Another ukulele song: “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly”

Whoa! It’s been a long while since I’ve posted a ukulele song, so today I’m posting a song that seems to have become politically incorrect over the past decade or so: “There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly”. Have you noticed that there have been several picture book versions of this song that have come out in which the old lady doesn’t die?

In fact, nobody ever dies in the picture book versions of this song. That doesn’t work for me.

And is it both ageist and sexist? I dunno. I never thought of it that way, but maybe I’m wrong.

I guess it’s probably not a good idea to have anyone die in a picture book, unless it’s a politically correct book like The Fall of Freddie the Leaf (remember that?) or Badger’s Parting Gifts, that explains death to young kids. But I’ve always thought of this song as a goofy song. If you tried swallowing a whole horse (and of course the old lady is not going to cut that horse up into steaks and chops before she swallows it, is she?), you would explode, with a big KA-BOOM. And death by explosion is something even little kids get, I’ve always found.

But I’ve never performed this song for purely toddler or preschool groups, anyway. I’ve always done it for audiences that are at least halfway younger elementary kids - they’re the ones who seem to get it best.

So here I’m including the way I’ve always performed it - very simple strumming and frequent interruptions to shrug, shake my head, and make comments. When you perform it, remember that the song is in 3/4 time, like a waltz, and that it should be sung in as silly a way as you can manage, even when you’re being melodramatically tragic - which I always am when I get to the final verses. I sniff loudly and shake my head as you might imagine a Victorian undertaker would do it.

Have fun with it.

 

“‘Ba-ROOMP,’ said the Little Green Frog”

Here’s another ukulele song I’ve used in storytimes that I’m a little hesitant to post, because after searching for it online this morning, I’m wondering whether it’s as well known as I originally thought it was. I’ve always known this song - and I mean known it since I was a kid going to camp - as “Ba-ROOMP,” said the Little Green Frog”. But when I searched for it on Google, I found lots of variations of the sound the Little Green Frog makes, including sounds like “Mm-ah” and “Mm-mm.”

(Huh? I’ve never heard a frog make a noise with a “mm” sound in it. But, oh, well. I continue to sing what I know, and that’s “Ba-ROOMP.”)

I also found a video on YouTube of a bunch of young teens on a bus singing the “Mm-ah” version to a tune completely different than the one I’ve always sung (which I won’t link to, since I don’t want it messing you up if you want to sing my version). I think I may have to finally bite the bullet and record myself so you can hear my version - otherwise the chords I’m giving here will make no sense.

If the tune you know doesn’t work with my uke chords, please let me know & I will break down & add an MP3 file of me singing it, so you can hear what I think it’s supposed to sound like.

Ah, camp songs - they can be like amoebas that change their form or split into two. It’s the folklore tradition at work. Anyway, this song can be sung to kids of any age, but I find it works best with grades K-5, because older kids pick up the silliness of the “la-de-da-de-dah” verse the best.

 

“This Little Light of Mine” - the ukulele version

Here’s “This Little Light of Mine” - a song that skilfully straddles the line between the sacred and the profane. I’ve found that if you enthusiastically sing the profane version (provided here) of the song in library storytimes, it lifts up kids and adults alike and makes everyone feel good. It grabs wandering kids’ attentions, and brings a group back together. I’ve used it successfully in many a baby program and toddler time as well.

As everyone knows, “This Little Light of Mine” is a gospel song, but many educators have used it with kids in public schools with the religious references removed. Where I’ve worked, I’ve sung it dozens of times, and no one has objected when I sing it this way. I suppose it’s possible that someone might, though, so use your best judgment. (Here’s a link to the original, from the HigherPraise.com site, with a different set of chords as well as lyrics.)

