Songs/poems our Mothers sang

* Chardy* Oh Oh Antonio wax my party piece when I was four. My gran used to stand me on the table so I could sing to all and sundry.

My Dad used to sing this Wurzel’s song. Not very nice considering we are RSPB members.

I didn't notice that this was an ancient thread, but it is a lovely one to revive.

My mother was deaf so couldn't listen to music. All she would sing would be hymns her Methodist minister step father played on the piano with her. She had some strange interpretations of the words. My brother and I used to laugh at 'Itchy on earth hath you neon' I think the correct line was something like 'Yet ye on earth hath union'.
My father, however, used to sing nonsense songs like 'Susanna's a funical man' with pig noises, and I loved 'Brown skinned girl stay home and mind baby', very non-PC now I expect.

Oh I am so glad someone else knows this song!

I think your version is more sanitised, because I was told it was about prostitution- but maybe not?

Pawn shops were rife in those days- maybe they were called pop shops but as a child I didn't know either.

Thankfully we never had to pawn anything- but we once saw a woman at a bus stop with a suitcase and my mum commented after that she was going to to pawn shop... I don't know how she knew but maybe the suitcase was a signal?

keepingquiet
We sang
Mary Ellen at the pop shop door
A baby in her arms and a bundle on the floor
She asked for seven and sixpence but he only gave her four!
So she knocked the bloomin’ handle off the pawn shop door!

I didn’t know what it meant either.

JamesandJon- my MIL sang Suo - Gan, so I have passed it on to my grandchildren. I think it's lovely.
Chardy, the music hall song Oh Oh Antonio was forbidden in the house of my paternal great grandparents. My great grandfather was Antonio, and he had an ice - cream cart !

What a great thread!

My mum had a lovely voice but didn't sing too much at home.
I do remember this one though:

Mary Ellen at the pop shop door
A baby in her arms and a bundle on the floor
She asked for seven and sixpence but he only gave her four!
Mary Ellen at the pop shop door...

I was a grown up before I realised what this song was about!

Grandmabatty, my children learned Alli Balli Alli Balli Bee as a two part song when they were at school. We used to sing it on long car journeys.
My Granddad used to sing a song about smoking and we all joined in enthusiastically. I don’t think I remember it all but one verse was
Cigarette, cigarette, you’re the fondest true lover I’ll ever discover, and yet, though I kiss you, do you think I will miss you with tender regret . . .
Strangely enough I don’t remember him smoking.

Oh you can come and see the baby any time you care to call.
He's lying with his mammy on a wee white shawl
He looks so neat and spanky
Like a dumpling in a hanky
And we're going to call him William Angus Jamieson Jock McCall.
My dad sang that to me when I was small.
Alli, balli Alli balli bee
Sitting on my mammy's knee
Greetin for a wee baubee
To buy some Coulter's candy
Was another popular one.

CatB14

I was trying to find the lyrics to the fairy song and this thread came up! My dad used to sing it to me and I wish I could remember all the words to sing to my own children, I know this is an old thread but on the off chance you might see this, please could you share the lyrics?

The Faery Song from The Immortal Hour?

How beautiful they are,
The lordly ones
That dwell in the hills
In the hollow hills…

That one? I can’t remember all the words offhand but if you google “The Faery Song” by Rutland Boughton I’m sure youl’ll find it. Lovely song.

Most of the singing in our house was done by me. I know almost all the songs mentioned here. My mother played the piano but she didn’t sing. My father couldn’t do either.

I don’t remember my mother singing to me, or singing at all, for that matter. But my paternal grandmother sang constantly when doing her house work. Her favourite was ‘Silver threads amongst the gold ‘ .Her daughter would join in with ‘Maresydotes’ and After the ball was over’. But mostly I remember my gran singing the Welsh lullaby ‘Sun-Gan ‘

My Aunt Isa sang Wee Willie Winkie in the original Scots version that has more verses than the only one in the King's English version. She also sang "The Lion and the Unicorn" in Scots, and to me it just does not sound right in English.

Another dad who sand music hall songs like Daisy, Daisy.
My Old Man Said Follow The Van
Oh, Oh Antonio, My Sweetheart
Hello, Hello, Who's Your Lady Friend
I'll Be Your Sweetheart

Eloethan , thankyou for :Climb climb up sunshine mountain' I had completely forgotten that! My lovely Mum sang that to me and my siblings. I even remember the tune !
Our memories are amazing , reading your post my memory of that song came flooding back in full force!
My Mum also sang ' By a tiny house by a tiny stream where s lovely lady had a lovely dream' I am sure many of you are familiar with that one. Happy days!

@MaureenM
I was trying to find the lyrics to the fairy song and this thread came up! My dad used to sing it to me and I wish I could remember all the words to sing to my own children, I know this is an old thread but on the off chance you might see this, please could you share the lyrics?

I was trying to find the lyrics to the fairy song and this thread came up! My dad used to sing it to me and I wish I could remember all the words to sing to my own children, I know this is an old thread but on the off chance you might see this, please could you share the lyrics?

I dreamt that I tickled my grandfathers balls,
With a little sweet oil and a feather,
And the thing that amused the old gent .most of all,
Was the way they went (click-clock ) together.
The effect of this phrase is best obtained by the gentle bringing
together of two empty beer•or~similar bottles.

Snatches & Lays (1962)

Loads of these are bringing back memories. Music has such power...

My mother used to sing:
Pale Hands I Love
Come into the Garden Maud
Magic Moments
Anything Welsh (hymns, carols, folk stuff).

My father was a music lover too. So anything operatic (Verdi in particular) was his thing. And songs like Road to Mandalay, the Hippopotamus Song (Mud)? from an ancient songbook.

My mother was not a happy woman but she used to sing Kathleen Ferrier 'Blow the wind southerly' beautifully when she thought no-one was listening.

Dad had a lovely singing voice and sang Sinatra, Bing Crosby and 'crooner' songs but he also made us giggle with his rude rhymes.

'I'll have to get some bricks
To build my chimney higher
And stop the cat next door
From piddling on the fire!'
(or words to that effect)

I have made up personal songs for each of my grandchildren based on nursery rhymes, pop songs or lullabies. They love them.

my parents loved to play the piano and Mother would stand besides the piano singing songs and hymns and playing list and other composers. Brought back loads of memories for me and made me chuckle too, what a great interesting thread Thanks

Take me back to the blackwoods-the blackwoods of Dakota-where the trees are so tall they touch the sky!

At xmas ' oh I do feel sorry I was set free
The master and the missus were so kind to me. Etc

I have no idea why a black country couple born in the 1890s should know what sounds like a negro spiritual sort of song, I have no idea?

The Blaydon Races. Have I spelt that correctly, Geordies ?

Golden Slumbers at night time, also Winken, Blinken and Nod.
My gran sang "When the Red Red Robin" and "I like a nice cup of tea"
Also- the Good Ship Lollipop
"On the good ship Lollipop
It's a nice trip to the candy shop
Where the bon-bons play
On the sunny beach in Peppermint Bay"

and
Animal crackers in my soup
Lions and tigers loop the loop
Gosh Oh gee don't I have fun
Swallowing animals one by one
When they're inside me where it's dark
I walk around like a Noah's Ark
I rub my tummy like a gloop
With animal crackers in my soup