|
Subject: The first song or poem you memorized From: Mickey191 Date: 12 Feb 02 - 11:28 PM My first poem learned in 3rd or 4th grade: Let me live in a house by the side of the road Where the race of men go by> The men who are good, the men who are bad, as good and as bad as I.> The first song was Nature Boy sung by Nat Cole. Let's share your memories. Slainte |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Blackcatter Date: 12 Feb 02 - 11:33 PM I've Been Working on the Railroad When I was 4 - 6 years old, I was the "warm-up" act for my mom who worked for the American Lung Association and would go to speak a clubs and organizations. pax yall |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: DonMeixner Date: 12 Feb 02 - 11:46 PM Bobby Shaftoe and the The ballad of Davy Crockett. Don |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Giac Date: 13 Feb 02 - 12:34 AM Billy Boy and Grandfather's Clock, when I was three, learned from either side of a Frank Crumit 78 rpm. mary |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: irishajo Date: 13 Feb 02 - 12:35 AM I want to learn to whistle, I've always wanted to. I fix my mouth to do it but The whistle won't come through. I think perhaps it's stuck and so I try it once again. Can people swallow whistles? Where is my whistle then? Anybody have a clue where this came from? Wish I knew. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: GUEST,Boab Date: 13 Feb 02 - 12:38 AM My brother was being carried in a "plaid" [ph. "plide"] by my auld Grannie, who was a shepherd's wife.I was a mere two years his senior, so you get a notion of my tender years. I can remember wanting to reach a hilltop on our stroll, but Grandma said "What about wee Lachie?" I saw the easy way as simply leaving him wrapped up beside a patch of nettles. The song my ald Gran sang to me then stuck with me through all my years---"I left my Babe a-lying here, and went to gather blaeberries". Some call it "the Stolen Child", I believe.Somebody might recognise it and give the correct name? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Little Hawk Date: 13 Feb 02 - 01:11 AM God knows. You're asking me to remember one out of thousands of songs. I do remember the first folksong that I not only memorized but actually played on an instrument (sort of)...Four Strong Winds. - LH |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Deckman Date: 13 Feb 02 - 01:38 AM It was a recitation "THE MOO COW MOO", ,br>My poppa held me up, to the moo cow moo, So close, I could almost touch, And I wasn't a fraidy cat ... much My aunt stood me on a chair while I recited. I was four. CHEERS, Bob |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: MMario Date: 13 Feb 02 - 08:49 AM the very first? Probably a lullabye - I know I used to sing along with my father |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: kendall Date: 13 Feb 02 - 09:34 AM When the work's all done this fall. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: catspaw49 Date: 13 Feb 02 - 09:35 AM The first song I actually remember singing with my parents was "I've Been Working on the Railroad." My Dad was an Engineer on the Pennsy and when we took him to the yards, we sang the song......One of my earliest memories. As to a poem, outside of some of the simple nursery rhyme stuff, I remember when I was six learning one from my Dad. Certain things just cracked him up while driving everyone else nuts. I don't remember it ever raining without him asking, "Do you think the rain will hurt the rhubarb?" (Not if it's in cans). or...It's colder in the country than it is in the winter. I still have no idea what that means but I like to plague my kids with it. He knew bits and snippets of a lot of wacko songs and poems but he knew precisely ONE poem in it's entirety and when I learned it, I was really proud!!! (So was he) T'was midnight on the ocean Not a streetcar was in sight The captain climbed the telephone pole And it rained all day that night. T'was a summer's day that winter And the snow was raining fast, While the barefoot boy with his shoes on Stood there, Sitting in the grass. When the organ peeled potatoes, Lard was rendered by the choir. And when the Sexton rang the dishrag Someone set the church on fire! "Holy Smoke!" the Preacher shouted In his haste he lost his hair. His bald head resembled Heaven Fore there was no parting there. Spaw |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: C-flat Date: 13 Feb 02 - 09:35 AM I don't know about the first song but I can remember learning " The house of the rising sun" on the guitar! That's me and about 20 million others I expect! |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Don Firth Date: 13 Feb 02 - 12:08 PM Not a clue as to the first song or poem I memorized. I think it consisted of a series of rhythmic whoops and grunts that I liked to hear echoing off the cave walls. The first song I learned that I tried to accompany on a guitar (my brand new $9.95 Regal plywood guitar, bought in 1952—$5.00 for a chipboard case, and a free copy of Nick Manoloff's Patented Chord Wheel, that taught me the Circle of Fifths) was Greensleeves. I'd heard a recording of Richard Dyer-Bennet singing it. His accompaniment consisted of a flowing arpeggio complete with bass counterpoint, and at times he played the melody on the guitar. Blew me away! Up until then, the only accompaniments I'd heard played on the guitar had been "Bump-chug-chug, Bump-chug-chug." I'd heard Segovia, of course, but this was the first time I realized what you could do with a guitar. Don Firth |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: wildlone Date: 13 Feb 02 - 12:22 PM William Blake, Tiger, tiger burning bright, The song Clementine. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Mrrzy Date: 13 Feb 02 - 12:39 PM I had absorbed a lot by the time I memorized this, in that there were poems and songs I already knew by heart, but this is the earliest thing I remember actively LEARNING, as in trying to memorize rather than just having the memory form: La biche brâme au clair de lune It was illustrated, too, I think I still have the illustration somewhere in a box. I was in the equivalent of First Grade, I think. (Gloss: the doe (what sound to does make in English?) cries out in the moonlight / and weeps to melt her eyes / her delicious little fawn / has vanished in the misty night / to tell her misfortune / to her ancestors' forest / the doe (cries) in the moonlight / and weeps to melt her eyes.) Plus it has an abbaabab rhyme scheme which I recall thinking was very interesting. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Mrrzy Date: 13 Feb 02 - 01:07 PM That's la forêt de ses aïeux... |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: kendall Date: 13 Feb 02 - 01:28 PM Spaw, what about: It was midnight on the ocean Not a streetcar was in sight I stepped into a drug store to get myself a light The man behind the counter was a woman old and gray She used to peddle donuts on the road to Mandalay. Aint we crazy, aint we crazy We sing just to pass the time away Aint we crazy, aint we craZY We sing this little song all night today. Where is Doug? He probably remembers the first song ever written! |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Dicho (Frank Staplin) Date: 13 Feb 02 - 01:49 PM Mary had a little lamb, its fleas were white as snow... And a little later- Oh, the monkey wrapped its tail around the flagpole, tore its .... |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Jon Freeman Date: 13 Feb 02 - 02:10 PM No idea what the first one I learned was but I know the first one that made it's way onto the family tape recorder (long since gone fortunately). I would have been about 5 and the song goes something like:
Wobbin Hood, Wobbin Hood widing through the gwen Jon |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: GUEST,mollificent Date: 13 Feb 02 - 04:23 PM Poem: Frost, "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening." Song: promise you won't laugh? my grandmother used to sing me "Bushel and a Peck," from the musical "Guys and Dolls," all the time. It wasn't until I grew up and started performing in musicals that I realized just how badly she'd misremembered the words. ;) Moll |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Joe_F Date: 13 Feb 02 - 04:37 PM Recorded in my baby book at the age of 2: Jonathan Gee Went out with his cow He climbed up a tree And sat on a bough He sat on a bough And it broke in half And Jon's old cow Did nothing but laugh. My mother wrote: "By 2 1/2 years, knew about 25 nursery rhymes, sang most of them, carrying tunes perfectly." Then there is a list of 17 songs other than nursery rhymes. One of them, "Rozhenkes mit Mandeln", is almost surely the first song I ever heard. I have the copy of it that my mother wrote out to learn while she was in the hospital to have me. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Amergin Date: 13 Feb 02 - 04:41 PM the song would be oh my darling clementine....would sing it to and from work every day...along with some poem I learned from a history book....at school about the revolutionary war.... |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Sorcha Date: 13 Feb 02 - 04:52 PM There is no way I will ever remember. Because I was seriously hard of hearing, I apparently didn't speak plainly and was started on elocution lessons at age 5. We had to memorize and speak these little pieces at recitals. If you are seriously interested, I still have the scrapbook and I could go look it up, I suppose. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Steve in Idaho Date: 13 Feb 02 - 05:03 PM "Old Black Joe" on the harmonica. A Marine Band mouth harp in the key of "C." I must have been all of 5 or 6? Hadn't thought of that in forty years - I started out to say "Fraulein" as it was the first I was able to do really well on guitar and singing. But that was only 25-30 years ago. *G* Steve |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: The Walrus Date: 13 Feb 02 - 06:18 PM I suppose I must have learned all the usual nursery rhymes, but the first poem I ver *remember* having learned was Psalm 23 (from the "Authorised"/KJ version. First Song? I have memories of "Mandy" ("Mandy was a Bahama girl...."), learned from a student teacher at junior school - come to think of it, that was also probably my first brush with folk music. Regards Walrus |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Bill D Date: 13 Feb 02 - 06:33 PM I remember standing with a little book in my hand when I was in 2nd grade, reading "Down in the Valley" ..so that makes it the first song/poem I can date.. I surely must have heard a few little rhythms earlier, but they have no 'time' attached... On the other hand, when I was 4-5 I wrote a poem on my uncle's farm as I watched the hens in the yard perching: here is the TOTAL masterpiece..in print for the first time!!!!