You’ll notice, for example, that in the original, the words are:

Won’t let Satan blow it out, I’m gonna let it shine.
Won’t let Satan blow it out, I’m gonna let it shine.
Won’t let Satan blow it out, I’m gonna let it shine,
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Whereas I’ve always sung it:

Won’t let anyone blow it out, I’m gonna let it shine…

You’ll also notice that I’ve added several new uke chords: besides C, F, G7, and C7, we now have E7, A7, and D7, too. Practice a bit and you’ll find they aren’t too tough. The hardest chord for many people is D7, a “barre chord,” in which you’ll need to press your left index finger over the second fret all the way across the neck, adding the middle finger to the first string, third fret. Good luck and have fun!

 

“I’ve Been Working on the Railroad”

It’s been a while since I’ve posted another ukulele song. So here’s “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” - it’s a preschool storytime standard, and babies and toddlers like it too. Wikipedia defines “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” as “an American folk song” that came out of this country’s uncomfortable minstrel-show tradition, and the Wikipedia article about the song cites both the lyrics to the modern version that everybody knows, plus a late nineteenth-century version of the song in “dialect,” with racist lyrics. Needless to say, this “original” version of the song is no longer sung.

I looked it up because the lyrics to this song always seemed to me as if they were from two songs stuck together - and it turns out that it’s true. The “Someone’s in the kitchen with Dinah” section - which really doesn’t make much sense when you sing the song, but who cares, I guess - is evidently part of an earlier song that was somehow incorporated into “Railroad.”

The chording adds the simple C7 chord to the C, F, and G7 ukulele chords we’ve been using all along, but if you’re a beginner, you’ll be changing chords a little faster than usual in some places. Have fun!

 

A good “Song of the Month” site

I’ve been posting songs here for a while, but I always want to point the way to other good sites that can enhance the list of songs you have at hand. Through Alkelda the Gleeful’s “Saints and Spinners” blog, I found the site of Nancy Stewart, a children’s singer/performer in Alkelda’s home town of Seattle. Take a look.

One of the things I like best about Nancy’s site is her “Song of the Month” feature, which includes a downloadable music file to help you learn the song. (I need to do start doing that to encourage more uke players.) Since Nancy uses the guitar, some of her songs are in uke-unfriendly keys, but once you know the basic C - G7 - F sequence I’ve been using here, you’ll find that it isn’t that hard to change the song from F or A or whatever to the C chords.

To help you, here’s a link to a comprehensive chart of ukulele chords - a nice one that prints out easily on two sheets of paper, from uke teacher Michelle Kiba. Have fun, and please tell me about any great songs you learn.

I recommend “Sticky Bubblegum,” which is great with K - 3 elementary kids, and she has created or adapted a lot of simple new songs that will fit in with lots of topics that don’t have well-known songs suited to the needs of children’s programs. Want a song about the Islamic holiday Ramadan, or one about igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks, or a song especially designed for use with egg shakers? She has one of each of them, and more.

 

Jungle Bells

Here’s a goofy seasonal song, “Jungle Bells,” that I made up, and started performing, about twelve years ago. I would bring out a big gray elephant puppet during my December children’s programs, who would tell the kids, in a deep, pompous tone of voice, how he had come all the way from Africa to sing them “our famous and extremely best-known holiday song from the hottest and stickiest jungles.” It’s a very silly take-off on that most common of secular holiday songs.

I tried to include some hints on how I’ve performed it in storytimes, and all I ask copyright-wise is if you reproduce it anywhere in print or online, please include my name as the author of the lyrics. Have fun.*

While we’re talking about music and its value with kids, I wanted to mention a book by Jackie Silberg and Cheryl Kirk Noll that I’ve found useful for musical program ideas for young children - The I Can’t Sing Book (Brilliant Publications, 2000). It includes lots of ways to introduce children to the mechanics of music - rhythms, tones, instruments, and games and activities that relate music to math and language skills, as well as the normal patterns of child development. A quote:

Children begin feeling and sensing rhythmic patterns at a very early age. A parent told me, “My baby adores music. Whenever I sing to her or play music, she jumps up and down in her crib, coos, dances, and giggles.”

It’s a great book for exposing parents and teachers who think they “aren’t musical” to the very real academic benefits of music.

