Lucia keeps asking me for a song about planets.* I have been working on a composition of my own, but due to my overwhelming affection for the key of A minor, everything sounds like an alternate version of "House of the Rising Sun" or "Greensleeves." I like both of those songs quite a bit, but perhaps music composition is not in my near future...
A quick internet search revealed a fair-sized collection of planet songs, but nothing really appealed to me: either I didn't like the tune** or I hated the rhymes.
Thanks to Lone Star Ma, I now have a planet song I can deal with... and even play on the guitar. The song is one her Lone Star Girl learned in school, and it's to the tune that I know best as "The Ants Go Marching."
The planets revolve around the sun, hurrah, hurrah
The planets revolve around the sun, hurrah, hurrah
The planets revolve around the sun,
And spin on their axis, every one.
And they all go spinning
Around and around they go!
Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, hurrah, hurrah.
Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, hurrah, hurrah
Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars,
All whirling and twirling among the stars.
And they all go spinning
Around and around they go!
Jupiter and Saturn are next in line, hurrah, hurrah
Jupiter and Saturn are next in line, hurrah, hurrah
Jupiter and Saturn are next in line,
Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto make nine.
And they all go spinning
Around and around they go!
*The Basic Nine planets of our solar system. Planet X needs its own song, I think.
**There is a handful of songs I refuse to sing: "Old MacDonald" and "Farmer in the Dell" are two of them. When it comes to songs about farmers or animals, I prefer "I Had a Rooster" or "Fiddle-I-Fee." Even "B-I-N-G-O" is fine with me as a flannel-board story or used with the book by Rosemary Wells.
For the sake of conversation [i.e. lots and lots and lots of comments], which sing-along songs do you like most? Which ones do you like least? Which ones make you prefer the experience of dental work to the torture of listening to the songs?
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13 comments:
If we're talking planet songs then my favorite has to be the one by Animaniacs with the chorus, "It's a great big universe and we're all really puny, we're just tiny little specks about the size of Mickey Rooney". Classic.
Ms Fuse: I will look it up! I'm immediately charmed by the puny/Rooney rhyme.
Here's the Animaniacs song about the Universe: Puny/Rooney
And then one about just the planets:
Planets
Poor Uranus. To me, it's the coolest planet because it rotates on its side, but no matter how you pronounce it, someone's going to snicker.
I'm so glad I was able to help.
Honestly, I am not greatly pestered by any children's songs that I know of except for the kind where elementary school kids take a common pre-school favorite and make the lyrics gross and ghoulish for kicks. I enjoy Raffi and Peter, Paul and Mommy a good deal. The Lone Star Baby is a fan of Skid-a-marink (?) and of The More We Get Together at storytime.
I LOVE IT! Every time I visit I always think of the word, "brilliant." You GO, girl.
I particularly liked "The Cat Came Back" and alternate versions of the Battle Hymn of the Republic when I was a kid. As in...
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,
He is wearing pink pajamas and he's riding in a Ford,
The drawstring's come undone on his pink pajama drawers,
His pants are falling down!
Oh man! I absolutely LOVE House of the Rising Sun AND Greensleeves. I actually had Greensleeves played at my wedding; despite the fact that everyone told me it was a sad and mournful song. I'd just adore hearing how the two, combined, would sound.
Lucia should enjoy the new song. That was also one of my favorite tunes, growing up. Give her a big hug from Birdy ;)
Fun topic! I used to *love* "On Top Of Spaghetti" when I was a kid. I can remember my siblings and I practically screaming it at the top of our lungs when we would have spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. I'm sure my parents were thrilled.
There aren't too many kids songs that drive me crazy (since I'm not really exposed to a lot of kid songs) but I do remember hating some Girl Scout songs as a kid, like "On My Honor" and especially that "silver and gold" song. I had to look it up to remember the words:
Make new friends
But keep the old
One is silver
And the other's gold.
(Repeat 178 times...)
Well, I sing Old McDonald quite frequently also BINGO. I don't mind them. But my three year old also loves both the Barney theme song and ending song. I sing them (what else am I to do?) but I honestly can't tolerate either of them.
Galetea: I too enjoy alternate versions of "Battle Hymn of the Republic"-- my favorite one being all about what you wear to bed:
I wear my pink pajamas in the summer when it's hot,
I wear my flannel nightie in the winter when it's NOT,
And sometimes in the springtime,
And sometimes in the fall,
I jump right in between the sheets with nothing on at all.
Glory, glory, hallelujah,
Glory, glory, what's it to ya?
Balmy breezes blowin' through ya,
With nothing on at all!
Friday: I totally approve. Michelle Shocked sang "The Water is Wide" at her friend's wedding (alluded to in her song "Anchorage"), which has new joyful love, and love growing cold. That's the fluctuation of passionate love, you know?
Goddess: Sometimes familiarity does breed contempt! The only way I know of the silver/gold song is from a book by Rosemary Wells, so I'm not tired of it yet (nor do I even know the tune). "On Top of Spaghetti" is classic. The song I just HATE is "Magic Penny." Trite songs about love that are not sung by ABBA just get on my nerves.
Nonny: You do know the rude, violent version of the Barney theme song, right?! I'm fine with kids (including my own) having tastes in music that differ from mine. I was totally opposed to the "Hokey Pokey" until Lucia loved it so much that I got over my bad self and danced it with her. What gets me about "Old MacDonald" is that it takes forever to get the animal sounds, and quickly becomes dull, dull, dull.
But that's me.
They sing that pink pajamas song at GS camp(:
That violent Barney version is the main song that gets on my nerves.
LSM: I think the "annoy the adults" factor is just gravy for all those songs that children turn into subversive lyrics. It used to be (back when I was a kid, eh) that you didn't sing them around grown-ups. They were secret codes of sorts. While I wouldn't want to listen to them all day long, the folklorist in me kvells to how a lot of children turn naturally to rhyme and composition. If you're ever interested, check out the book I Saw Esau. There's some violence, but there's no Barney!
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