More school songs

My father was a Spanish Captain
Went to sea a month ago
First he kissed me then he left me
Bid me always answer no
Oh no John, no John, no John, no John, No!

Ending up

O hark! I hear the church bells ringing,
Will you come to be my wife?
Or dear Madam, have you settled
To live single all your life?
Oh No John! No John! No John! No!

I went to several primary schools across the country and learned a lot of the songs mentioned above. Whilst living in Brigg , (Lincolnshire,) we were taught a mining song.
“Down deep dark mines
we dig for coal,
to warm our homes
and make our kettles boil! “
Never heard it ever again but always remember it!

I went to school in Scotland, so we sang

Ye banks and braes of bonnie Doon
Loch Lomond (with descant)
The Lord's my Shepherd (to the tune Crimond)
I to the hills with lift mine eyes,

and a great deal of the songs you have already mentioned, plus a lot of hymns.

Forty Years On was also my school song. The last verse always brings tears to my eyes.

Forty years on, growing older and older,
Shorter in wind, as in memory long,
Feeble of foot, and rheumatic of shoulder,
What will it help you that once you were strong?
God give us bases to guard or beleaguer,
Games to play out, whether earnest or fun;
Fights for the fearless, and goals for the eager,
Twenty, and thirty, and forty years on!

I agree merlotgran the last verse is very moving especially for us GNs.

The bit that I found puzzling was:

Follow up, follow up, follow up
'Til the fields ring again and again
With the tramp of the twenty two men

Ah, loved reading these. Brought back so many happy memories. Thank you all.

Gosh, I’ve enjoyed this thread! It brought back so many happy memories. Born in 1951 so many of the songs people have mentioned were part of the songbook of my school.

Magenta8, It was originally written for Harrow School but has also been adopted by many other boys’ (and some girls’) schools

The big Rock Candy Mountain. How I loved that song.

"Daisies are our silver, buttercups our gold,
This is all the treasure we can have and hold..."

Clawdy we used to sing that at Sunday School

Nanny27

The big Rock Candy Mountain. How I loved that song.

Oh the buzzing of the bees
And the cigarette trees
The soda water fountain
And the lemonade springs
Where the bluebird sings
On the big rock candy mountain

We sang the Titanic song as well. And randomly, we sang The Ballad of Jesse James !!

I’m used to sing Big Rock Candy Mountain to GS when he was small😊. I’d forgotten about it.

There was a tailor had a mouse
Hi diddly um tum tidy
They lived together in one house
There was a great chorus too.
Some of these songs I remember from Uncle Mac on Saturday morning, especially one about toothbrushes!

Yes we sang 40 years on but now I think 50 and 60 and 70 years on would be more accurate!!

Magenta8

Nanny27

The big Rock Candy Mountain. How I loved that song.

Oh the buzzing of the bees
And the cigarette trees
The soda water fountain
And the lemonade springs
Where the bluebird sings
On the big rock candy mountain

On the big rock candy mountain
The cops have wooden legs
The bulldogs all have rubber teeth
And the hens lay soft boiled eggs
The farmers trees are full of fruit
And the barns are fully of ha….ay!

Well I want to go where there ain’t no snow
Where the rain don’t fall
And the wind don’t blow
On the big rock candy mountain!

Big rock candy mountain was definitely on the radio.

What a lovely thread! So many songs from my childhood too.
Not all of them learned at school though- my grandma sang in a choir and had a book of traditional songs which we sang over and over... so many mentioned here were also in that book.

A few weeks ago I sang the Mermaid to my granddaughter- I haven't seen it here but was a real favourite:

'One Friday morn when we set sail
And our ship not far from land
We there did espy a fair pretty maid with a comb and a glass in her hand, her hand, her hand
with a comb and a glass in her hand.

Oh the raging seas did roar...' etc etc if anyone remembers it.
So many of these old songs were sea shanties and have long outlived the industry which gave them their names.

What a treasure of musical memories...!

An English country garden

That was the first proper tune I learnt to play on the piano 😃

I was about to mention The Mermaid! I was always puzzled by the “comb and glass in her hand”, not realising that the glass was a looking-glass, a mirror. I thought it was a glass of lemonade or something. Very odd!

Agree with you Keepingquiet this is a lovely thread, a bit emotional too!
I do remember The Mermaid, not all of it but definitely the comb and glass in her hand, her hand.
Also remember The Big Ship sails on the Ally Ally O. I used to think that was about the Titanic, but not so according to Google.

We have an annual Folk Week in my town.
Many of the songs featured here, especially the sea shanties, will make an appearance: audience participation expected.

What lovely memories! I know all the songs mentioned so far (except, funnily enough, those mentioned by Magenta8.)

We sang to Time and Tune, Rhythm and Melody and were introduced to some classical music in this radio programmes, too; I particularly remember Prokofief's "Petrushka"

I have sung Schubert's "Trout", but not at school. Have sung it here in Germany in the original German.

Oh, and along with the Titanic song, there was the Irish Rover - what was it with shipwrecks?