For those of you who were at Primary School in the 80's

[Tequilamockinbird]

Would you like to reminisce with me about school assemblies?

DH and I were talking about the 'Come and Praise' book, and singing remembering the songs.

Does anyone else remember songs such as Autumn Days and Cross over the road my friend? Which others were there?

What about "where have all the flowers gone?" Very depressing. About soldiers dying, being buried and becoming part of the flowers Iirc.

I remember most of these despite being a 90s child.

We used to sing a Christmas one which went:

Come and join the celebration
It's a very special day
Come and share our jubilation
There's a new king born today

and when I was really little the first two words always sounded like "Carman" to me - I thought it was somebody's name, and in the Disney film of the Aristocats, the woman who owns the cats dances around to some music and says "Oh Carmen, my favourite opera!" and I thought it was the same thing

I remember the one on the first page about a knight returning home with valour - this was one we sang at our second primary school as a treat if we had been especially good

I loved the love is like a magic penny one, though I was a bit confused and remembered thinking if that means that if I share my Piggo (soft toy pig I slept with) and lend him around, I'll end up with lots of him, but actually I don't want lots, I only want him, and I don't want to share him either :( - but feeling that this was somehow selfish!

The weirdest one was at my first primary school in about year 5, which would have been 1998. I posted about it ages ago on facebook and nobody remembered it except a few people from my school. We came to the conclusion one of the teachers had written it! It went on about how we'd had the stone age and the ice age etc etc and now things were great because we were in the age of the chip! (And then got confused with itself as to whether it meant computer chips or potato chips. Possibly this was meant to be ironic but it was lost on a 10 year old.)

We'll intrude together BeyondLimits

I'm trying desperately to remember the other "special" one we got at Primary for being good.

Ahh I remembered it!! Did anyone else sing "The Gypsy Rover"? It went:

Ah dee do ah dee do da day
Ah dee do ah dee day dee
He whistled and sang
Til the greenwoods rang
And he won the heart of a laaaaaaaaaaaydee

DP wrote a song when he was about 7 which became the school song. Can you imagine the humiliation? His mother still has a cassette tape of him singing it which she brings out at every opportunity (And I had to pretend to be impressed by while trying not to crack up and also listening to what has degenerated into a load of fuzz)

DD2 has just started at a C of E primary. she came home singing "one more step along the road I go". It is now an earworm, I cannot get rid of it, it has found me again after 30 years...
Only skimmed through, have we done "Go Tell It On The mountain" yet? (I thought it was " go tellies on the mountain", like a news report)
And "Oh Jesus I have Promised" with a kind of syncopated cowboyish beat?
"Cross Over the Road, My friend"?

Wow, have been transported right back!

Ones mentioned that have really taken me there:

Think of a world without any flowers
When a Knight won his spurs
Streets of London

So many memories, and has made me a little for my best friend at primary school with whom I used to sing along....

brilliant thread, so many memories!
Rock I just went back in time -speed bonnie boat ! what about "ye banks and braes"?

Ah little donkey too!
Staying on a christmassy note how about "oh little town of Bethlehem"

Also we used to sing one at Christmas that went
"let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me,
Let there be peace on earth the peace that was meant to be
With god as our father brothers all are we
Let me walk with my brother in perfect har-mon-y"

Dont think ive seen it on this thread yet, or maybe ive seen it but a different verse?

'Go tell it on the mountains...over the hills and far awaaaaay, go tell it on the mountain Jesus christ was born todaaaay'

Anyone remember that one?

Also 'Little boxes'

'Little boxes on the hillside...little boxes made of ticky tacky'

Loved the Magic penny, little donkey, lord of the dance and others already mentioned here.

What was that 'when you were naked' one?

Loved Little Boxes, they used it for the first couple of series of Weeds as the theme tune (think it might have orginally been Joni Mitchel or someone?). As a child, I don't think I really understood it but as an adult sitting in a newish built house amongst other houses of the same size and style, with the cars on the drive and the gardening at the weekend I fully get it now :)

The naked one was:
"When I needed a neighbour, were you there were you there, when I needed a neighbour were you there?
And the creed and the colour and the name don't matter, were you there
I was cold i was naked were you there, were you there etc etc"

Ah, Amberleaf, 'Little boxes' although having just googled it, I'm sure I don't remember singing all those verses in school about lawyers and martinis etc etc!

Loving this thread

Can anyone remember the words to Little Donkey? I want to sing it to my self DD.

I'll add 'Go, the mass is over, go into the world' always sung with great gusto because it meant mass had finished.

And:
We're off, we're off,
We're off in a motor car,
60 coppers are after us,
And they don't know where we are.

We fell, we fell,
We fell down a dirty well.........

