Song cupboard I

I am glad for two bright eyes

I had a little sailboat

I have a little house

I have a little tiny house

I know where I’m going

I like peace, I like quiet

I love my little donkey

I saw a ship a-sailing

I went to the animal fair

I went to the cabbages

I wish I had the shepherd’s lamb

If all the seas were one sea

If I were a blackbird

It’s a small world

It could be a wonderful world

Last updated: 1/22/2019 5:01 PM

The songs below are part of ‘Away we go’ Round and about

compiled, adapted and illustrated by Dany Rosevear

Return to the ‘Singing games for children’ home

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I am glad for two bright eyes 🔊

This song comes from http://hagonoy-bahay-kubo.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/nursery-rhymes-and-songs.html a great collection of nursery rhymes and songs.

Music by Dany Rosevear.

This lends itself to hand play.

I am glad for two bright eyes

To see the world’s delights;

To wink and blink and close so tight

At bedtime every night.

I am glad for my little ears,

To hear the meadow lark.

To hear the wind blow, “Oo-oo-oo!”

And hear the doggies bark.

I am glad for my little nose

To smell the flowers so sweet;

And I am glad I have a mouth

To smile and talk and eat.

I am glad for my two hands,

For they can clap and play.

And I am glad for legs and feet,

To run and skip all day.

I had a little sailboat 🔊

This song comes from ‘140 folk songs’ from the Concorde Series 1921. The words are by John Irwin using a traditional French tune ‘Il était une bergère’.

I had a little sailboat,

Its decks were new and all painted blue;

I had a little sailboat,

And sailed it on the brook, Tra-la!

And sailed it on the brook.

A little frog sat staring,

A little frog that was on a log;

A little frog sat staring,

Then leaped upon the deck, Tra-la!

Then leaped upon the deck.

My ship went topsy-turvy,

Its sails so white disappeared from sight;

My ship went topsy-turvy,

Beneath the water clear, Tra-la!

Beneath the water clear.

I have a little house 🔊

Welcome to my house.

Words and music by Patty Zeitlin. I was introduced to this song through Tony Sarletan’s ‘The Song Bag’ LP.

I have a little house, a little house, a little house,

I have a little house just for me;

With flowers and grass and sycamore trees,

Round that little house just for me.

I have a little bed, a little bed, a little bed

I have a little bed just for me,

And I rest my head on that little bed

In that little house just for me.

I have a little chair, a little chair, a little chair

I have a little chair just for me,

And I sit right there in that little chair

In that little house just for me.

I have a little table, a little table, a little table,

I have a little table just for me,

And whenever I’m able I eat on that table,

In that little house just for me.

And when you come I’ll let you in

Because I surely like you;

You can sleep on my bed and sit on my chair,

And eat on my table too, my friend,

In that little house just for me – and you!

I have a little tiny house O

This is from the traditional Welsh song ‘ Tŷ Bach Twt’ ‘The tidy little house’ You can find the Welsh version at: http://www.mamalisa.com/?lang=Welsh&t=es&p=2547#multimediaBoxInternalLink

The words here are a delightful take by Mari Griffiths and originally came from the BBC radio Music Box programme.

I have a little tiny house,

A tiny house, a tiny house.

I have a little tiny house,

That’s right beside the seaside.

Hi-dee-ho, de-hi-dee-hi-dee-ho,

That’s right beside the seaside.

I do no work, I sit and watch,

I sit and watch, I sit and watch.

I do no work, I sit and watch,

The high tide and the low tide.

Hi-dee-ho, de-hi-dee-hi-dee-ho,

The high tide and the low tide.

And here I live and eat and sleep,

And eat and sleep, and eat and sleep;

And here I live and eat and sleep,

Contented by the fireside.

Hi-dee-ho, de-hi-dee-hi-dee-ho,

Contented by the fireside.

I know where I’m going O

A Irish folk song that works beautifully as a lullaby.

