomb)” ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/work-songs-for-kids/121311/12 "2002-07-31T15:02:53Z")
I got myself a copy of Pete Seeger’s classic album [American Industrial Ballads](http://www.folkways.si.edu/40058.htm) when I was a kid. It’s not a “kid’s album,” per se, but children love Seeger’s voice and banjo. And the songs are nice and simple and really stick in the head. "Old man Sargent, sittin’ at the desk, The dam’ old fool won’t give us no rest; He’d take the nickels offa dead man’s eyes To buy Coca-Cola and Eskimo Pies… I got the blues…I got the blues… I got the Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues…" ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/work-songs-for-kids/121311/13 "2002-07-31T23:48:46Z")
If your making sweater’s somewhere in Asia may I suggest canning the music and instead infusing the air with stimulating peppermint scent?