Singing down memory lane.

[rivka]

telerib just posted the marvelous news that Boston has named their reloadable RFID-based subway card the "Charlie Card."

I grew up on the song "Charlie on the M.T.A.." (Anyone unfamiliar with the song? It's about a guy who gets stuck on the subway for eternity because they want to charge him an "exit fare" to get off.) It was one of the songs my father loved to sing for his kids. One of the many songs.

I remember so much of my father's music.

He sang something that, whoa, apparently was originally a Child Ballad. (I had no idea it had such a distinguished pedigree!) It's about a ship that encounters a mermaid, and my father used to sing it when we were out on his little sailboat. I don't remember the verses from his singing, but he sang the chorus this way:

And the ocean waves do roll, do roll
And the stormy wind doth blow, doth blow
And we poor sailors go running to the top
While the landlubbers lie down below, below, below
While the landlubbers lie down below.

He sang the deeply mysterious song "Green Grow the Rushes-O." I spent hours trying to figure out what it meant, and am pleased to find that others have apparently found that "the lyrics of the song are in many places extremely obscure, and present an unusual mixture of Christian catechesis, astronomical mnemonics, and what may very well be pagan cosmology."

But mostly he sang goofy songs from his college years. He liked Norman Levy's intricately rhymed "Thais," and a similar retelling of "Bluebeard" which I am astonished to discover is more than a hundred years old.

When I was six years old, I liked to sing:

One day while sleeping heavily, from wresting with the Devil he
Had gone to bed exhausted, though the sun was shining still
He had a vision Freudian, and though he was annoyed, he an-
Alyzed it in the well-known style of Doctors Jung and Brill.

He dreamed of Alexandria, of wicked Alexandria.
A crowd of men was cheering in a manner rather rude.
And Athaneal glancing there at Thais, who was dancing there
Observed her do the shimmy, in what artists call The Nude!

Said he,"This dream fantastical disturbs my thoughts monastical,
Some unsuppressed desire, I fear, has found my monkish cell.
I blushed up to the hat o' me to view that girl's anatomy
I'll go to Alexandria and save her soul from Hell!"

I was an odd six-year-old, and my father is at least partially to blame.

He sang the Kingston Trio's bastardized version of the traditional Scandanavian immigrant song "Oleanna." And he sang us every song from Tom Lehrer's first record. His favorite was "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park," but I also remember him treating us to "Fight Fiercely, Harvard," "The Old Dope Peddler," "In My Hometown," "Be Prepared" ...all when I was a tiny kid.

What off-the-beaten-path music shaped your childhood?

Comments

[wild-irises.livejournal.com]

That is marvelous news.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

It's about a guy who gets stuck on the subway for eternity because they want to charge him an "exit fare" to get off.

And his wife brings him lunch but not the nickel he needs, which is very hmmm.

I was raised on a rich melange of lefty folks songs and murder ballads. Every time I see the name of the author of A Heart Shaped Box, I start humming that stupid song.

[carbonel]

I knew "Charlie on the MTA" from summer camp and temple retreats, both of which had singing sessions after meals.

The song you refer to as a Child ballad, I knew as "The Mermaid," and again was a summer camp song. Here's the words that I'm familiar with, though I'm seriously dubious about the authorial attribution:
http://www.tsrocks.com/m/molly_maguire_texts/the_mermaid.html

I loved "Green Grow the Rushes-O" (another camp song), but I kept nibbling at the meaning of it, too. Wrote about it in MINNEAPA, way back when.

I never heard "Thais" until I started going to science fiction conventions; it's one of Juanita Coulson's standards. I love the rhyme scheme, too.

I can't remember learning much music from my father, but my mother was an occasional source of songs when we went driving. I learned "We don't give a damn for the whole state of Michigan (we're from Illinois)" from her, and the parody version of the Notre Dame fight song ("Cheers, cheers for old Notre Dame; you take the notre, I'll take the dame"), and similar college-related songs.

My mother also had a party piece she did in a funny voice about "Oscar, the pet mountain lion" (who ate all the family, one by one, and then they came back when Oscar burped) that she could only be induced to do on car trips. I think (in retrospect) she was embarrassed to do it when other adults were present.

My father, on the other hand, introduced me to the Midnight Special (a folk music show in Chicago), and we occasionally had do-it-yourself Midnight Special nights when he would pull out pieces from his record library and play selections.

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

Off the top of my head, there's "I'm A Lonely Little Petunia In An Onion Patch".

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

My dad "couldn't sing", but he had a wonderful tuneless rumble. When he was brushing our teeth, he used to sing "Stand up, stand up for cleaning" to the tune of "Stand up, stand up for Jesus". I don't remember the rest of his words, however.

