(no subject)

[rivka]

I put Alex to bed about twenty minutes ago. She's up there singing at the top of her lungs:

Well, Joshua was said to be a mighty foe
Cause he marched right up to old Jericho
Blowed his horn and the walls come down
Better not build a wall around your home town.

More four-year-olds should be familiar with the works of the Chad Mitchell Trio. ...Although I think we should probably hold off on teaching her to sing The John Birch Society.

Comments

[lizzibabe.livejournal.com]

Or Lizzie Borden [gryn]

[carbonel]

My mother and I taught my then 3-year-old cousin the chorus to the Salvation Army song when he came over for a weekend to visit:

"Hallelujah, hallelujah,
Throw a nickel on the drum,
Save another drunken bum"

And I learned the Lizzie Borden song early on, though not just the Chad Mitchell Trio version -- also the one that combines a hoedown with the trial.

[wiredferret.livejournal.com]

My kids know Tom Dooley and Johnny Jump Up. But not Long Black Veil because, much as I love to sing it, the morality is problematic.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I have a whole bunch of Irish folk songs I could teach her...

[rivka.livejournal.com]

When I was Alex's age, my father was regaling me with "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" and an extremely bloody song about a mountain climbing accident. (Sung to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, the chorus went "Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die...")

So yeah, I wasn't exactly raised up normal, either.

[sistercoyote.livejournal.com]

The Kingston Trio - MTA, perhaps? Or "With Her Head Tucked Underneath her Arm"

Peter Paul and Mary, naturally.

The New Christy Minstrels had a few good ones, though no titles are occurring to me at the moment.

and also the Limeliters' "Vasectomy" would round things out nicely.

[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

The song I know of with that chorus is "Blood on the Risers" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWgsdexkv18).

[fairoriana.livejournal.com]

Or my favorites, the "I was not a Nazi Polka" and the "Friendly Liberal Neighborhood Klu Klux Klan".

Really, more people should be into the Chad Mitchell Trio.

[fairoriana.livejournal.com]

But I spoke not a word, though it cost my life, for I had been in the arms of my best friend's wife.....

[rivka.livejournal.com]

From a moral standpoint, actually, I have a greater problem with her actions. Yes, it's very touching that she walks these hills in a long black veil, but that wouldn't be necessary if she'd had the moral courage to speak up instead of letting him die to shield her.

[fairoriana.livejournal.com]

Yeah, crying and weeping anonymously is all good, but a little standing up and taking responsibility would've been better.

[redbird]

How are you, and she, on the Weavers?

[(Anonymous)]

I usually lurk, but had to reply to this: the best family dinner I can recall (I think it was last Easter) featured my partner looking up Tom Lehrer songs on his iPhone while my mother, her brother, and my grandparents all sang along.

Apparently family Tom Lehrer sing-alongs have a long and honourable tradition!

-Tariqata

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Aha! The song my dad sung must have been a takeoff on that one, written by and for hikers. It's too similar to be a separate derivation.

"Will it hold around the capstone?" cried the belayer, looking up
Our hero boldly answered "Yes" and then he started up
He had almost reached the summit when his foothold crumbled out
And he ain't gonna climb no more.

Chorus: Gory, gory what a hell of a way to die (3x)
He ain't gonna climb no more.

He rolled on down the friction slope and quickly gathered speed
He shot past his belayer, who'd forgot the climber's creed
An anchor to a piton would be all that he'd ever need
But he ain't gonna climb no more.

The belayer felt the rope go taut and tried to let it run
But it wrapped around his ankle, and he knew his time had come
He left the ledge behind him and it shot up toward the sun
He ain't gonna climb no more.

A ranger in the valley watched them through his telescope
And as they neared the slopes of green, his eyes were filled with hope
For it had been a week or more since the parting of the rope
But they ain't gonna climb no more.

They hit the ground, the sound was "Splat!" The blood went spurting high
A passerby was heard to exclaim "What a colorful way to die!"
And as they lay there bleeding in a welter of their gore
They ain't gonna climb no more.

There was blood upon the rucksacks, there were brains upon the rope
Intestines were entwined about the green and grassy slope
We picked them up in lunchpails after salvaging the rope
They ain't gonna climb no more.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

We've been singing "With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm" to her since she was a toddler. I love that song.

"Charlie on the MTA" is another one I grew up with. Later on I had some Kingston Trio albums, but I still mostly think of it as a Dad song.

Yesterday I inadvertently taught her Tom Paxton's "What Did You Learn In School Today" before I really had time to think it through.