What songs did you sing at Primary School?

[KurriKurri]

I don't mean playground songs, I mean the sort of thing you'd sing as a class?

This morning I was trying to remember the words to In the Fields in Frost and Snow, and wikkied them here

In the Fields in Frost and Snows,
Watching late and early;
There I keep my Father's Cows,
There I Milk 'em Yearly:
Booing here, Booing there,
Here a Boo, there a Boo, every where a Boo,
We defy all Care and Strife,
In a Charming Country-Life.

Obviously a kind of old version of Old Macdonald. I went to school in the 60's we also sang one about a tiger 'prowling round the forest while the nights were dark and wild' and 'Bessie was a Black cat as old as the house'.

And one which went

'The ladybird and the centipede got married,
the ladybird and the centipede they wed,
on their wedding night I've heard it said,
fifty one pairs of slippers were by their bed,
the ladybird and the centipede - something something (forgotten)'

My headmaster was a great pianist and loved music, and we had singing everyday first thing, and entered lots of festivals etc. I loved it.

Does anyone else have any favourites they remember?

I remember many of the hymns mentioned here and some we still sing today in the school where I am music co-ordinator (My colleagues struggle to keep a straight face when I teach them as they know I am a staunch atheist .)

However some of the songs I rememember most vividly were from a series called Singing together- (A radio series) where we learned lots of Folk songs songs- The Road to the isles, Loch Lomond, Kalinka etc. And also some Calypso songs "Mango walk" and "Yellow Bird" "Jamaica Farewell"

Also remember songs from "Captain Noah and his amazing floating Zoo" by Joseph Horovitz, which we performed at a music festival. "Two by two by two by two by two by two..." Ah happy days!

Another Kum by bloody Yah hater here. No-one ever bothered to explain that it means 'God with Us' which I only discovered in my 20s!

We did Ink is Black
Gobbolino the Witch's Cat
Shortning Bread
There was a Tailor had a Mouse, hi diddle umkum feedle
Four and twenty Ponies
Raggle taggle gypsies
Skye Boat Song
And shedloads from Mary Poppins, Sound of Music, Cats and then the Jungle Book.

And that litter one.

Also the 'authentic Red Indian rain dance' called Duck Dance - We ya, hay ya, we hee ya hey ya, we hee ya wa hay ya, we hee ya hay ya (repeat). Ho ke lay ho!
Always wondered why it was called Duck Dance if it was meant to bring rain!

I think we are the same age, Brigit.

"My mama did a tell me that you go mango walk, go mango walk, go mango walk..."

All things bright and beautiful - only remember cos it was also at my grandmas funeral in 2002 and i loved that song.

Ah I've got go tell it on the mountain in my hand.

I'm only sending DS to a school that does group singing!!

Pranma I remember singing some of your songs and particulary enjoyed 'when a knight won his spurs'.

I also loved this one because we always sang it just before breaking up for the summer holidays.

Summer has come from the sunny lands
Summer is here again
Bringing the birdies to sing their song, in every wood and lane
Chirruping Chirruping loud and sweet, high in the rocking tree
Dear little birdie I think you sing your sweetest songs to me.

(There are more verses )

I still have lots of my old singing together booklets from approx '73 to '76. Particular favourites were 'over the ocean flies a merry wave, soft her wings are as a cloud of day, marianina...' and 'in summer the sun shine is brightest, the time when our heats are the lightest, we'll walk through the woods and the meadows and sing a joyful song, hala hala, oh come a long and sing our song, the day is bright, our hearts are light, when winter's done and fun's begun, our life is gay, you'll hear us say, in summer the sun shines brightest, oh sing a joyful song hala halah.'

ahhhh.

Here is a favourite that others have mentioned Quinoro's Pearl - there are other singing together links on that site too, though it's a bit hard to navigate.

Every year we did a school concert/play from the "Time And Tune" radio 4 series - one morning a week we'd listen to the radio programme in class, loads of practising. Did we ever do maths etc? All I can remember is the singing! As well as Time & Tune, we also seemed to find time to put on shows at middle school - I remember watching Ali Baba, and being in Joseph, Oliver and Captain Noah.

I still have my copy of Appuskidu :)

I remember one Singing together song, can't remember the tune at all, but it was called The Heron of Brecon. Was quite bizarre and complicated and involved lots of bump, bump bumping down the hill.

Also 'Here come the navvies, out to earn their pay,
We'll work with barrow, toil and steel
To dig the cut away.
And when we put the shovel in we'll la de da de da..'

And 'Fire Down Below.'

Wow... talk about musical nostalgia! This thread has reminded me of so many songs I used to sing at school.

Ones I think haven't been mentioned yet (really sorry if they have, I keep getting distracted with an 'Oooh, I remember that one' and losing my place);

Catch A Falling Star
This Little Light of Mine

All the Come and Praise songs are crazy familiar (Both my infants and my junior schools were St X schools, so there was a rather Christian influence on our assembly songs.)

