Song cupboard T (b3)

The owl

The purple bamboo

The snow-white bird

The sweet nightingale

The Walloping Windowblind

The water is wide

The wraggle taggle gipsies

There ain’t no bugs on me

There was a good old woman

There was a man and he was mad

There were three jolly fishermen

There once was a sow

There’s a fox in a box

There was a monkey

Last updated: 7/5/2021 2:22 PM

The songs below are part of ‘Away we go’

compiled, adapted and illustrated by Dany Rosevear

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To listen to music from these songs click on 🔊

To watch the author sing a song click on the title at:

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The owl 🔊

The first verse has been a nursery rhyme and is found in Haliwell’s ‘The Nursery Rhymes of England’ published in 1842. This version can be found in ‘Songs of the West’ by S. Baring-Gould; an early version was performed for Henry VIII.

Find out more at: https://mainlynorfolk.info/steeleye.span/songs/ofallthebirds.html

Of all the birds that ever I see,

The owl is the fairest in her degree.

For all the day long she sits in a tree,

And when the night cometh, away flies she.

Chorus

To-whit! To-who! says she, To who!

Cinnamon, ginger, nutmegs and cloves,

And brandy gave me my jolly red nose.

The lark in the morn ascendeth on high

And leaves the poor owl to sob and to sigh;

And all the day long, the owl is asleep,

While little birds blithely are singing, cheep! cheep!

There's many a brave bird boasteth awhile,

And proves himself great, let Providence smile,

Be hills and be vallies all covered with snow,

The poor owl will shiver and mock with Ho! Ho!

The purple bamboo 🔊

Ready for the Chinese New Year.

A Chinese folk song popular south of the Yangtze River.

It comes from the pentatonic song book ‘Just five’ published in 1972.

See, I bring to you purple bamboo shoot,

Now 'twill make a lovely flute;

But those lips so small

Cannot play at all

On a lovely golden flute.

Chorus

Ee-tee-tee,

Soon will come the happy day,

Ee-tee-tee,

Soon will come the happy day,

My friend the flute will play.

You must try and grow like the bamboo tall,

Then those parting lips so small

Soon will play the flute

Made from bamboo shoot;

Silv’ry tunes will gently fall.

The snow-white bird 🔊

A soft, gentle song to sing very quietly.

This is a 16^th century Flemish folksong.

I adapted this children’s version from: ‘The music box songbook’ published in 1987 where it was described as from the Netherlands.

‎In its traditional form it is a love song about a young fellow who sends a note with a bird as a messenger to his sweetheart, who it sadly turns out has recently married another! Some of the words have a symbolic meaning: the bird representing a messenger of romantic feelings, the white colour stands for innocence and the prickly bush a harbinger of bad news.

There was a little snow-white bird,

A-sitting on a prickly thorn,

Derry down down,

A-sitting on a prickly thorn,

Derry down.

O nightingale, oh, little bird,

Oh,will you be my messenger?

Derry down down,

Oh, will you be my messenger?

Derry down.

How can I be your messenger,

For I am such a tiny bird,

Derry down down,

For I am such a tiny bird,

Derry down.

You may be small but you’re swift of wing,

This letter to my true love bring,

Derry down down,

This letter to my true love bring,

Derry down.

She took the letter in her beak,

And flew it over hill and creek,

Above the forests dark she soared,

Derry down down,

And dropped it at my true love’s door,

Derry down.

The sweet nightingale 🔊

The school standard version can be found in BBC School’s Time And Tune, Summer 1958. This one however is based on the version recorded by Margaret Chrystal, T. Bikel, C. Gooding as I rather like the extra bird verses. Find out more at : https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=161744

My sweetheart come along!

Don't you hear the fond song?

The sweet notes of the nightingale flow?

Don’t you hear the fond tale

Of the sweet nightingale,

As she sings in the valley below,

As she sings in the valley below.

Pretty Betsy, don't fail,

For I'll carry your pail,

Safe home to your cottage we'll go;

You shall hear the fond tale

Of the sweet nightingale,

As she sings in the valley below....

Come sit yourself down

With me on the ground,

On the banks where the primroses grow;

You shall hear the fond tale

Of the sweet nightingale,

As she sings in the valley below....

Down in yonder grove,

There is an alcove,

And violets around it do spring;

Just by in a bush,

There sits a song thrush,

'Twill charm you to hear how she sings....

Why hark, my love, hark,

Why yonder's a lark,

She warbles and pleases me so;

That the beautiful tale

Of the sweet nightingale,

Will never entice me to go....

The Walloping Windowblind 🔊

All at sea on a comical voyage to a far off land.

A nautical ballad based on Charles Edward Carryl’s (1841-1920) poem. This version comes from ‘The funny family songbook’ published 1984 by Esther L. Nelson. The original poem can be found in Louis Untermeyer's ‘The Golden Treasury of Poetry’.

