Songs from Primary School

I spent my childhood in Australia and there are several songs. Click ho the shears boys click, click click. Jesus loves me yes I know cos the bible tells me so.

Nellie the elephant
Que Sera Sera
Ring a ring a roses
Bobby Shaftoe
Twinkle Twinkle little star
Sisters sisters.....

Didn’t we all do a lot of singing in our Primary School!

I don’t remember singing, apart from the school choir, once I went to Secondary School and I don’t think my GCs sing at their schools apart from Assembly and Church services, neither of them are in the choir, which is odd as their father is in the Music Business.

The school song was 'To be a pilgrim' - 'still love to hear that, especially sung by Maddy Pryor and the Carnival Band.
'Green grow the rushes o'.
'Come, see, where golden hearted spring, flies, crowned, like a carefree king'.
I can't listen to children singing 'When a knight won his spurs' without weeping - silly me!

Remember Singing Together in primary school? It was a book of songs that tied in with a radio programme each week.

I particularly remember "Sally Brown".....Sally Brown she's a bright mulatta; wey -ey roll and go.

Not sure how that would go down these days, but it had a lovely jolly tune and I really liked it.

I still have the Singing Together book for one of the primary years - I think I must have half-inched it!!

At our primary school, Merryhills in Enfield, we always used to sing "Summer has come from the sunny lands" as soon as the Headmaster, Haydn Perry, noticed that the first of the swallows had arrived. One teacher played the piano and another the violin. We did so much singing in those days - and learnt countless songs by heart at our daily assemblies. Lots more songs too at Sunday school, Brownies and Guides. Now the many benefits of singing together are at long last being "rediscovered".......

I remember the radio programme 'Singing Together' and I think that's where my love of folk music came from. Four of us from our choir have get togethers and sing from a similar song book we bought from the internet. Huge fun.

Once a week we had “Singing Together”...a speaker was plugged into the classroom wall, which broadcast this BBC Schools radio programme. We all had booklets with the words in. Our teacher had the sheet music and we would practise on other days while she played piano. ( this was early 1960’s). I loved singing and continued to use lots of my childhood songs when I was teaching 6 year olds and producing school concerts. Happy Days!!

I sing in a group, we really are not a choir, “Singing for fun” we are called, every Monday morning for an hour, in the public library. We normally sing sixties and seventies pop songs, but every so often we sing The Gypsy Rover and I am instantly nine years old, in Mrs. Thomas’s class and madly in love with the little girl who joined the class that year from another school and desperately hope we will be picked to act it out this week (I never was - she was several times!). Brings me to tears every time!!

We sat on the floor around the piano. The best spot was to squeeze into the gap between the leg and body of the piano.
Really uncomfortable.
One day my teacher taught us,Taffy was a Welshman,Taffy was a thief, Taffy came to my house and stole a leg of beef!

I went home and sang this to my Welsh father who felt totally insulted. Off he went to the school and told the teacher how wrong it was to teach children that Welsh people were thieves.Next week we learnt Paddy MacGintys Goat!

Oh soldier, soldier won’t you marry me?
Skye boat song,
Molly Malone
Scarborough fair
Waltzing Matilda
Land of the silver birch
Marianina
And so many more. They fostered a love of singing I have to this day.

I remember Singing Together too, and for some reason one with the lines

Winter is over, the snow fades away,
Sweet spring comes with gladness.
Sunshine falls warm on the young hawthorn spray,
And I walk with my sadness.

Why remember that at age 9?

Also ‘When a knight won his spurs in the stories of old’, number 136 in the hymn book, and ‘Daisies are our silver, buttercups our gold’.

Innocent days.

Bring me said David the harp I adore.

Father we thank thee for the night and for the pleasant morning bright.

Jesus bids us shine.

Mainly hymns that I remember.

This is a lovely post. I remember many of the songs mentioned, particularly Marianina as sung by my boy soprano cousin. We had a junior school teacher who would always remind us when singing "Blow the Wind Southerly" that the correct words were "they told me last night there were ships in the offing" not "chips in the office". Another song we sang regularly was "Down in Demerara".

m.youtube.com/watch?v=unea7034LuU

The farmer's in his den, the farmers in his den e I addio the farmer"s in his den, the farmer wants awife etc, the farmer wants a child, dog etc

From our daily assembly:
When a Knight won his spurs
Morning has Broken
All Things Bright and Beautiful
Here in the country's heart where the grass is green
God be with you till we meet again (sung at the end of every term - for some reason it still makes me cry even now!!!)
From our music lessons:
Ye banks and braes
Kumbaya

I loved Yellow Bird. Our teacher used to play it on the piano most enthusiastically .

I was in the choir so the songs were mostly hymns & folk tunes. My granddaughter's in a school show this week, singing Queen's 'Another One Bites The Dust' & 'Somebody To Love' dressed as Freddie Mercury....rather more fun but just as challenging.

Various folk or folk-ish songs.
Oh soldier, soldier, won’t you marry me?
Early one morning, just as the sun was rising...
Full fathom five, my father lies...
What shall we do with a drunken sailor...
There is a tavern in the town, in the town...

I dare say some of these would be very un PC now!
Talking of which, I once took very little Gdd to a toddler singalong at the library. Had never heard of some of the songs, so was glad to join in with Miss Polly Had A Dolly.

Only to make a major faux pas out loud - doctor now comes with HER bag and HER hat!
Luckily I wasn’t told to leave and never darken their doors again.

I taught first year juniors for many years and one of the main highlights for the new class each September was to be allowed a hymn book to take into assembly. It was a rite of passage! I really miss hearing children's voices singing all the old favourites. We used to have sheets pinned to the wall with the words handwritten in beautiful script and my very first memory from infant school was seeing the words and pictures from All things bright and beautiful set in the school hall windows.

The words of When a Knight Won His Spurs are so poignant, aren't they?

^still to adventure and battle I ride
Though back into storyland giants have fled
And the knights are no more and the dragons are dead^

It just makes me think of my little grandsons growing up. Gulp.

gillybob I loved that hymn and can still remember the words! I went to my grandsons harvest festival this year and sadly non of the traditional hyms, such as we plough the fields and scatter were sung. They sang a samba!!

When a Knight won his spurs! Making me feel a bit teary lol

Anniebach.... did you sing

Hen fenwy bach Cydweli
Yn gwerthu loisin du
Yn rhifo deg am dymae
Ond un at ddeg i mi