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Genealogy/memories

Best loved songs from your childhood???

(226 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

Grannyknot Thu 08-Oct-15 07:55:55

Indi that has brought back so many memories ..."val-de-ree, val-de-ra, val-de-ha-ha-ha ..." grin

Thanks 're the Beverley Sisters.

seacliff Thu 08-Oct-15 08:07:41

How much is that doggie in the window?
The one with the waggly tail
How much is that doggie in the window?
I do hope that doggie's for sale

by Bob Merrill apparently

also loved Que Sera sera

hildajenniJ Thu 08-Oct-15 10:08:02

Does anyone remember Shirley Abicair? She sang a song about a Little boy fishing off a wooden pier. I loved that song. Also The Railroad Came Through the Middle of the House? Right Said Fred. The Hole in the Ground,I think they were sung by Bernard Cribbins, and My Brother by Terry Scott.

hildajenniJ Thu 08-Oct-15 10:10:16

PS. All the words to How much is that Doggy in the window fit the tune if you sing it backwards, "window the in Dogg that is much how! grin

hildajenniJ Thu 08-Oct-15 10:10:43

Sorry missed off the Y

ninathenana Thu 08-Oct-15 18:37:02

hilda no I didn't remember the boy fishing. Until I found it on Youtube grin

rosequartz Thu 08-Oct-15 20:22:50

Oh the buzzin' of the bees
In the cigarette trees
Near the soda water fountain
At the lemonade springs
Where the bluebird sings
On the big rock candy mountain

There's a line about gin as well - cigarettes and gin, handouts and jail - not suitable for today's youngsters.
I never knew it was so subversive!

rosesarered Thu 08-Oct-15 20:54:09

Cigareets, and whisky and wild,wild women,they'll drive you crazy, they'll drive you insane!
I remember that song always made me laugh ( can't think why!)

nannycake Fri 09-Oct-15 09:38:15

Such wonderful memories and so many songs. My twin Grandaughters like me to sing "There's a hole in my bucket dear Liza" and "Ten green bottles". I have just printed them off for them at their request so they can learn the words.

Persistentdonor Fri 09-Oct-15 09:56:06

Grannyknot.....
Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters..................

Persistentdonor Fri 09-Oct-15 10:02:01

I bet a lot of older people will remeber this one:

The king's horses, the king's men,
Marched down the street and then marched back again,
The king's horses and the king's men.

They're in scarlet, they're in gold,
All dollied up, it's a joy to behold!
The king's horses and the king's men.

They're not out to scare the foe,
You might think so,
But oh dear no!
They're out because they've got to go
To put a little pep into the Lord Mayor's Show!

It's their duty, now and then,
To march down the street and then march back again,
The king's horses and the king's men.

KatyK Fri 09-Oct-15 10:03:27

I loved Sisters by the Beverley Sisters. Very appropriate as I have three sisters. My mother used to love Magic Moments by Perry Como and Someday I'm gonna write the story of my life by, I think, Michael Holiday. I always think of her when they are occasionally played on the radio. smile

aprilgrace Fri 09-Oct-15 10:24:00

Does anyone remember a girl called Hazel who used to sing some of the old children's hymns on a Sunday morning programme - it was called something like Chapel in the valley?
My grandad was so enamoured by her he left her £100 in his will!

Noplacelikehome Fri 09-Oct-15 10:50:21

I remember we had a huge mirror over the fireplace, which was always roaring away and cosy. I was only a toddler, when Mum would lift me up and with me in her arms she'd have us both looking into the mirror she would sing: 'I feel pretty' from West Side Story. She would always start with: 'Who's that prerry girl in the mirror there?' Happy memories. Dad used to do a jig in the kitchen and if they coins fell out of his pockets we could keep them - usually to something like 'Hey Johnnie Cope' or 'Come to the Cook-house door boys!' (Smiling as I remember)

gran5up Fri 09-Oct-15 14:23:31

My wonderful, neat and tidy hairdresser (Pristine Christine) tells me she has just been to a great party for a friend of our Wonderful Generation: they sang,"Children's Favourites" all night long and had a marvellous time.
I notice some of the songs mentioned, like "Polly Oliver" were folk songs:maybe other Grans, like me, loved,"Singing Together" on the radio at school?

hildajenniJ Fri 09-Oct-15 14:59:46

Here's some more, "The Ugly Bug Ball". Danny Kaye singing " The Ugly Duckling". My sisters liked Jake the Peg sung by the now discredited Rolf Harris.

Bijou Fri 09-Oct-15 15:36:11

I have a CD of Great British Dance Bands including Henry Hall , Ambrose, Harry Roy, etc. which I never tire of listening to. The words are so clear and music so lively. Takes me back to the 1930's. But I am no singer.

Greyduster Fri 09-Oct-15 16:51:24

I love dance band music. We used to listen to Henry Hall on the radio. Wasn't his signature tune "Here's to the next time"?

Greyduster Fri 09-Oct-15 16:55:32

We had an old wind up gramaphone and one of the 78s I liked my dad to put on was Frankie Lane singing "Ghost riders in the sky". And "The Laughing Policeman".

Carolespr Fri 09-Oct-15 17:14:14

Davy Crockett, Yellow Rose of Texas, Robin Hood and one other tune on a record my Dad bought for me when I was a young girl in the early 1950's.

Bijou Fri 09-Oct-15 17:35:59

Yes, Greyduster. That was Henry Hall's sign off tune. I remember "The Laughing Police Man" too. We didn't have a record player but what we called the wireless was on all the time and my mother was singing to it whilst doing the housework.

Daisyanswerdo Fri 09-Oct-15 17:50:13

'Chickery chick cha-la cha-la, check-a-la-romy in a bananika, wollicker wollicker can't you see? Chickery chick is me.' (No idea how it was really spelt!)

'Mairzy Dotes and Dozey Dotes and little Amsey Divey' - is what I used to sing. Now of course I know about the mares and the does and the little lambs and their oats and ivy.

These must have been around in the 1940s.

boheminan Fri 09-Oct-15 18:10:48

Wow! thank you all so much for the suggestionsflowers. A lot of the songs I've not heard of, and others I'd forgotten. I will definitely have a go at learning a lot of them. Please keep 'em coming.

I can't sing very well, but I do believe music is therapeutic, so I'll have a go. There's a weekly music night started up in a pub in town, with old and young joining in, singing, playing instruments they'd forgotten they could play, or learning instruments they've never played before. Everyone joins in choruses. The young ones enjoy listening to old forgotten songs - strange to say, most of the Music Hall songs I sing, everyone seems to know (even though they can't ever remember where they learned them).

friends123 Fri 09-Oct-15 18:12:11

"I know an old woman who swallowed a fly" (Burl Ives)
Robin Hood Robin Hood riding through the glen
O! mine papa (Paul Anka?)
I see the moon
Champion the wonder horse
Lay down your arms....
The runaway train (Doris Day)
Pack of cards (Max Bygraves)

Envious Fri 09-Oct-15 18:48:32

My first music memories were playing two of my parents records. Que Sera Sera by Doris Day and The Tennessee Waltz by Patty Page. Also remember dancing as a five year old to the song Green Door and " acting" it out. I also tortured my parents playing The Chipmunks albums. I do remember the Mares Eat Oats. smile