"This is the Chicken Tree, ...now, a few more verses and a chorus...hmmmm |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: GUEST,Barracuda Date: 13 Feb 02 - 07:18 PM When the Red Red Robin goes Bob-Bob-Bobbin along, along There'll be no more sobbin' when he starts bobbin' that old sweet song Wake up Wake up, you sleepy head. Get up Get up, get out of bed Cheer up Cheer up the Sun is red Live Love Laugh and be happy What if I've been blue, still I'm walking through fields of flowers Rains may glissen but still I listen for hours and hours I'm just a kid again, doin' what I did again, singin' a song When the Red Red Robin goes Bob-bob bobbin along I've know this for 47 years (since I was 3, if you must know). |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Bill D Date: 13 Feb 02 - 07:23 PM When the Red Revolution brings its solution along, along, There'll be no more lootin' 'Cause we'll be shootin' that Howe [Wall] Street throng! Wake up, you proletarians! Don't act like seminarians! Expropriate barbarians! Build a worker's republic! Surplus value and capital you will not find there - Exploitation and mass starvation will disappear. I'm just a Red again, saying what I said again - No boss ere long - When the Red Revolution brings its solution along! |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: bill\sables Date: 13 Feb 02 - 08:06 PM Boab, I recognised your song re. gatherin Bleaberries. I faintly remember the chorus being in Galic and went something like this; "Hovan, Hovan gorri o co, gorri o co, gorri o co Hovan, Hoavn Gorri o co, I went te gather bleaberries" Please excuse the spelling that is just the way it sounded My parents used to tell of the time when I was about 3 years old and they took me to church. On hearing the choir singing hymns it seems I requested the choir to sing Blaydon Races at the top of my voice, So Blaydon Races must have been a favourite of mine at that time.br Bill |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: DougR Date: 13 Feb 02 - 08:10 PM Too long ago to rememember with great accuracy, but the first song I performed in public (the County Fair) was "Let Me Call You Sweetheart," when I was about six years old. DougR |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: ddw Date: 13 Feb 02 - 08:12 PM My older sisters have told me I ran them nuts when I was a little short of three singing "Wreck Of The Old 97" over and over. I don't specifically remember learning it, but I do recall dragging a chair over the the crank Victrola so I could wind it up to listen to that record and "The Strawberry Roan" and "The Prisoner's Song." david |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: 53 Date: 13 Feb 02 - 09:47 PM The first song that I memorized was, Gloom, Despair and Agony on me by the Hee Haw Singers. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Janie Date: 13 Feb 02 - 10:13 PM I think my 1st song was "I'm a Little Tea Pot" except my older sister had taught it to me as "I'm a Little Pee Tot." Or...could have been "Strut Miss Lizzie." I have absolutely no idea what the first poem was. 1st song on the guitar was "Red River Valley." |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: GUEST,Boab Date: 14 Feb 02 - 03:25 AM Aye, Bill/sables---spot on! And just to add to the tale---it actually happened BEFORE the jubilee of King George fifth![ I can hear yez a' countin,,,] "Blaydon Races", "Waters of Tyne", "The Lambton worm", Derwentwater's Farewell", "The Lass o' Hexhamshire", "Cushy Butterfield", The Day we Lost the Train"--all old favourites of mine, too. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Ella who is Sooze Date: 14 Feb 02 - 04:02 AM In the ning nang nong where the cows go bong and the monkeys all go moo... etc and I'm a knock kneed chicken and a bow legged sparrow I missed my bus so I went by barrow I went to the cafe for me dinner and me tea Too many radishes... hic... pardon me plus lots of other nonsensical stuff - I blame the parents! Ella |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Willa Date: 14 Feb 02 - 03:48 PM Can't remember when I didn't sing, but my uncle told me I drove him wild singing 'I'm always on the outside, on the outside looking in' incessantly when I was about two. The first song I am conscious of singing was 'She'll be coming round the mountain when she comes', when my parents had been away on holiday and I'd stayed with granny. Ella. Our version was 'I'm a bow-legged chicken, I'm a knock-kneed hen, ain't been so happy since I don't know when'. Haven't thought of that for years! |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Hollowfox Date: 14 Feb 02 - 04:27 PM My first poem was Bad Sir Brian Botany by A.A. Milne, when I was about three. First songs were(at about the same age) Where is Thumbkin, Amsterdam Maid, Streets of Laredo, and the jailhouse duet from Die Fledermaus (I sang the jailor). My mother had eclectic tastes. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Joe Offer Date: 14 Feb 02 - 05:02 PM I think it was a beer commercial:
