Thursday, November 29, 2007

Song of the Week: All Around the Kitchen


Today's post shall be brief, as we're all busy reading MotherReader's Carnival of Children's Literature: the Tips Edition. Therefore, it's fitting that today's song of the week only requires one chord: A minor. You could throw in another chord if you liked (C chord), but if you're a new guitarist who wants to march your storytime audience around the room with much singing and dancing, then grab your guitar-strap, play your A minor chord, and start singing "All Around the Kitchen." For the video of Dan Zanes singing "All Around the Kitchen," click here. The basic lyrics are thus:

Chorus
All around the kitchen
Cock-a-doodle-doodle-doo
All around the kitchen
Cock-a-doodle-doodle-doo
All around the kitchen
Cock-a-doodle-doodle-doo
All around the kitchen
Cock-a-doodle-doodle-doo

Verse
Well you stop right there
(cock-a-doodle-doodle-doo)
Put your hands in the air
(cock-a-doodle-doodle-doo)
Then you jump up and down
(cock-a-doodle-doodle-doo)
And you turn all around
(cock-a-doodle-doodle-doo)

All around the kitchen...

When I play the song, I strum for "All around the kitchen..." and then during the verses that I make up, I drum on my guitar. As the chorus starts up again, I resume strumming. However, you do what works for you. Play it in E minor instead of A minor if that's easier. This is the perfect song for beginning guitarists. TadMack and Adrienne, I'm looking at you (cock-a-doodle-doodle-doo). My daughter loves to dance to this song and gets furious with me when I stop.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Uh, oh! It's a good thing I started practicing again! :)

ElsKushner said...

Oh, this looks like a really good song! Maybe I'd better borrow my spouse's guitar and start learning...

Thanks for doing these Songs of the Week!

Saints and Spinners said...

Adrienne: Sometimes the hardest thing about playing the guitar is picking it up after it's been sitting around for awhile.

Bookbk: It's an excellent idea.:) And you're welcome.

xxxxxx said...

Oh no! I remember this song from first grade and the music teacher was positively *evil*! (please don't delete me for using these words! It was a long time ago!) and I was afraid of her. We all had to dance to this song, OVER AND OVER and OVER!!!
Kind of like how The Pina Colada Song wasn't so bad until they overplayed it.

Saints and Spinners said...

Diana: Don't worry! Sam Riddleburger said that "Lonely Little Petunia" drove him crazy. I will never post "Magic Penny" as a SOTW unless I have some arch story to share-- I dislike it A LOT, and over-repetition has only something to do with it. I feel badly that your music teacher was such a menace.. Music and art teachers are supposed to be the fun teachers, not the villains, and it sounds as if you got a bum deal.