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Best loved songs from your childhood???

(225 Posts)
boheminan Wed 07-Oct-15 18:57:37

I sing-a-lot at various venues (mostly) Music Hall songs, but lately I've been branching out into a slightly different direction.

I've rediscovered songs I remember from my childhood (50's/60's) that my mum used to sing to me, and Uncle Mac used to play on Saturday mornings. I'd gathered a few from memory, eg: Animal Crackers (Shirley Temple) Nellie the Elephant (Mandy Miller).

Of course, I could look up a variety on Google - but that feels like cheating! So, all you great Gransnetters, I ask you, what songs would/do you still sing from your childhood? It would be so helpful for me to have an idea what folk like to hear and join in with grin

rosesarered Wed 07-Oct-15 19:05:52

Must admit, I don't sing around the house ( or anywhere) much as I like music ( dance about the kitchen now and then though.)
Songs I liked as a child.... The ugly duckling, your'e a pink toothbrush,
Nellie the elephant, I am a mole and I live in a hole, over the sea to Skye,
Maries wedding,blow the wind southerly,don't sit under the apple tree,
Ten green bottles.

Alima Wed 07-Oct-15 19:08:50

Little white bull by Tommy Steele, the song about goats crossing a bridge by Frankie Howard. Puff the Magic Dragon, was it by Peter, Paul and Mary? There are so many to choose from.

annodomini Wed 07-Oct-15 19:45:42

The Teddy Bear's Picnic - on my granny's wind-up gramophone. The Hippopotamus Song - Flanders and Swann

tanith Wed 07-Oct-15 19:46:57

One of my favourites was Sparky and the Magic Piano but its not really a sing a long grin

grannyqueenie Wed 07-Oct-15 20:55:23

All of those already mentioned plus Hush, Hush, Hush here comes the Bogey Man by Henry Hall which my lovely dad bought for me when I was little - an old "75" record!
Happy Days smile

joannapiano Wed 07-Oct-15 21:15:16

My Nanna used to sing 'Two little girls in blue, lad', to me when I was tiny. I often sing it to my littlest DGC when trying to get them to sleep.
I also sing Teddy Bear's Picnic, annodomini.

Jane10 Wed 07-Oct-15 21:19:44

Big John!

boheminan Wed 07-Oct-15 21:20:55

Well, there's a few here that I hadn't thought of, thank you.
Hearing of them again has raked up a lot of memories. 'Sparky and his Magic Piano' used to frighten me. Puff the Magic Dragon - now there's one I'd like to try out - it used to have me in tears. Another I thought of giving a go is 'Me and My Teddy Bear', does anyone remember that? I used to sing it to my girls when they were little.

grannyqueenie thank you for putting me on to the Henry Hall song, it's really good - but so many words to learn! I don't think I'd be able to remember it all. it reminds me of a Music Hall standard called Jollity Farm. I've a few 78' records - as I've a 1950's record player, so will look out for Henry Hall in my next record search in charity shops.

Ana Wed 07-Oct-15 21:21:14

grannyqueenie, we had that song on an old 78 as well! (Don't let him come too close to you, he'll catch you if he can...)

Greyduster Wed 07-Oct-15 21:22:31

As I mentioned on another thread, "The Runaway Train went down the Track" was a favourite of mine. My dad used to sing it to me, and I sang it to my grandson. He had us play it endlessly in the car. I'm sure there are lots of others that will come to me in the still of the night!