As we rode the highways of Michigan, Ontario, and Wisconsin on weekend trips, I used to lead my brothers and sisters in an endless chorus of beer songs. I wonder how my parents tolerated it. I guess it was better than fighting. -Joe Offer- |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: RolyH Date: 14 Feb 02 - 05:11 PM As I was walking to the fair I met a man who wasn't there He wasn't there again today I wish that man would go away |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: John MacKenzie Date: 14 Feb 02 - 05:31 PM "Put another nickel in" was my 1st song, and the first poem I memorised was "The end" from "Now we are six" by A A Milne. Also seem to have known "Jabberwocky" for ever. Failte.....Giok |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Mickey191 Date: 14 Feb 02 - 07:20 PM Folks, I thank you for all your wonderful responses. Isn't memory a great gift. Some of you said you'd forgotten these gems-and yet were still able to bring forth data from 40 years ago. I was wrong when I mentioned Nature Boy. Anyone remember A tisket a tasket? I suddenly remembered My Mom singing that to me. We have memory so we can smell roses in winter. Slainte |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Dani Date: 14 Feb 02 - 07:45 PM Well, it hasn't been QUITE forty years for me, yet. I well remember listening to Clancy Brothers recordings, and my mother taught us to recite, "UP THE LONG LADDER AND DOWN THE SHORT ROPE, THE HELL WITH KING BILLIE AND GOD BLESS THE POPE! IF THAT DOESN'T DO, WE'LL TEAR HIM IN TWO, AND SEND HIM TO HELL WITH HIS RED WHITE AND BLUE!" I ended up repeating it at school, where it was not as well appreciated as at my grandparents' house! First song REALLY memorized? My first real performance. First or second grade, "Blue Suede Shoes". Still one of my favorites to sing, and now, 30 years I'm a huge Carl Perkins fan. Dani
|
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: John Routledge Date: 14 Feb 02 - 07:56 PM The very first song I learned and sang in public was The Blackleg Miner in the sixties in NE England. I had heard Lou Killen singing it and was captivated. He is looking to return to England after many many years on the other side of the pond so it will be amazing to hear him again!! Cheers John
|
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Jolene Date: 14 Feb 02 - 08:28 PM 'We Shall See the King' - my mom played piano at church. Learned a lot of old hymns that way, but do remember singing that one very early on. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: GUEST,John Gray Date: 14 Feb 02 - 09:36 PM Happy Birthday coz there was always plenty of goodies after the song. JG/FME |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Art Thieme Date: 14 Feb 02 - 09:46 PM It was either "Rock A By Baby" or "Roll Your Leg Over" Art Thieme |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: GUEST,martin campion bourke Date: 14 Feb 02 - 10:28 PM ave maria, gratia plena dominus tecum... |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: SINSULL Date: 15 Feb 02 - 10:53 AM Songs? I knew at least 25 by the age of four, all from the Gay Nineties. Poem? "Barbara Fritchie". "Quick as it fell from the broken staff Dame Barbara snatched the silken scarf. She leaned far out on the window sill And shook it forth with a royal will. 'Shoot if you must this old grey head, But spare your country's flag' she said"...great stuff. I taught my son "Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening". His school didn't have the students memorize poetry - sad. He didn't understand when I would say "Miles to go before I sleep". |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Deda Date: 15 Feb 02 - 11:01 AM Amos, as a tiny tot, used to stand on the front seat of the car next to our Mom and sing "Jimmy Crack Corn an I don't care" (This was long before the invention or general use of seat belts, let alone child-safety seats) and our younger sister used to wow guests by reciting "Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright", standing there in her foot-pajamas. I don't know what my first were; I can remember a lot of odd things but not my first poem or song. I have a very quirky and swiss-cheesey memory. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: The first song or poem you memorized From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 15 Feb 02 - 11:19 AM The earliest song I remember singing was "Little Sir Echo", in probably 1934, at the age or three or four. My doting grandmother drafted me to sing it for her sewing circle meeting. It went, in part, as follows. The repetitions in parens are sung softly, imitating an echo. Lit-tle Sir Echo, how do you do? While it's hard to conceive, in the context of TODAY'S popular music, I believe this was a very popular song at the time! Dave Oesterreich
|