I sang on an album when I was at primary school with the school choir. I was 6. It was with Dave Prowse - The Green Cross Code Man (and Darth Vader, of course) - and with Tony Blackburn. It was various songs like Knick Knack Paddywhack and Bobby Shaftoe. I remember going to the recording studio to record it...

On another note entirely, as a primary teacher, a lot of these songs are very familiar. But there is one that sticks in my mind from a school I worked at which has burned itself into my mind but not in a good way:

1. Little boxes on the hillside,

Little boxes made of ticky-tacky, Little boxes, little boxes, Little boxes, all the same. There's a green one and a pink one And a blue one and a yellow one And they're all made out of ticky-tacky And they all look just the same.

1. And the people in the houses

All go to the university, And they all get put in boxes, Little boxes, all the same. And there's doctors and there's lawyers And business executives, And they're all made out of ticky-tacky And they all look just the same.

1. And they all play on the golf-course,

And drink their Martini dry, And they all have pretty children, And the children go to school. And the children go to summer camp And then to the university, And they all get put in boxes And they all come out the same.

1. And the boys go into business,

And marry, and raise a family, And they all get put in boxes, Little boxes, all the same. There's a green one and a pink one And a blue one and a yellow one And they're all made out of ticky-tacky And they all look just the same.

I still can't work out if it's saying it's a good thing or a bad thing, but I'm a little concerned about primary children singing about Martini!

Wiki on Little Boxes.
I always thought it was a gentle mockery on the English middle classes, but it appears not...

Thanks for that, WWWY, I always felt vaguely uncomfortable when the children were singing it. Obviously they're never too young for politics!

So happy to see Quinoro's Pearl!

I suddenly recalled it and was trying to remember the words as I did the washing up on Saturday morning. Bizarre that it should show up now. Last time I heard it was primary 5, we loved that song and sang it with great enthusiasm, even the boys.

Great thread.

Loving this thread, it's making me a bit watery eyed.

We sang

Apuskiduski
Oh Sinnerman, where you gonna run to
Swing low sweet chariot
This little light of mine
Red and yellow and pink and green (I can sing a rainbow)
My old man said follow the van
Why am I always the bridesmaid
I'm Henery the eighth I am
Boiled beef and carrots
Bye bye blackbird
Haul away joe
Yellow bird
Mango walk

A mixture of spirituals, music Hallandale calypso. If you placed me in 70s-80s ILEA you got it right.

My kids sing Paintbox, The autumn one with the bacon and the milkman and Jesus brings the water of life (which makes me a bit )

Can anybody this a song -you sat in a ring and slapped hands in a sequence around the circle until someone was eliminated at the end of each round.

It went something like this-

Qucka della ora qua qua qua
Se sema trina triclicola
Valor valor valor valor valor
1-2-3-4-5

If any one can help me make sense of that bit of doggerel that's stuck in my brain I would appreciate it!

Paintbox
A harvest festival one about the world being like a supermarket :S
Kum bah yah (sp?)
Shalom my friend
Shine Jesus Shine
Walk in the light
Sing hosanna
All over the world

Catholic school. Going by this thread I'm think we all had the same hymn book!

Tuesday afternoon hymn practice was my favourite bit of the week in primary school :)

I've just found the Fox one I mentioned earlier -

'The fox went out for a chase one night
prayed to the moon to give him light
for he had many a mile to go that night
before he reached the town-o, town-o, town-o
he had many a mile to go that night
before he reached the town-o.'

oh we still sing
all those Catholic hymns in dcs' primary school like Shine Jesus Shine, that's something...
and in church we still sing, Give me oil in my lamp Keep Me Burning,

we did a whole Assembly in my primary on the Fox Went Out on A Chilly Night, I was the fox and wore long red tights of my mum's which kept falling down

Crying John John The Grey Goose Has Gone
And the Fox is in the Town-o
Town-o

Old Mother something or other Jumped Out of Bed
And Out of the Window She Poked Her Head
Crying John John....

Have just stumbled on this thread. Feeling very nostalgic. We had a music teacher who loved musicals, so learned all the songs for "Jonah Man Jazz" and "Joseph's Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat". Still remember "Any Dream will do" in harmony. Loved it.
We also did Singing Together with books that were years out of date. I know most of my folk songs from there...Sloop John B, Streets of Toledo, Yellow Bird.
Also hymns....particularly remember "Sing Hosanna", and at the end of the school day..
"Day is done,
Gone the sun,
From the sea, from the hills, from the sky,
All is well
Safely rest
God is nigh".

Now my DCs learn Star Trekkin and Reach for the Stars (sigh..(old gimmer emoticon)

oops that should read "streets of Laredo", not Toledo...

Oh Streets of Loredo - I'd forgotten that one legspinner, Home on the Range was another cowboy song we sang

ging gang goolie goolie
sing hosana
morning has broken
my bonnie lies over the ocean
little donkey
all things bright and beautiful
i can sing a rainbow