A capital ship for an ocean trip

Was the Walloping Windowblind.

No gale that blew dismayed her crew

Nor troubled the captain's mind.

The man at the wheel was made to feel

Contempt for the wildest blow-oh-oh.

Though it often appeared when the gale had cleared

That he'd been in his bunk below.

Then blow ye winds heigh-ho!

A-roving I will go!

I'll stay no more on England's shore,

So let the music play-ay-ay!

I'm off on the morning train

I'll sail the raging main,

I'm off to my love with a boxing glove,

Ten thousand miles away.

The bosun's mate was very sedate,

Yet fond of amusement too;

He played hopscotch with the starboard watch,

While the captain tickled the crew.

And the gunner we had was apparently mad,

For he sat on the after rail-ail-ail,

And fired salutes with the captain's boots

In the teeth of a booming gale.

The captain sat on the commodore's hat

And dined in a royal way

On snails and eels and cockatoo heels

And pickles and figs each day.

The cook was new and burnt the stew,

So the diet he served the crew-ew-ew

Was a couple of tons of hot cross buns

Served up with sugar and glue.

The water is wide 🔊

This version is from an old pocket book of songs that I wrote down from various sources when at Teacher Training College in the 1960s; it seems very similar to the one publihed in 1906 noted in Cecil Sharp and Charles Marson ‘Folk Songs From Somerset’.

The water is wide, I cannot get o'er,

And neither have I wings to fly.

Give me a boat that will carry two,

And both shall row, my love and I.

Down in the meadows the other day,

A-gath'ring flow'rs both fine and gay,

A-gathering flowers, both red and blue,

I little thought what love can do.

I put my hand into the bush,

Thinking the fairest flower to find.

I pricked my finger to the bone,

But oh, I left the rose behind.

I leaned my back against an oak,

Thinking it was a trusty tree;

But first it bended and then it broke;

And so did my false love to me.

A ship there is and she sails on the sea,

She’s loaded deep as deep can be,

But not as deep as the love I'm in;

I know not if I sink or swim.

Oh, love is handsome and love is kind,

And love’s a jewel when first it’s new,

But love grows old and groweth cold,

And fades away like the morning dew.

The water is wide, I cannot get o'er,

And neither have I wings to fly.

Give me a boat that will carry two,

And both shall row, my love and I.

The wraggle taggle gipsies 🔊

There are many variants of this song across the English speaking world; this one is from ‘English folk songs for schools’ collected and arranged by S.Baring Gould and Cecil J Sharp, published circa 1900. It seems very similar to the version I learnt in school in the 1950s but no longer remember well!

Three gipsies stood at the castle gate,

They sang so high, they sang so low.

The lady sat in her chamber late,

Her heart it melted away like snow.

They sang so sweet, they sang so shrill,

That fast her tears began to flow

And she laid down her silken gown,

Her golden rings and all her show.

She pluck-ed off her high-heeled shoes,

All made of Spanish leather, O.

And it’s off in the street, with her bare, bare feet;

All out in the wind and weather, O.

O saddle to me my milk-white steed,

And go and fetch my pony, O!

That I may ride and seek my bride,

Who is gone with the wraggle taggle gipsies, O!

O he rode high, and he rode low,

He rode through wood and copses too,

Until he came to an open field,

And there he espied his lady, O!

What makes you leave your house and land?

Your golden treasures for to go?

What makes you leave your new-wedded lord,

To follow the wraggle taggle gipsies, O?

What care I for my house and land?

What care I for my treasure, O?

What care I for my new-wedded lord,

I'm off with the wraggle taggle gipsies, O!

Last night you slept on a goose-feather bed,

With the sheet turned down so bravely, O!

And to-night you'll sleep in a cold open field,

Along with the wraggle taggle gipsies, O!

What care I for a goose-feather bed,

With the sheet turned down so bravely, O!

For to-night I shall sleep in a cold open field,

Along with the wraggle taggle gipsies, O!

There ain’t no bugs on me 🔊

This humourous nonsense song was recorded in1928 by Fiddlin’ John Carson. The verses like the last line often go on ad infinitum and have many in common with other songs such as ‘It ain’t gonna rain no more’ which with a dance can be found on my website: http://www.singinggamesforchildren.com/A%20Cluster%202.2%20Awaywego/9%20Aint%20it%20great%20to%20be%20crazy%20w.htm

Chorus:

There ain’t no bugs on me,

There may be bugs on some of you mugs,

But there ain’t no bugs on me.

Well, the Juney bug comes in the month of June,

The lightning bug comes in May,

Bed bug comes just any old time,

But, they’re not going to stay.

