Page 4 | Dragons live forever, but not so little boys

MossGrowsFat · 2022-10-12T22:00:29+00:00

Aibu to reject the suggestion that this summers leavers sing Puff the Magic Dragon? Not least because of the drug reference, but because the parents will weep?

Cheeseandcrackers86 · 14/10/2022 16:08

It's a very sweet song that I think is ultimately about growing up and moving on (not drugs haha) In that sense I think it's a lovely choice. However yeh I think perhaps something more focussed on the uplifting elements of growing up would be a better choice

fudgefiesta · 14/10/2022 16:55

MoniJitchell · 14/10/2022 07:57

My dd left primary last year and they sang When I Grow Up from Matilda the musical, Good Riddance(Time of your Life) by Green Day with the lyrics changed and finished with I Want to Break Free by Queen. Not a dry eye in the house at When I Grow Up - that's the point of a leavers assembly surely?

They seem to sing "when I grow up" at all my DCs school events and it makes me cry every time. I think "good riddance" would have the same effect too!

troppibambini6 · 14/10/2022 17:09

The aim of our leavers mass is to make the parents cry I think!

Our kids all came fro the front of the church and gave their mums a white rose to say thank you for helping and guiding them through primary and then sang The prayer.

Not a dry eye in the house.

Depends on the vibe you're going for OP.

Dragons live forever, but not so little boys

billycat321 · 14/10/2022 17:40

We had to make do with Lord dismiss us with thy blessing!

billycat321 · 14/10/2022 17:42

or One more Step into the World I Go

Cheeseandcrackers86 · 14/10/2022 17:49

billycat321 · 14/10/2022 17:42

or One more Step into the World I Go

Nothing wrong with one more step along the world it's a belter of a song 🤣🥰 and very fitting words

JestersTear · 14/10/2022 19:50

FuzzyPuffling · 14/10/2022 07:21

There was a really sad song about Noah's Ark and the unicorns who wouldn't go in, and the "stood on the rocks and cried". I loathed that as a kid and it always made me cry...I used to switch off the radio when it came on.
Anyone else remember it?

I actually own the record of this, it's called 'The Unicorn Song'.

A long time ago, when the earth was still green
And there were more kinds of animals than you've ever seen
They'd run around free while the earth was being born
But the loveliest of all was the unicorn
There was green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty-backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born
The loveliest of all was the unicorn
Now god seen some sinnin' and it gave him pain
And he says, "stand back, I'm going to make it rain"
He says, "hey, brother Noah, I'll tell you what to do
Build me a floating zoo"
And take some of them green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty-backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born
Don't you forget my unicorn"
Old Noah was there to answer the call
He finished up making the ark just as the rain started fallin'
He marched in the animals two by two
And he called out as they went through
"Hey, Lord"
I've got your green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty-backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but Lord, I'm so forlorn
I just can't see no unicorn"
Then Noah looked out through the driving rain
Them unicorns was hiding, playing silly games
Kicking and splashing while the rain was pouring
Oh, them silly unicorns
There was green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty-backed camels and some chimpanzees
Noah cried, "close the doors 'cause the rain is pourin'
And we just can't wait for no unicorns"
The ark started movin', it drifted with the tide
Them unicorns looked up from the rock and they cried
And the waters came down and sort of floated them away
And that's why you'll never see a unicorn, to this very day
You'll see green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty-backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born
You're never gonna see no unicorn
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Shel Silverstein
The Unicorn lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc

FuzzyPuffling · 14/10/2022 20:23

LINABE · 14/10/2022 15:52

Was it along the lines of:
'The Animals went in two by two, Hurrah,Hurrah
The Animals went in two by two, Hurrah,Hurrah
The Animals went in two by two, the Elephant and the Kangaroo,
and they all went into the Arc...'
..something like that?

Show quote history

No, it's not that one, although I do remember that too.

FuzzyPuffling · 14/10/2022 20:24

JestersTear · 14/10/2022 19:50

I actually own the record of this, it's called 'The Unicorn Song'.

A long time ago, when the earth was still green
And there were more kinds of animals than you've ever seen
They'd run around free while the earth was being born
But the loveliest of all was the unicorn
There was green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty-backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born
The loveliest of all was the unicorn
Now god seen some sinnin' and it gave him pain
And he says, "stand back, I'm going to make it rain"
He says, "hey, brother Noah, I'll tell you what to do
Build me a floating zoo"
And take some of them green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty-backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born
Don't you forget my unicorn"
Old Noah was there to answer the call
He finished up making the ark just as the rain started fallin'
He marched in the animals two by two
And he called out as they went through
"Hey, Lord"
I've got your green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty-backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but Lord, I'm so forlorn
I just can't see no unicorn"
Then Noah looked out through the driving rain
Them unicorns was hiding, playing silly games
Kicking and splashing while the rain was pouring
Oh, them silly unicorns
There was green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty-backed camels and some chimpanzees
Noah cried, "close the doors 'cause the rain is pourin'
And we just can't wait for no unicorns"
The ark started movin', it drifted with the tide
Them unicorns looked up from the rock and they cried
And the waters came down and sort of floated them away
And that's why you'll never see a unicorn, to this very day
You'll see green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty-backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born
You're never gonna see no unicorn
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Shel Silverstein
The Unicorn lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc

Show quote history

Waaaahhhhhh........<weeps>

JestersTear · 14/10/2022 23:53

hehe, sorry FuzzyPuffling

Original poster

MossGrowsFat · 15/10/2022 00:02

Shitting hell you lot, I'm in actual floods. I'd never heard slipping through my fingers, and with the poem and the prayer and the crying unicorns floating away I'm done in.