Mum taught us the Queen's University fight song in Gaelic (which was odd, since she neither attended Queen's nor spoke/studied Gaelic), the cheers and taunts from her alma mater "Knit one, purl two, Victoria, yoo hoo!",

There once was a farmer who took a young miss
In back of the barn to give her a
Lecture on chickens and eggs,
And told her she had the most beautiful
Manners that suited a girl of her charms,
A girl that he wanted to take in his
Washing and ironing and then if she did
They could get married and raise lots of
Sweet violets, sweeter than the roses,
Covered all over from head to toe,
Covered all over with sweet violets.

Also, for some reason, my mother was very fond of the country song Your Cheatin' Heart.

In the early 70s, our family took up with a hockey team of young women who used to sing with guitars in our living room. I had huge crushes on some of them, and I have reason to believe my mother did too. The songs most evocative of that experience for me were "Mandy was a Bahama girl" and "Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine" (words and music by Randy Sparks, recorded by John Denver).

We also listened (because Mum owned the stereo) to Jesus Christ Superstar, to the BeeGees before they were disco, and to a calypso Christmas album which I wish I could find on CD.

George and I used to sing "There's a hole in my bucket", for obvious reasons, and Keith and I used to sing the Sesame Street duet "Manumanuh".

And Ann played Stairway to Heaven on the bassoon. How's that for off the beaten path?

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

I totally associate "Charlie and the MTA" with your father, actually. I remember singing it with you and him. :)

The songs I go back to are songs from Girl Scout camp. Almost every time my sister and I are together, we end up singing some, and asking each other about lyrics and whatnot. My sister is incredibly good at remembering lyrics of songs she heard once or twice when she was a kid (she said this doesn't apply to stuff from later years). The last time she was here it was the song "Chicken":

C, that's the way it begins,
H, I'm the second letter in,
I, I am the third and
C, I'm the fourth letter in that word, oh-
K, I'm filling in,
E, I'm nearing the N
Oh, C H I C K E N
That's the way you spell chicken!

Oh, Rufus Ruff-us Johnson Brown,
Whatcha gonna do when the rent comes round?
Whatcha gonna say,
Whatcha gonna play,
Whatcha gonna do on the judgment day?
Oh, you know I know
Rent means dough,
Landlord gonna throw you out in the snow,
Oh, Rufus Ruff-us Johnson Brown,
Whatcha gonna do when the rent comes round?

Her boyfriend was.... stunned.

You could *completely* keep up with us in these discussions, *and* add to the mix.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

You could *completely* keep up with us in these discussions, *and* add to the mix.

Girl Scout camp songs!!

Do you sing them to Elena? When Alex was teeny tiny, I used to sing her every song I knew that had hand motions - mostly songs from Camp Comstock.

Remember this one? Or was this one from when I went to Comstock as a counselor, instead of from when we were kids?

Every morning at half past eight
I go "ooie ooie ooie" to Georgie
And every morning at half past eight
He goes "ooie ooie ooie" to me
No need to shout, no need to call
But as I rub my eyes
I open the window, pop out my head
And "ooie ooie ooie" goes Georgie.

Every morning at half past eight
I go "ooie ooie ooie" to Georgie
And every morning at half past eight
He goes "ooie ooie ooie" to me
No need to shout, no need to call
But as I rub my eyes
I open the window, pop out my head
Down falls the window, off rolls my head
And "ooie ooie ooie" goes Georgie.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Oh! And did you know that there really was a Princess Pat Light Infantry?

No, really. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Patricia's_Canadian_Light_Infantry)

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I never heard "Thais" until I started going to science fiction conventions; it's one of Juanita Coulson's standards. I love the rhyme scheme, too.

I never met anyone else who knew it!

It further supports my belief that my father was meant to be a science fiction fan, and just never knew it. He loves filks (although he doesn't know them by that name), puns, and obscure bits of trivia; he invented his own system of notation for describing ludicrously large numbers; he would absolutely understand the concept of correcting someone to be polite...

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

And his wife brings him lunch but not the nickel he needs, which is very hmmm.

That is exactly what I've wondered about every time I heard the song.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I remember how pleased I was when I worked that out, and running to my father to ask him why Charlie's wife didn't put a nickel inside the sandwich. I felt soooo clever. My father, bless his heart, didn't let on that it wasn't a new idea to him.

[ex-helygen254.livejournal.com]

C - that's the way it begins, and
H - that's the next letter in,
I - you're in the middle of the word, and
C - you've already heard, and
K - now you're nearing the end, and
E - now you're nearing the N,
C-H-I-C-K-E-N, oh, that's how you spell clap clap chicken!