Well, a bull frog sittin’ on a lily pad,

Looking up at the sky,

The lily pad broke and the frog fell in,

He got water all in his eye…ball.

Chorus

Mosquito he fly high,

Mosquito he fly low,

If old mosquito lands on me,

He ain’t a gonna fly no mo’.

We had a cat down on our farm,

It had a ball of yarn,

When those little cats were born,

They all had sweaters on.

Chorus

As I went walking through the woods,

Humming a tune so gaily,

The wind came whistling through the trees,

And froze my ukelele.

Well little bugs have littler bugs,

Up on their backs to bite ’em,

And the littler bugs have still littler bugs,

And so on ad infinitum.

Chorus

There was a good old woman O

A French-Canadian folk song, ‘En allant au marché’ which comes from ‘Vieilles chansons de Nouvele-France’.

By adding the last line of the previous verse each time the song is sung it can be sung cumulatively.

There was a good old woman to market on her way.

The basket on her head was full of eggs that day.

But suddenly the eggs fell out

And they went rolling all about,

The eggs went rolling, rolling, rolling all about.

…ducks… …quacking…

…hens… …clucking…

…pigs… …squealing…

…turkeys… …gobbling…

There was a man and he was mad O

There was a man and he was mad,

And he jumped into the pudding bag!

The pudding bag, it was so fine,

That he jumped into a bottle of wine.

The bottle of wine, it was so clear,

He jumped into a bottle of beer.

The bottle of beer, it was so thick,

He jumped onto a walking stick.

The walking stick, it was so narrow,

That he jumped into a wheelbarrow.

The wheelbarrow began to crack,

He jumped onto a horse's back.

The horse's back began to break,

So, he jumped into a chocolate cake.

The chocolate cake became so rotten,

That he jumped into a bag of cotton.

The bag of cotton caught on fire

And blew him up to Jeremiah.

Spoken: Pouf! Pouf! Pouf!

There was a monkey O

This nursery rhyme can be found in print, in a shorter version, as early as 1626

Find out more at: http://www.rhymes.org.uk/a93-there-was-a-monkey.htm

The version below came from BBC Broadcast to schools, Time and tune Autumn1960.

There was a monkey climbed up a tree,

When he fell down, then down fell he.

There was a crow sat on a stone,

When he was gone, then there was none.

There was an old wife did eat an apple,

When she had eaten two, she had eaten a couple.

There was a horse going to the mill,

When he went on, he stood not still.

There was a butcher cut his thumb,

When it did bleed, then blood did come.

There was a lackey ran a race,

When he ran fast, he ran apace.

There was a cobbler clouting shoon*,

When they were mended, they were done.

There was a chandler making candle,

When he them stripped, he did them handle.

There was a navy went to Spain,

When it returned, it came again.

There were three jolly fishermen O

This is a popular song in the scouting movement especially

There were three jolly fishermen,

Fisher, fishermen, men, men,

There were three jolly fishermen.

The first one's name was Abraham,

Abra, Abraham ham, ham…

The second one's name was I-I-saac,

I-I, I-Isaac saac, saac...

The third on'e name was Ja-a-cob,

Ja-a, Ja-acob, cob, cob...

They all went down to Jericho,

Jer-i, Jer-icho, cho, cho…

They should have gone to Amsterdam,

Amster, Amster, Shh! Shh! Shh!

Amster, Amster, Shh! Shh! Shh!,

You shouldn't say that naughty word!

There once was a sow O

A very sad pig tale!

There once was a sow who had three little pigs,

Three little piggies had she.

The old sow always went, “Oink oink oink!”

And the piggies went, “Wee wee wee-ee-ee!”

One day one of these three little pigs,

To the other two piggies said she,

‘Why don’t we always go, “Oink oink oink!”

It’s so childish to go, “Wee wee wee-ee-ee!”

These three piggies grew skinny and lean,

Skinny they well should be.

For they always would try to go, “Oink oink oink!”

When they should have gone, “Wee wee wee-ee-ee!”

These three little piggies they up and they died,

A very sad sight to see.

So don’t ever try to go, “Oink oink oink!”

When you ought to go, “Wee wee wee-ee-ee!”

There’s a fox in a box O

This song by Barbara Ireson has been adapted many times in my classrooms and is there for adapting to your particular topic; the tune too has changed over the years, many apologies Barbara.

The main objectives are to make up rhymes and of course have lots of fun while doing so.

There’s a fox in a box in my little bed,

My little bed, my little bed,

There’s a fox in a box in my little bed,

And there isn’t much room for me.

There’s a snake in a cake in my little bed…

There’s a giraffe in a scarf in my little bed…

There’s a rat in a hat in my little bed…

There’s a goat in a coat in my little bed…

There’s a stag in a bag in my little bed…

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