*Thanks to Farida Dowler for making up a PDF version of the song for me.

 

“Twinkle, Twinkle” medley

Time for one of my favorite storytime songs - or groups of songs, really - The “Twinkle, Twinkle” medley. It’s actually three songs, all of which have the same tune and exactly the same chords. You can sing them individually, or all together, or in any combination that strikes your fancy: “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” “ABC,” and “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep.”

All three of these songs use those same old C, F, and G7 chords you should know well by now, just to keep things nice and simple. I hope that you enjoy singing all three of them with the ukulele as much as I do.

 

The More We Get Together

This song, “The More We Get Together,” is my favorite song to start off baby lap times and toddler storytimes. I sing it, strum my ukulele, and try not to think about Barney the purple you-know-what. I’m simply glad that most parents and caregivers seem to know this song, and it gets them right into singing. Since it’s so short and simple, I always sing it twice. The youngest children, of course, will always benefit from hearing a song or rhyme more than once.

I’m finally making a break from the key of C for this song, offering it to you in the key of G instead. The G chord on a uke is very similar to G7, and will be an easy transition once you learn the G7 chord. The D chord, with three fingers close together on the same fret, is a thornier matter, particularly if you have a hand, like mine, with thick fingers. If you are lucky and have slender fingers, it should be a fairly easy chord to master. On the chord sheet, however, I tell you how to substitute C and G7 for G and D.

I notice that people are visiting my uke chord pages, but nobody’s leaving comments on whether the songs I’m offering are of any use to them. Please, let me know if they’re useful and if I should be changing anything. Thanks.

 

Chimp played the ukulele, in 1917

Ahem. Well, this isn’t exactly a library-related story, but it’s uke-related, and pretty funny. Back in 1917, the New York Times published a story about a chimp (called “a monkey” in the headline) at the Bronx Zoo named Fannie who was crazy about the ukulele.

She was given the ukulele by a little girl, and evidently loved to play it. The other apes in the zoo, however, weren’t as fond of the sound of Fannie playing as she was, and one of them, an orangutan named Gumbo, stole it away. (Simply jealous, I’m sure.) But when the keepers recovered it for her after a five-minute chase, Fannie was overjoyed:

Her joy,” said the keeper, “was marked. She hugged her beloved ukulele to her breast, and, taking it into a secluded corner, began to go over it with her paws. Satisfied that it was not broken, she began to test each string, and as each note sounded out she grunted her satisfaction.”

So there we go - a lesson for all readers of this blog who haven’t yet picked up a uke and played it in storytime, because they tell themselves, “Oh, I can’t play an instrument.” If a chimpanzee can play the ukulele, so can you!

 

Another Song: “Illy Ally O”

Since it’s been a while since I found and posted a serendipitous paragraph from one of our early childhood education books, I wanted to add one about using music with young children. It’s actually parts of two paragraphs, from a book I recommend, Hope Vestergaard’s Weaving the Literacy Web. The author gives lots of recommendations for ways that anyone working with young children can use stories, music, creative dramatics, and art to enrich their environments in ways that stimulate literacy development. All of us working with young children know that rhythms, rhymes, chants, and songs all help a young child understand how language works, as well as raising or quieting a child’s emotional state:

Infants and toddlers benefit greatly from exposure to music. Music and movement are important for children’s emotional well-being and physical development. Babies can be sensitive to environmental factors, so be sure that music choices (when to play it, what to play, how loud, etc.) take into consideration the children’s immediate needs….

Preschoolers love to create and listen to all kinds of music; they will physically respond to music by quickening their pace, etc., so teachers can use music to set the tone for classroom activities…

And for storytime activities, too. The best kind of music is the kind you sing and play live, so I’m adding another song to my list, “Illy Ally O.” What does Illy Ally O mean? Is it a poetic way of saying the ocean, or one of the seven seas? I don’t know, and I don’t really care, to tell the truth. But it’s a fun song to add to any story you read or tell about the ocean, ships, or pirates.