I know where I'm going,

And I know who's going with me,

I know who I love,

And the dear knows who I'll marry.

I have stockings of silk

And shoes of fine green leather,

Combs to buckle my hair,

And a ring for every finger.

Feather beds are soft,

And painted rooms are bonnie,

But I would leave them all,

To go with my love my Johnny.

Some say that he's poor,

But I say he's bonnie,

The fairest of them all

My handsome winsome Johnny.

I know where I'm going,

And I know who's going with me,

I know who I love,

But the dear knows who I'll marry.

I like peace, I like quiet 🔊

Which sounds do you like best? A song from BBC TVs Play School; words by Michael Cole, music by Peter Gosling.

I like peace, I like quiet,

I like to hear small things stir.

I like peace, I like quiet,

I like to hear the birds wings whirr.

I like noise, I like row,

I like to hear things bang and pow!

I like noise, I like row,

I like to hear things wham and wow!

I like peace, I like quiet,

I like to hear the whisper of grass.

I like noise, I like riot,

I like to hear jets go past.

I like dongs and bongs and clangs

And noises that give you a shock!

I like hush and I like shh…

Quiet enough to hear the ticking of a clock.

I love my little donkey 🔊

An Orléanais song with English words by Helen Henschel for ‘A third 60 songs for little children’ OUP 1960.

I love my little donkey,

Hee, haw! Hee, haw!

I love my little donkey,

His coat’s so soft,

His velvet coat’s so soft.

I drive my little donkey,

Gee up! Gee up!

I drive my little donkey,

In a painted cart,

In a little painted cart.

The bells they jingle gaily,

Dingle ding, ding, ding,

The bells they jingle gaily,

As off we trot,

Merrily off we trot.

I lead my little donkey,

Hee, haw! Hee, haw!

I lead my little donkey,

To his bed in his stall,

So good night, that’s all.

I saw a ship a-sailing O

Iona and Peter Opie say in their’ Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes’ that the lines below were copied with some variation into a family album of verse, dated 1815,by a Mrs Elizabeth Susannah Graham.

A version with ‘raisins in the cabin, And almonds in the hold ‘is from ’Ye fairy ship’ by Walter Crane and the tune below with slight changes comes from ‘The Baby's Bouquet, A Fresh Bunch of Rhymes and Tunes’ by Walter Crane (1878).

I am more familiar with the words below.

A correspondent for the Revue Celtique, 1880, saw children singing it as they danced in a circle imitating ducks.

I saw a ship a-sailing,

A-sailing on the sea;

And oh, but it was laden,

With pretty things for me!

There were comfits in the cabin,

And apples in the hold;

The sails were made of satin,

And the masts were made of gold.

The four-and-twenty sailors

That stood between the decks,

Were four-and-twenty white mice

With chains about their necks.

The captain was a duck, a duck,

With a packet on his back;

And when the ship began to move,

The captain said, "Quack! Quack! "

I went to the animal fair O

Have fun with the sound effects in this song using the voice or percussion..

Sung by American sailors as early as 1898; the words were more appropriate to a seafaring life ‘The monkey he got drunk’ More modern versions end with: ‘And that was the end of the monkey...’

It was also popular as an American minstrel song where ‘the monk, the monk, the monk, the monk...’ was sung ad infinitum.

I went to the animal fair,

The birds and the beasts were there,

The big baboon by the light of the moon

Was combing his auburn hair.

The monkey fell out of his bunk, Bump!

And slid down the elephant's trunk, Wheee!

The elephant sneezed, Atchoo!

And fell on his knees, Oh dear!

And what became of the monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey,

And what became of the monk?

I went to the cabbages O

A song about the caterpillar life cycle by Tom Stanier and Liz Bennett from BBC TV’s Watch.

I went to the cabbages one day,

What do you think I saw?

Eggs in a cluster, yellow as a duster,

What could it all be for?

I went to the cabbages one day,

What do you think I saw?

