Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Song of the Week: Ten Tiny Turtles


Everyone knows what a fan I am of the Sesame Street song Ladybugs' Picnic by Don Hadley and Bud Luckey with its dependable I,IV,V chord pattern plus the section of the song that is just asking for special sound-effects (knocking on the guitar during the part about "knock knock jokes"). The song I enjoy almost as much is Hadley's and Luckey's unabashedly vegetarian Ten Tiny Turtles:


A
One, two, three, four, five,
E
six, seven, eight, nine, ten

Ten tiny turtles on the telephone,
A
talking to the grocery man

"We would like some lettuce,
D
will you send us ten heads please,
A
And ten sweet potatoes, and ten rutabagas
E A
with the dimples on their knees.

 
 
And send us 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 artichokes
Ten eggplants over easy--that's one of our little jokes ( ha ha ha )
Ten leafy, leafy collard greens and please make sure they're washed
Light up our eyes, brighten our lives with ten banana squash.

We'll need ten cans of black-eyed peas,
they give you good strong muscles
Ten of those tasty sprouts, the ones that they call brussels
We'd also like ten mangos, they're the favorite of our sister Gert
And one last thing please do include ten apples for dessert--

10!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Word up! We love both of these. I think I have to give the edge to the turtles, but the Ladybugs have that great line:
"They played jump rope
but the rope it broke..."

Another favorite SS song:
There are Chickens in the Trees

Saints and Spinners said...

Mr Riddleburger: Chickens in the Trees? I don't know that one! I'll have to look it up. Re: Ladybug Picnic, there's also the part about "fire insurance for ladybugs," referring to the "Ladybug, ladybug" rhyme. It gets me every time. Of course, those 10 tiny turtles also slay me with the "10 eggplants over easy."

I am easily amused.

Saints and Spinners said...

P.S. For those interested, here is a link to "Chickens in the Trees":

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Tvv5gL1pGb0

xxxxxx said...

O*MY*goodness! I forgot all about that but I remember absolutely loving those turtles!
Now if I could only find that bit about "a loaf of bread, a container of milk, and a stick of butter..." that was something we thought was hysterical as kids...

Saints and Spinners said...

Diana-- It's ringing a bell...
Here it is!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFy2jHSIOKA

xxxxxx said...

Alkelda,
my kids and I are having a blast looking at these old things! When I opened that the first time for a minute there it was 1974 and I was jumping on the couch eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich waiting until 11:30 so I could go to kindergarten.
I totally forgot about the 4 armed guru...I used to think that was all so beautiful!