Rufus Rustus Johnson Brown, oh,
Whatcha gonna do when the rain comes down?
Whatcha gonna do, oh, whatcha gonna say, oh,
Whatcha gonna do when the rain comes your way?
Now, you know, and I know, and everybody knows,
That you can't pay the rent if you ain't got the dough.
Rufus Rustus Johnson Brown, oh,
Whatcha gonna do when the rain comes down?

Girl Guides in Scarborough (Toronto), Ontario.

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

I *don't* remember that one. Though it sounds good.

Let's see, off the top of my head: Middies, Bloomers; The Princess Pat; A Ram Sam Sam; Just a girl and a boy, in a little canoe.... (I like that one).

I've been known to get "Anna Botsford Comstock" stuck in my head for *weeks* at a time.

I totally need to start singing these to Elena. She's a little bored with some of the songs I sing her. :)

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

(If it's not obvious, I don't remember the Georgie one - I don't know how this comment got here.... *grin*)

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

She was in Scollay Square. That was the area of the burlesque houses.

(Since that time, the neighborhood has gone downhill -- they put in a Brutalist monstrosity of a City Hall, and it's now called "Government Center".)

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

At one point, I attempted to contact the children of Walter O'Brien to find out about the rest of his campaign songs besides that one. He had an eleven-point platform, and had a folk-song for each one. That's the only one that has really survived.

Um. They emailed me back, but I never followed up.

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

Welllll did he ever retern, no, he never returned...

Yeah, anyway.

We had a lot of Peter, Paul, and Mary songs (many of which were of course old folk songs), so I have "John Henry" and "All My Trials" and such in my head. Also, Simon and Garfunkle. Those guys did some really singable hits.

Also, my brother and I danced to _The Sting_ soundtrack a lot.

[ink-monkey.livejournal.com]

My mother used to sing me and my brother "The Lumberjack Song" and "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" to get us to quit crying when we were little. She regretted it once we got to preschool; the teacher asked if anyone knew any songs, I didn't know the meaning of the word 'discretion' and the whole thing ended with a phone call to my mother, who was absolutely appalled. I still start humming it when I get bored.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Curse you! Now I've got "Middies, Bloomers" stuck in my head. I can only fight back with:

Anna Botsford Comstock, to thy name we sing
As we sit 'round the campfire each night
And gladly in chorus our voices do ring
While o'er us the heavens shine bright
And the work that you've done
We will still carry on
With a will that is lasting and true
'Neath the hills and the trees, by the lake that you loved
We will always remember you.

Did you ever know who Anna Botsford Comstock actually was? She was one of the great American naturalists, and she wrote a Handbook of Nature Study (http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Nature-Study-Botsford-Comstock/dp/0801493846) that's still in print. "The work that you loved" is nature study, and teaching children about nature.

Remember "Billboards?"

One day as I was walking, one dark and dreary day
I came upon a billboard, and much to my dismay
The sign was torn and tattered from the storm the night before
The wind and rain had done its job, and this is what I saw:
Smoke Coca-Cola cigarettes, drink Wrigley's Spearmint beer
Ken-L-Ration dog food makes your wife's complexion clear
Simonize your baby with a Hershey's candy bar
And Pepsi-Cola beauty cream is worn by all the stars
So take your next vacation in a brand-new Frigidaire
Learn to play the piano in your father's underwear
Doctors say that babies should smoke til they are three
And people over 65 should bathe in Lipton Tea.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's hilarious!

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Was heck, there is a PPLI. I've done joint operations with them.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

What off-the-beaten-path music shaped your childhood?

I think it was almost all off the beaten path. Lots and lots of Irish stuff, like Master McGrath and Molly Malone and The Garden Where the Praties Grow and Kelly From Killane. Then I got into Cub Scouts and learned camp songs like The Bellybutton Song. There were also the Captain Kangaroo songs, like Lonely Little Petunia in an Onion Patch that was mentioned upthread, and Alfred the Airsick Eagle and Sean, Sean, the Lepracauhn, and Angus MacTavish MacFergus Dundee.

After I got into school for a few years I started to learn songs that other kids knew.

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

Oh, I had forgotten that one.

I did look up Anna on the internets, last year maybe. Wikipedia, I think, had a lovely article about her.

The other good source I had for random songs in childhood is the notebook of 60s folk songs my mother used with the guitar - she had written out the lyrics with chords. We used to love paging through it. "Today while the blossom still clings to the vine" and "The Universal Soldier" and things like that. :)

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

Is there also a British one, or is it the Canadian one?

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

I remember our kids reporting on an afternoon at the neighbours'. "They taught us this dance called the Macarena. So we taught them the Time Warp. And they didn't know it! They had never even heard of Rocky Horror! So we're gonna show it to them tomorrow." Um...