Caterpillars crunching, caterpillars munching,

What could it all be for?

I went to the cabbages one day,

What do you think I saw?

I saw a soopa doopa pupa,

What could it all be for?

I went to the cabbages one day,

What do you think I saw?

I saw a butterfly, watched it flutter by;

What could it all be for?

I went to the cabbages one day,

What do you think I saw?

Eggs in a cluster, yellow as a duster,

What could it all be for?

I wish I had the shepherd’s lamb 🔊

A song most children in Ireland learn at school either in English or Gaelic. The Gaelic chorus here is phonetic rather than as Gaelic is written. The translation is: And O I call you, I call you, You are my heart’s love without deceit… And you are mother’s little pet.

I wish I had the shepherd's lamb,

The shepherd's lamb, the shepherd's lamb;

I wish I had the shepherd's lamb,

And Katie coming after.

Iss O! gurrim gurrim hoo,

Iss grah machree gon kellig hoo,

Iss O! gurrim gurrim hoo,

Sthoo patha beg dhu wauher.

I wish I had a yellow cow,

A yellow cow, a yellow cow,

I wish I had a yellow cow,

And welcome from my darling.

I wish I had a Kerry cow,

A Kerry cow, a Kerry cow,

I wish I had a Kerry cow,

I’d milk her night and morning.

I wish I had a Galway hat,

A Galway hat, a Galway hat,

I wish I had a Galway hat,

I’d give it to my darling.

I wish I had a house and land,

A house and land, a house and land,

I wish I had a house and land,

I’d ask her if she’d marry.

If all the seas were one sea 🔊

A traditional thyme found in many Mother Goose collections.

Iona and Peter Opie in the Oxford dictionary of nursery rhymes, suggest it was first delivered by Rowland Hill (1744-1833), a great preacher, as a rebuke to two ‘ungodly’ men who ventured into his church and then left ‘turning their backs upon the gospel’.

If all the seas were one sea,

What a GREAT sea that would be!

If all the trees were one tree,

What a GREAT tree that would be!

If all the axes were one axe,

What a GREAT axe that would be!

If all the men were one man,

What a GREAT t man he would be!

And if the GREAT man took the GREAT axe,

And cut down the GREAT tree,

And let it fall into the GREAT sea,

What a splish splash that would be!

If I were a blackbird 🔊

A traditional folk song from Ireland. Can be sung as a lullaby.

If I were a blackbird, I'd whistle and sing

And I'd follow the ship that my true love sails in;

And on the top rigging I'd there build my nest

And pillow my head on his lily white breast.

I am a young maiden and my story is sad,

For once I was courted by a brave sailor lad,

He courted me truly by night and by day

But now my dear sailor has gone far away.

He promised to take me to Donnybrook fair,

To buy me red ribbons to tie up my hair

And when he'd return from the ocean so wide,

He'd take me and make me his own loving bride.

Whistle & Chorus

It’s a small world 🔊

Written by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman for the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. It will be a familiar song to those familiar with Disney theme parks but is a delightful song in it’s own right with the words stating the obvious: we all need to get on and work with each other for the sake of our planet and indeed ourselves.

The verse and chorus can be sung as a round as the words work in counterpoint.

It's a world of laughter, a world of tears;

It's a world of hopes and a world of fears.

There's so much that we share,

That it's time we're aware.

It's a small world after all.

It's a small, small world.

There is just one moon and one golden sun,

And a smile means friendship to every one.

Though the mountains divide and the oceans are wide,

It's a small world after all.

It's a small, small world.

It could be a wonderful world 🔊

This song written by Hy Zaret and with music by Lou Singer is a timely reminder of our obligations and need to live in unity and peace with our fellow earthdwellers.

It was made popular by Pete Seeger.

If we could consider each other,

Our neighbour, a friend, or a brother,

It could be a wonderful, wonderful world,

It could be a wonderful world, Uh-huh,