Songs from Primary School

This is one we sang in the playground, and one I loved to play on the recorder! My little DGS likes me to play it now:

Little bird, I have heard
What a merry song you sing
Soaring high in the sky on your tiny wing.
Jesus' little ones are we, and he loves us, you and me,
As we share in his care, happy we must be.

I can never forget in the late 1950s singing this naughty song about school dinners to the tune of Out of Town by Max Bygraves. You have to hear the words to see how we changed them!
Out of Town link here

Say what you will, school dinners make you ill
and Davey Crocket died of shepherds pie.
And school din dins
Come from pig bins
Out of town.
Out there the sun is a big lump of custard
Polishing the blue blue sky
With white fluffy potatoes in a cluser
hanging on the breeze to dry.

Ring-a Ring-a Roses

Mhairis wedding! Another of my favourites

DH and I have just given a rousing rendition of Green Grow the Rushes Oh, followed by the Camptown Races. You’ve all missed a treat. He’s 5 years older than me, so they must have got full value from those song sheets. I don’t remember the cross-eyed cook, though, and he does. And only I remember Dance to your Daddy, which was probably just for our area.

This is a lovely thread.

A North country maid up to London had strayed
Although with her nature it did not agree
So she wept and she sighed and bitterly she cried
"Oh, I wish once again in the North I could be."

For the oak and the ash and the bonny ivy tree
They flourish at home in the North country

While sadly I roam I regret my dear home
Where the lads and young lasses are making the hay
Where the birds sweetly sing, and the merry bells do ring
And the maidens and meadows are pleasant and gay

For the oak and the ash and the bonny ivy tree
They flourish at home in the North country

No doubt if I please, I could marry with ease
Where maidens are fair, many lovers will come
But the man that I wed must be North country bred
And carry me back to my own country

Lovely thread Bradfordlass. Will add something in the morning.

As well as singing hymns with proper words and good tunes we had the Cecil Sharpe song book full of excellent settings of folk songs from all over the British Isles. At home, an ancient copy of the News Chronicle Sing Book provided us with much entertainment, although DD when very young could be reduced to tears by the opening bars of Tit Willow - “it’s SO sad”. We sang in the car, in the bath, and anywhere else. DD still fits in choral singing despite a very busy life, and I still sing (not very well) with the church choir and another group. Lots of evidence to suggest how good music, and especially singing, is for us.

I always sang "The Big ship sails" when. my GCs were in the bath. They thought it hilarious.

The big ship sails through the illey alley oh
The illey alley oh
The illey alley oh
The big ship sails through the illey alley oh
On the first day of September.

The captain says it'll never never do
never never do etc

The big ship sinks to the bottom of the sea
The bottom of the sea etc

We all sink to the bottom of the sea
etc
It used to be a game going under the arms of two children in verse one, pretending to be captain in verse 2 , the sinking ship in 3 and all finishing up on the floor in 4

Songs changed in the 60s and 70s when we started singing new songs in schools like Ralph Mctell's 'Streets of London' which became 'Streets of Our Town'

Gillybob loved those songs too. Lord of all Hopefulness was a favourite.

Why have these songs stuck with me all these years when I can't remember what I did 2 days ago?! When a Knight won his Spurs and Jerusalem were primary school choir songs. A keeper did a shooting go, Green grow the leaves among the Hawthorne trees and Blow the man down. There was a nonsense song something like - There was a man who had a horse -a-lum, down in Deva- rarum, or something like that. My brothers used to sing As I was going to Stawberry Fair, trifle, trifle come and get an eyeful! Loved singing all these school songs

Oops, remembered it wrong it’s Thank you for waking me this morning” and it was written in 1964 so later than I thought.

On singing it through again to myself I think I've written it down wrong.
Theres a bit about Jacky boy, master, sing you well, very well in it somewhere.

My own GM used to have a china mug which played Widdecombe Faire. I knew all the words and we sang this in my class sometimes.

BlueSapphire - Think the last two lines are
Pitter patter pitter patter children though we be
Giver of the gentle rain we give our thanks to Thee.

Jacq10 - Shouldn't imagine Camptown Races or Shenandoah would be considered "suitable" for school classes now. !!?
It's sad to think that our happy memories of many of the traditional songs and even nursery rhymes will survive beyond our grandchildren.

Yes you are right, lots of those mentioned are from time and tune and various other broadcasts. Especially Marianina! I can remember sitting on the PE benches singing them.
I have a vivid memory of hearing my all time favourite hymn for the first time. At infant school probably about 1961/2 a man with a guitar came and taught us a “ new” song.
“Thank you for giving us this morning” I was fascinated by how each verse went up by another semitone.
I’ve taught this song and told that story to every class I ever taught.

For Buffybee,
^The keeper did a shooting go,
And under his arm he carried a bow,
All for to shoot at a merry little doe,
Among the leaves so green oh.

To my hey down down
To my hoe down down,
Hey down, how down
Derry Derry down,
Among the leaves so green oh^.

I could go on as I remember it all!
I remember singing Blow the wind Southerly in a schools choir competition at the Carlisle musical festival when I was in the junior school choir.

At the end of the summer term we always sang, Lord dismiss us with thy blessing,
it always brought a tear to my eye.

youtu.be/nNFqsbwY2Es

i remember singing Soldier, Soldier will you marry me with your musket, fife and drum. The last verse went something like “ oh no pretty maid I cannot marry you as I have a wife of my own”
Also we used to sing Early One Morning, about a maiden
singing in the valley below.
And Marianna too of course.
Happy days, I used to love singing but have the most dreadful singing voice and was once sent out of the room as the teacher thought I was deliberately singing off key.

I listened to Marianina on the YouTube link farview and I was filling up with tears too. The children sounded so lovely, just as I remembered from my school days.

Oh goodness, I'm on a roll now!

Down came the raindrops on a cloudy day,
Wetting all the pavements, washing dirt away.
Waking little brown buds, thirsty seeds as well,
Right into the blades of grass the tiny raindrops fell.

Pitter patter, pitter patter, this is how they came,
Pitter patter, pitter patter, let us do the same
Pitter patter, down to earth they fell,

And again I can't remember the last line!

Oh how emotional is this...I remember vividly..Marianina ..eyes filling up now...and vaguely one about a tree I think "..and the green grass grew all around around,around etc" ..and of course beautiful hymns(Catholic primary school)...and Yellow Bird..up high in banana tree...

My 3 year DGS came home from nursery singing "If You're Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands" the other day! That took me back many years!

Buffybee
Can anyone remember, Green Grow the Rushed O?

I don't know that from school, but on long car journeys my dad (who had a Catholic upbringing, though I didn't know that until I was an adult!) would sing it very enthusiastically and get us children joining in. Happy memories

The big ship sails on the Ally Ally Oh takes me back to infant school - we must have sung many songs at that school, but that is the only one I remember.

Another one, not from my chilldhood, but one I used to teach my infants in the 70s.

Little lambs in the fields at play,
Little birds singing songs all day,
Little flowers among the grass,
Tell us spring is here at last.

I still sing that one when I see the first lambs in the fields.

Sing a song of Maytime, sing a song of spring,
Flowers are in their beauty,
Birds are on the wing.
Maytime, Maytime, oh the happy Maytime....

And I can't remember the last line!