Tears at leavers is one thing, snotty body sobs is another. I'm going to veto it.

OP posts:

5foot5 · 15/10/2022 01:00

I only ever did one dancing exam and that was pre-preliminary tap, in about 1972.

My exam piece was done to Puff the Magic Dragon. So in my head it goes:

Shuffle stamp, shuffle stamp, shuffle stamp, shuffle stamp, step, toe behind and jump, clap.

That was just the introduction. There was a bit more shuffle stamping after that I think but the rest of the choreography is lost in the mists of time.

I did pass. But only just.

leccybill · 15/10/2022 01:06

DorotheaDiamond · 13/10/2022 06:58

Our school did “slipping through my fingers”…I started weeping at the first note! And not even my Dc leaving. Puff would destroy me!

Oh I could not!

PetraBP · 16/10/2022 20:08

DH was at school in the north in the 90s and there the word “puff” is pronounced the same as a derogatory word for an effeminate gay man.

There was a version that he knew from school that went something like:

“Puff the magic dragon lived on a shelf.
He had no-one to play with so he played with himself.
He got himself a girlfriend, but that was not enough…
So he got himself a boyfriend and that’s why the called him Puff!”

He had never heard the real version until I played it to him.

It made him well up…

Cheeseandcrackers86 · 16/10/2022 20:21

It's weird. I kid you not my 4.5YO went down a YT rabbithole several weeks ago (so well before this thread was started) and watched only once a video of 'puff the magic dragon'. Tonight with absolutely no prompting she's randomly said 'mummy I never want to watch that video with the flying dragon again' I asked what she meant and she said 'the one where the boy plays with the dragon and toys then he dies and never comes back again. I never want to hear it again it's so sad' I think if an (albeit quite intuitive) 4YO can be that affected by hearing it once then my goodness it could destroy you all to play it at the leaver's ceremony haha x

GuyMontag · 16/10/2022 20:26

Agree it should be banned. That and fucking Bright Eyes.

Iknownothing · 16/10/2022 20:32

My dds school did ‘when I grow up’ and I was a mess - the bit where about being ‘strong enough to carry all the heavy things you have to haul around as a grown up’ gets me every time.

Savingpeoplehuntingthings · 16/10/2022 20:45

I think it's a great song for leavers assembly.

Dds sang It's been a long day by Charlie Puth with altered words.
Not a dry eye from anyone in the room because they also tortured us with hundreds of photos on a big screen of every child from reception to year 6!

5128gap · 16/10/2022 20:45

At mine we had a specially adapted version of seasons in the sun!
'Farewell to you my trusted friends
Our time together has reached its end
Together we've climbed hills and trees
Learned to love our ABCs
Oh School name, its hard to say Goodbye
When all the birds are singing in the sky
Now that summers in the air
Little children everywhere
Think of me and I'll be there'
Followed by Bridge Over Troubled Water. Puff would have been quite uplifting.

DarkShade · 16/10/2022 20:58

I have found my people! Never gave this song much thought but I thought about it a few days after first DC was born and could not stop sobbing. Still cannot listen to it without crying. DP was shocked as I never cry, and tried an "I understand, you are upset about how fast DS is growing already". Through sobs I tried - unsuccessfully - to explain that no, I was absolutely gutted for that dragon!

Augend23 · 16/10/2022 21:10

I feel like there's a balancing act between making the parents cry, and making them sob buckets inelegantly which is probably not the aim and definitely the camp I would be in if that was the leavers' assembly song.

dunkery · 17/10/2022 14:42

High Hopes would be a much better song.

Comtesse · 17/10/2022 17:07

I am crying just reading this thread my god why am I so soft?? High Hopes (Frank Sinatra) version would be really fun.

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams · 17/10/2022 17:24

I've heard "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" for an infant choir. Complete with bubble blowing.

I don't think the children really understood the lyrics (and I'm not sure the teacher did either!).

BloodyHellKen · 17/10/2022 17:42

I can remember hearing this song on TV when I was about 5 and crying my eyes out but I don't know the words and have never heard it since.

We had 'When I grow up' from Matilda when my daughter left primary school. I'm the sort of person who has to pinch themselves at funerals to squeeze out a few tears so I don't look heartless but even I was welling up 😥