Songs/poems our Mothers sang

Thank you feetlebaum - I've never seen the whole song written out like that before. No wonder I was confused. I used to hear it sung during the war. I also remember Arthur Askey singing 'Oh what a wonderful thing to be, a healthy grown-up busy busy bee . . . Buzz if you like but don't sting me.'

Oh feetle my mother used to sing I'll Walk Beside You (going back to page 1 of this thread). And you know it was also when she took a break from housework. She would sing hymns and things all the time - one of her favourites was "I Come to the Garden Alone (while the dew is still on the roses)".

I've avoided reading this thread because I though it may make me tearful and it has ... but in a good way.

My mother used to sing Brahm's Lullaby to us when we were little.

Will I be rich
Here's what she said to me
Que sera etc

I think my mum used to sing this one - regardless, it is one of my favourites
When I was just a little girl my mother said to me
Will I be pretty will I be ?????
Que Sera sera whatever will be will be
The futures not mine to see
Que sera sera

Now I sing to my young grandchildren the song sung at christenings

Jesus loves ..(name) ...... Yes he does yes he does.

When my new grandson came along I was looking adoringly into his eyes
Singing Granny Loves Ryan yes she does yes she does when my daughter (mum of David) shouted through "thats David you have there" duh

Daisyanswerdo - the full words for your song...

I know a ditty nutty as a fruitcake
Goofy as a goon and silly as a loon
Some call it pretty, others call it crazy
But they all sing this tune:

Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?
Yes! Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?

If the words sound queer and funny to your ear, a little bit jumbled and jivey
Sing "Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy"

Oh! Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you-oo?
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?

Words & Music by Milton Drake, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston

Imagine - it took three people to write that!

Zengran - "My Dad used to sing the first line of "Oh God, our help in ages past" when Mum was in one of her moods!"

That made me laugh! And I remember my Dad's habit, when Mum was 'in one of her moods' of raising his eyebrows at we boys and saying 'Chopper's on...' or 'Liver's fourpence a pound...' and grinning.

Thanks absent

MY OLD MAN - 's a Dustman? or Said Follow the Van?

I am 82 and still knock out all the good oldies of the 30s & 40s on my old squeeze box .Like it best in summer when we open the French doors and the neighbours sit in their gardens and have a singalong. always starting with MY OLD MAN.

Grannyeggs

Oh the buzzing of the bees in the cigarette trees,
And the soda water fountain,
The lemonade springs and the bluebird sings
In the big rock candy mountain.

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine was my Mum's lullaby when we were little. She even sang it to her first great grandchild when he visited us at the age of six weeks or so. She had a sweet voice even in old old age and would often sing hymns – they have such rousing tunes, don't they?

Zengran wow, talk about a guilt trip for poor little ten year olds - bet it was written by a mother

'Mairsy Doats and Dozy Doats and Little Amzy Divy' - is what I thought the words were, all the names of people - (Little Amzy Divy on a diving-board and the Doats brothers Mairsy and Dozy) until I read 'Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy' - not nearly so interesting!

My mum did not have a good voice, never stopped her singing! She was a great mimic and often sang in the stylie of - hilda ogden used to clear the kitchen when she was busy, doris day woke us up in the morning. My gran and my mum singing along to the radio in the kitchen, happy days.

grannyactivist that is so sad.My baby brother died when I was 4 and my sister was 2.Don't have any song associations just a memory of a small white coffin resting on my mums knee.His name was Joseph and a song with that name can sometimes bring tears.

I have never heard my Mum sing, read a book or read poetry, she was an avid reader but to herself not to us! I learnt to read as quick as I could, I couldnt wait to be able to tell myself a story. It was the one thing I looked forward to most with my DC bedtime stories.

My Mother loved Burl Ives and the only songs she sang to me were I know an Old Lady Who swallowed a Fly, and The Big Rock Candy Mountain. I can remember the first one and sing it to my GC but I can 't remember many words to the second one, I just tra lah it !we sang Cherry Ripe at school and I loved it and was always singing at home much to the irritation of my family,I never was able too sing in tune.

Another bed time song was this - or something like it. (I alway thought the Angels were up on the ceiling peering down at me)

Go to sleep my baby
Close your pretty eyes,
Angels up above you
Watching at you dearly from the sky;
Great big moon is shining
Come now don't you cry
Time for little picanninies
To go to sleep

She used to bang out Cherry Ripe and Molly Malone on the piano too (not at bed time!)

Cherry Ripe, cherry ripe
Ripe I cry
Full and fair ones,
Come and buy

I'm coming over all maudlin remembering these

Thats quite a sad story grannyactivist crying does help, I also lost a brother, it was before I was even born but stories of him were many, so strangely it was also around Christmas time, it was when I was an adult that I found out just why my Father did not enjoy Christmas too much.

Well they are with the angels now and what a jolly good place to be

Teach my gd the one about My mother said I never should.... as a clapping rhyme but change gypsies to naughties in the interests of PC.

Also when choosing a person with a rhyme. Eenie meenie miney mo catch a 'tiger' by his toe.

A shame to loose the old rhymes because they are racist.

Didn't know the 3rd line which won't work with my ending.

They were there from Monday to Saturday
Nobody knew they were there.

nan not man

Mum never sang. My man used to hum all the time, but nothing recognisable
My dad would often recite the ditty

Oh dear what can the matter be
Two old ladies locked in the lavatory
There was Mrs Brown with a hole in her knickers..........

Can anyone finish it for me ?

Oh, Tizzy that brought back memories - of the aftermath of a Tupperware party, in army married quarters, would you believe? It had gone on, and on. Some of the older women nipped off to the pub, and came back later when the rest of us had hit the sherry. This was the 1970s, so we hadn't discovered the joys of wine.(Ex military wives- remember NAAFi "FOG")

The party developed from there, with one older woman slumped in a chair singing "The Northern Lights of Old Aberdeen" and my friend and I doing a turn with "I wish I was..." With actions, I recall. OH dear. And the hostess's husband had come home and sat himself quietly in a corner and observed it all. And reported back with glee.

Sorry, folks, I digressed.

My mum, being a thespian, had a "number" that used to be called for when times were jolly. Assuming the correct stance for the character (hand on jutted hip) she would begin....

Oh I wish I was a fascinating b**
I'd never be poor, I'd always be rich......

I won't proceed, as the tenor of the thread is soft and gentle, and I'd hate to sully the content!!

By contrast, my Gran used to teach me hymns and my favourite was Gounod's Ave Maria.