Galen Wed 07-Oct-15 21:39:50

Oh! The chirruping of the birdies in the sycamore tree
They're happy to be:-............

boheminan Wed 07-Oct-15 22:05:13

Galen .....In the "The Big Rock Candy Mountains" (Burl Ives). I sing that already - great chorus

boheminan Wed 07-Oct-15 22:07:28

...If it's 'The Big Rock Candy Mountains' you're thinking of, it starts "Oh, the buzzing of the bees in the cigarette trees" (which sounds like sycamore trees) smile

grannyqueenie Wed 07-Oct-15 22:08:16

Ha ha grin just noticed I called it a 75, of course it was a 78....well, it was a bit longer ago than I'd like to think!
Just few years later I got my first pop record, Cliff Richard's Living Doll, think that was a 45??

boheminan Wed 07-Oct-15 22:12:19

Yes, grannyqueenie the 45's and 33's (vinyl singles and LP's) followed on from 78's. The first record I bought was Billy Fury - Halfway to Paradise, I think it was a 45.

gillybob Wed 07-Oct-15 22:36:18

Oh Jane10 you have just reminded me of Big John my dad was a miner when I was a child and he played this regularly. My sister and I would cry every time we heard it. sad smile

TwiceAsNice Wed 07-Oct-15 22:53:48

Teddy bears picnic which I sang over and over at bedtime to my granddaughter she loved it. My grandfathers clock. Harry Belafonte singing Scarlet Ribbons. Doris day singing Sera Sera. Jim Reeves singing Distant Drums, my fathers favourite played all through my childhood.

Indinana Wed 07-Oct-15 23:14:22

Puff the Magic Dragon and There Once was an Ugly Duckling were two that I used to love. Others were My Grandfather's Clock, I Love to go a-Wandering. Que Sera Sera, Cockles and Mussels, The Oak and the Ash, Over the Sea to Skye, Sweet Polly Oliver.
And what about the ones for young children, like Old Mcdonald had a Farm, This Old Man He Played One, There Was an Old Man called Michael Finnegan (that one always made my giggle!)

numberplease Wed 07-Oct-15 23:21:10

Talking of Burl Ives, my favourite of his was I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.
I also loved Petula Clark singing The Little Blue Man, although it`s sad at the end when he says to her, "I don`t wuv you anymore", and I didn`t blame him either.
Plus of course, like others, I adored Nellie the Elephant.

Grannyknot Wed 07-Oct-15 23:27:15

My mother used to sing a song to my sister and I about, well, sisters! The only lyrics I can remember are "Lord, help the Mister, who comes between me and my sister, and Lord help the sister, who comes between me and my man!" grin

I remember wondering what it all meant.

I could Google of course but does anyone else know the song?

My mother also sang Que Sera, Sera to us.

rosequartz Wed 07-Oct-15 23:51:49

"Lord, help the Mister, who comes between me and my sister, and Lord help the sister, who comes between me and my man!"

Grannyknot that was sung by the Beverley Sisters - very appropriately!
I think Joy, the oldest one, has just died. She was married to Billy Wright, the Wolves captain.
I think it was just called 'Sisters' by Irving Berlin

All of the above songs, Nellie the Elephant, Teddy Bears' Picnic, Me and my Teddy Bear, The Runaway Train, etc etc

I'm a Pink Toothbrush, You're a Blue Toothbrush
'Gilly Gilly Ossenfeffer Katzenellenbogen by the Sea ...
A Mouse Lived in a Windmill in Old Amsterdam
Animal Crackers in my Soup
There's a Hole in my Bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza
Run Rabbit, run rabbit, run, run, run!

and lots more

The radio always seemed to be on and DM was always singing.
However, it is not a talent I inherited, I have a terrible voice.

Katek Wed 07-Oct-15 23:53:12

It's an Irving Berlin song from the film White Christmas. Panto classic for the Ugly Sisters when the show is Cinderella!

ninathenana Thu 08-Oct-15 00:14:15

If you go down to the woods today
Your sure of a big surprise
If you go down to the woods today
You'll hardly believe your eyes

Puff the magic Dragon was my favourite

Grandma2213 Thu 08-Oct-15 00:58:43

Oh so many memories. I'll be singing them for days now. Isn't it amazing how the words just flow back into your head once you start singing them even after decades? TwiceAsNice you picked my two favourites, My Grandfather's Clock and Scarlet Ribbons both of which make me feel quite emotional. I don't think it has already been mentioned but I also love The Gypsy Rover -
'^He whistled and sang
Till the Greenwoods rang.
And he stole the heart of a la-a-a-dy^.'