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Old childhood songs

(31 Posts)
Foxglove77 Wed 03-Jun-26 19:12:04

I came across an article remembering old songs we used to sing as children. Like Soldier, Soldier (will you marry me?) and What Shall we do with the Drunken Sailor. I was surprised how many of the words came back to me.
Happy memories, my dear Mum used to sing these to me.

Rocketstop2 Wed 03-Jun-26 19:18:20

'The big ship sales down the Alley alley oh, the Alley alley oh,
The big ship sales down the ally alley oh..On the last day of September ' !!!

MissAdventure Wed 03-Jun-26 19:26:53

I know an old lady who swallowed a fly...

Rocketstop2 Wed 03-Jun-26 19:27:11

crikey , my spelling , I meant 'The big ship SAILS' blush

Fallingstar Wed 03-Jun-26 19:27:47

‘Bobby Shaftoe went to sea
Silver buckles at his knee
He’ll come back and marry me
Bonny Bobby Shaftoe.’

ferry23 Wed 03-Jun-26 19:29:43

Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron

Camptown Races

Hearts of Oak

Songs I remeber from our music lessons at primary school when the teacher wheeled the radio thing into the classroom!

MissAdventure Wed 03-Jun-26 19:33:21

Some green alligators, some long necked geese, some humpty back camels amd some chimpanzees... blah blah di blah do something, but oh so forlorn, i just couldn't see no unicorns...

merlotgran Wed 03-Jun-26 19:36:13

My grandmother used to teach me old music hall songs - most with questionable lyrics. 😂

Foxglove77 Wed 03-Jun-26 19:41:05

Miss Adventure I was singing that as I read! Was the missing bit "cats and rats and elephants..."?

Fallingstar Wed 03-Jun-26 19:42:11

merlotgran

My grandmother used to teach me old music hall songs - most with questionable lyrics. 😂

Ha ha, my old dad knew a few, I think he learned them in the navy during the war, I remember one that was not too bad -
‘There I was standing at the Church
Standing at the Church
Standing at the Church
All at once he left me in the lurch
Oh ‘ow it did upset me
Then he sent me a little note
Here’s the little note
This is what he wrote
Can’t get away to marry you today
My wife won’t let me’

BoggledMind Wed 03-Jun-26 19:42:41

This has brought some memories back.

As very young children, most likely pre school, we sang things like Teddy Bears' Picnic and Me And My Teddy Bear - just the chorus from what I now know is a Rosemary Clooney song.

Grannynannywanny Wed 03-Jun-26 19:43:25

My favourite as a small child was listening to Danny Kaye singing Ugly Duckling on the wireless in the 1950’s.
youtu.be/nDZOJVR8e6M?si=pNS3AywSNlgUllqG

Mollygo Wed 03-Jun-26 19:43:47

Fallingstar I remember that one too!

Marmin Wed 03-Jun-26 19:45:25

I am still word perfect on 'When father papered the parlour' thanks to my grandad singing it almost daily.

sandelf Wed 03-Jun-26 19:47:17

I wish community singing was popular now - I like to sing, but not as a show.

MissAdventure Wed 03-Jun-26 19:48:40

Don't jump off the roof dad!
Youll make a hole in the yard.
Mother's just planted petunias- the weeding and seeding was hard...

Mollygo Wed 03-Jun-26 20:04:18

MissAdventure

Don't jump off the roof dad!
Youll make a hole in the yard.
Mother's just planted petunias- the weeding and seeding was hard...

If you must end it all, dad
Why don’t you give us a break
Just take a walk in the park, dad and throw yourself into the lake!

In yonder pet shop sits a vulture
What it cost, I do not know
Should I swap it for my ferret?
Should I let my ferret go?
Oh no John, noJhn, no!

Nannee49 Wed 03-Jun-26 20:05:50

Westering home with a song in the air...

Early one morning just as the sun was rising I heard a maiden sing in the valley below....

What care I for my goose feather bed
My blankets strewn so comely -o
Tonight l lie in a wide open field
In the arms of my raggle taggle gypsy-o...

Fallingstar Wed 03-Jun-26 20:18:29

This was always a favourite round the piano with my uncle Vinny playing -
‘Daisy, Daisy
Give me your answer do
I’m half crazy
All for the love of you
It won’t be a stylish marriage
I can’t afford a carriage
But you’ll look sweet
Upon the seat
Of a bicycle made for two.

Singing on coach or car journeys I remember ‘ten green bottles’ and ‘one man went to mow’ being sung.

lixy Wed 03-Jun-26 20:25:13

‘There’s a hole in my bucket’ was one of our favourites on a long car journey

My grandparents used to take me to their Darby and Joan club on a Friday afternoon sometime. There was always a singalong session - In Dublin’s Fair City and the one about the windmill with a mouse wearing clogs were regular features.

I loved Danny Kaye’s Ugly Duckling too grannywannynanny and the one about the hippopotamus wallowing in the mud.

MissAdventure Wed 03-Jun-26 20:26:56

Will you miss me tonight, when I'm gone
(Boom, ahh! Ya ta ta taa!)

Morcambe and Wise.

Hang on, you're booming and ya-ing, when you should be ya ta ta yaaing... grin

MissAdventure Wed 03-Jun-26 20:30:42

A mouse lived in a windmill in old Amsterdam.
A windmill with mice in is hardly surprising...

watermeadow Wed 03-Jun-26 20:37:31

In primary school we sang dozens of songs from ‘The National Songbook” and also did country dancing. I wonder if children today have any fun at all at school?

MissAdventure Wed 03-Jun-26 20:43:27

Little boxes, little boxes, amd fheyre all made out of ticky tacky, and they all look just the same...

Oreo Wed 03-Jun-26 20:43:49

Fallingstar

merlotgran

My grandmother used to teach me old music hall songs - most with questionable lyrics. 😂

Ha ha, my old dad knew a few, I think he learned them in the navy during the war, I remember one that was not too bad -
‘There I was standing at the Church
Standing at the Church
Standing at the Church
All at once he left me in the lurch
Oh ‘ow it did upset me
Then he sent me a little note
Here’s the little note
This is what he wrote
Can’t get away to marry you today
My wife won’t let me’

My Dad used to sing some really old songs, he must have heard from really old relatives.
One of the ruins that Cromwell knocked abaht a bit.
Come round any old time, make yerself at ‘ome.
Only a bird in a gilded cage.
Come into the garden Maude.
All music hall songs but probably from Victorian times?