For anyone else who didn't know the meaning of the phrase 'sipper songs', see this excerpt from Peter Berryman's "Whither Zither' blog:

"I'm referring to zipper songs which are known as such because their lyrics for the most part don't vary from verse to verse except for a spot where replacable words or phrases can be "zipped" into and out of the song, like the animals in Old MacDonald. Or like the activities in the song Ain't It a Shame which I learned years ago, along with many other wonderful zipper songs, from a Leadbelly's Last Sessions LP:

Ain't it a shame to [go fishin'] on a Sunday, ain't it a shame. (repeat) /Ain't it a shame to [go fishin'] on a Sunday, When you got Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday/ Oh, Thursday Friday Saturday, ain't it a shame.

In following verses, instead of "go fishin,'" Leadbelly sang "kiss your wife," "take a drink," and so forth. This is a late night road-song for me, and I take it down all sorts of provocative avenues of debauchery before I'm through.

Zipper songs are great for driving because they are easy to remember but also because they ask of you to do a bit of creative thinking, which helps keep your nose-bridge from nuzzling the steering wheel. In Down By The Riverside, you can lay down all sorts of miscellaneous things by the river, along with swords and shields. I Got Shoes (...you got shoes, all God's children got shoes) is also limitless. He's Got the Whole World In His Hands is a truly minimal zipper song. It's nothing but the title, repeated and repeated, with the phrase "whole world" as the zippable phrase, which returns in each verse for the last line:

He's got [the little bitty baby] in his hands (repeat three times) / He's got the whole world in his hands.

That's all there is to it. My friend John Carnes, Ohio songwriter, singer and banjo player, turned this song into the version I sing: He's Got the Whole World In His Car. (He's got cardboard boxes, in his car... or empty bottles, or his girl friend pregnant, or Maple Nut Goodies, or WD-40...)

We Shall Overcome and many more civil rights and general rally and union songs are good zippers. She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain is another one I bellow at the overpass pigeons.

So next time you're on a long drive, in there with the No-Doz, the sludge thermos, the energy bars, and the slapping hat, be sure and pack a list of zipper songs. But only if you're alone like I was, with someone who loves you unconditionally, or with someone who hates you already."

-snip-

Whither Zither