Or something along those lines

Im goinggggg, to paint a perrrrrfect pictureeeeee, a world offfffffffff make beeeelieveee, nooooooo more sufferinggggggg

These are great, I'm slightly older left primary in '79 so the serious hymns I sung at school and the more modern stuff mainly at Guide campfires. This little light of mine I'm going to let it shine, hide it under a bush oh no and something about not puffing it out really got on my nerves.
The one that hasn't been mentioned that we sang a lot was All things bright and beautiful, I quite liked that.

housemum Its the 'creed and the colour' bit that always stuck in my head. I dont know why! the whole song used to make me feel quite emotional though!

I didnt get the little boxes on at the time either, I actually thought there was a place somewhere that had boxes made from 'ticky tacky' whatever I thought that was!

strictly I dont remember those other verses either!

Esian

Little donkey, little donkey
On the dusty road
Got to keep on plodding onwards
With your precious load.

Been a long time, little donkey
Through the winter's night
Don't give up now, little donkey
Bethlehem's in sight.

Chorus
Ring out those bells tonight
Bethlehem, Bethlehem
Follow that star tonight
Bethlehem, Bethlehem.

Little donkey, little donkey
Had a heavy day
Little donkey
Carry Mary safely on her way.

Little donkey, little donkey
On the dusty road
There are wise men waiting for a
Sign to bring them here.

Do not falter, little donkey
There's a star ahead
It will guide you, little donkey
To a cattle shed.

Chorus
Ring out those bells tonight
Bethlehem, Bethlehem
Follow that star tonight
Bethlehem, Bethlehem.

These are brilliant! I remember almost all of them. I loved Streets of Londo, magic penny, one more step along the road. We also sang I'm forever blowing bubbles and You'll never walk alone - perhaps because we had a football mad headmaster? We sang another one that was about soldiers that had died in the war, some of the lyrics were "where have all the flowers gone? Long time passing, where have all the flowers gone, long time ago." Anyone else remember that one?

(Apologies for poor spelling/grammar, am strstruggling with new phone!)

I remember everyone being made to sing "On-ward Christian Sooooooldiers" over and over until we were actually singing it, rather than shouting it. :)

We had 3 hymn books, a big blue one, a small yellow one, which had "Stand up, clap hands, shout thankyou Lord" I loved doing the actions for that. Then a photocopied copy of Come and Praise. The first 2 years got proper copies, but the last 2 got photocopies :)
I can't think of "When a Knight Won His Spurs" without thinking of the poem from "Please Mrs Butler" now. :o
Apologies for lack of paragraphs, keyboard isn't working!

Or apparently it is.

We sang all the none religious ones in school choir, or when one of the teachers would get his guitar out. He had a great one called "Walking the Bulldog" which was meant to be an English version of Waltzing matilda. We also learn a lovely song called "Mr Puch & Judy man" which I spent years after trying to track down.
We did weird musicals too. Sweeney Tood (I was really disappointed when I didn't know the songs in the Johnny Depp film) We also did a song about the 3 Kings buying gifts with mastercard
I grew up in an area that has local Christmas carols, traditionally sung in the pub, but we always sang them at school. It wasn't until I moved away that I realised no-one knew my versions, everyone else knew the boring slow versions they sing on telly.

I remember most of these, but does anybody remember the one that had a bit about the nightingale singing?

Tinateaspoon...
I have a favourite brother
his christian name is Paul and he da da da
da da da da da da da Football
because he's football crazy
he's football mad
the football it has taken away
the little bit of sense he had
and it would take a dozen servants
to wash his clothes and scrub

since Paul became a member
of that terrible football club

oooh, something `bout with every step I take/let this be my .... vow .... / let me walk with my brother / in perfect harmony ' (in green pen on an OHP sheet).

And of course 'If I had a hammer / I'd hammer in the morning / I'd hammer in the evening / all over this la-a-and / I'd hammer out danger, / I'd hammer out a waaaarning / I'd hammer out the [something and something and something else lalalala] / all over this laaaaand

The only song I really remember singing at primary school had the main chorus of Ave, Ave, Ave Maria, and was the most dirgy hymn ever, and I suspect is very Catholic. We must have sung other stuff because our school had an excellent music teacher and we used to sing in competitions. The happy clappy hymns I sang at church - again a bit oddly as we had a real fire and brimstone priest combined with very folky style guitar playing music. And to make it even more odd my father who had to take the four of us is really quite high church, so I've no idea why we went there.

Still I loved the singing, an as an atheist its the only bit about church going that I miss

I'm wracking my brains trying to remember the name of our Hymn book in primary. It was a catholic school, so probably the hymn book is someething specifically Catholic. It had a grey cover with purple swirls on, and it had the music with the hymns cos we used to be allowed to accompany sometimes on the recorder.... Please help!!

sorry paragraphs seem to have gone walkabout....