Songs about bugs, insects, spiders, snails, worms

Subject: Buggy songs?
From: hotspur
Date: 02 Aug 99 - 11:20 AM

I teach nature, and am looking for songs to incorporate--specifically, songs about insects. The only ones I can think of are La Cucaracha and "I'm a little black bug, sitting in the water..." Any other suggestions would be gratefully accepted.

Worms, snails, spiders, and other "creepy-crawlies" are also welcome.

[Some song titles in this thread have been converted to links by a Mudelf.]

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Roger the zimmer
Date: 02 Aug 99 - 11:30 AM

Burl Ives' "Ugly Bug Ball"; "Boll Weevil"; Incy Wincey Spider (too twee?); Frank Sinatra & Duke Ellington "Poor Butterfly"; "Fly Me to the Moon!"; "Come Fly with me"; anything by the Beatles (cheap shots!); Ink Spots "Glow Little Glowworm"; "There was an old lady that swallowed a fly"; That well-known football chant: "Earwig O! Earwig O!"

Did you hear the one about the caterpillar looking up at the butterfly? "You'll never get me up in one of those!"

I'll go away now and take my medication but until I come up with some more titles it will keep bugging me! (Silly old bugger).:o)

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Bert
Date: 02 Aug 99 - 11:34 AM

inchworm

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Margo
Date: 02 Aug 99 - 11:38 AM

Have you searched the database? If you type in @insect or @bug you'll get a handful of songs. There's a cute one in there called "Cheering the Queen".

Most of the bug songs I can think of are silly. (The old woman who swallowed a fly, I'm gonna eat some worms, etc.) I imagine you're looking for a different genre?

Margarita

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Arnie Naiman
Date: 02 Aug 99 - 12:58 PM

Ask Rick Fielding to send you THE BLACKFLY SONG (click) - one of the greatest bug folk songs of all.

Link added (I hope I linked to the right one, Arnie).
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Bert
Date: 02 Aug 99 - 01:07 PM

See Spider Webs Here

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: black walnut
Date: 02 Aug 99 - 03:36 PM

i teach early childhood music (as in preschool). would you mind telling me what age~group you teach? i might be able to come up with a decent list, but it might be way out of line.

~black walnut

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: hotspur
Date: 02 Aug 99 - 06:04 PM

thanks for all the suggestions! My age group are mostly 7-10 year olds, and they LOVE shrieking at anything moving. "Ewww, it's a BUG!" I'm hoping silly OR "serious" (can you have a serious bug song?) songs will help them relax around the critters. There's a lot more of them than there are of us...

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: j0_77
Date: 02 Aug 99 - 06:21 PM

Any one know the complete lyric for

'Old Aunt Kate there's a bug on me, bug on me'

Subject: Lyr Add: BEETLES and THOUSAND LEGGED WORM
From: rich r
Date: 02 Aug 99 - 07:03 PM

BEETLES
Order: Coleoptera
(Tune "Ode To Joy")

Beetles are not dirty bugs
Spiders, scorpions, or slugs
Heroes of the insect realm
They sport winged, burnished helms
They are shining and divine ,
AThey are lovely and just fine
Beetles do not bite or sting
They love almost everything.

THE THOUSAND LEGGED WORM
Class: Myriapoda Subclass: Diplopoda, the millipedes
(Tune: "Polly Wolly Doodle")
"Tell me," said the thousand-legged worm,
"Has anybody seen a leg of mine? For if it can't be found I shall have to squirm around
On the other nine hundred ninety-nine.

Squirm around, squirm around
ON the other nine hundred ninety nine
If it can't be found I shall have to squirm around
On the other nine hundred ninety-nine."

THE BUGS MARCHED DOWN THE AISLE
Order: Diptera mosquitoes and blackflies
(Tune: "Battle Hymn of Republic:)

The mosquitoes wore tuxedos and the blackflies wore black ties
The bride she was a spide and the groom he was a snake
They were going to a wedding in my Aunt Lucy's bedding
And she was the wedding cake.

Glory, Glory Hallelujah
You don't feel itchy, Auntie, do ya?
Glory glory hallelujah
The bugs marched down the aisle.

The little honeymooners were nice and cozy in her bloomers
And the guests all took their places in Aunt Lucy's pillowcases
The little beasts had such a feast, the danced and flew and soared
All while Aunt Lucy snored.

Repeat chorus

rich r
^^

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Dale Rose
Date: 02 Aug 99 - 08:31 PM

I can think of a couple that are done locally, but I sure can't think of the name of either one of them. One is a favorite of mine called the K********** Centipede (about a dancing centipede who gets her legs all twisted up when she tries to figure out just how she is doing it)as done by Deb (Mullins) Carbone, and the other by Dave Smith goes something like this: There ain't no bugs on me, there may be bugs on some of you mugs, but there ain't no bugs on me. My guess is that that one is called There Ain't No Bugs On Me!

I am sorry these are such flimsy clues. I usually do better, but maybe they will put someone else onto the right track. Perhaps Arkie will see this thread and bail me out. He is sure to know.

Oh, I just thought of a couple more! There's Some Little Bug Is Goin' to Get You Some Day by Bradley Kincaid. One of my favorites is The Doodlebug Song, by C E (Charles Ernest) Moody of the Georgia Yellowhammers, a late twenties, early thirties string band. He is perhaps best known as the writer of Drifting Too Far From The Shore and Kneel At The Cross, but there definitely was another side or two to him.

I can find and transcribe that one later ~~ also the Centipede song mentioned above, provided Deb's tape ever surfaces again. (Who is it that comes into my house and hides them anyhow???)

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: rich r
Date: 02 Aug 99 - 10:29 PM

"Some Little Bug Is going To Get You Some Day" isn't really about insects, orother arthropods for that matter. It is really about microbes as in the "flu bug".

rich r

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: CarlZen
Date: 03 Aug 99 - 12:03 AM

There ain't no bugs on me,
There ain't no bugs on me,
There might be bugs on some of you mugs,
There ain't no bugs on me.

Mosquito he fly high,
Mosquito he fly low,
Mosquito fly too close to me,
He ain't gonna fly no more.

There ain't no flies on me,
There ain't no flies on me.
There might be flies on some of you guys,
But there ain't no flies on me.

Juney bug comes in the month of June,
Lightning bug comes in May.
Bed bug comes just any old time,
But they're not gonna stay.

Well little bugs have littler bugs
Up on their backs to bite 'em.
And the littler bugs have still littler bugs,
And so ad infinitum.

(Sung to the tune of "It ain't gonna rain no more", and like the last verse this can go on ad infinitum. i.e. Ain't no lobsters on me...there might be... on some of you mobsters...ad infinitum.) There are other non-bug verses, too. Have fun.)

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Songster Bob
Date: 03 Aug 99 - 12:56 AM

Margaret MacArthur sings a lovely little song, written, I think, by her husband, called "Bug Squashing Party" (or something close to it). It's about the necessity of doing away with garden pests:

Chorus:

Come on down, let's go out, And have a bug-squashing party tonight... [with other lines which change, depending on the verse which preceded it]

It's on "MacArthur Road," one of my favorites of Margaret's recordings. It's also been sung by Jeff Warner, if I'm not mistaken.

Good song.

Bob Clayton

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 03 Aug 99 - 01:28 AM

G'day,
Any song written by Microsoft.

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 03 Aug 99 - 01:39 AM

Not only do I sing the Blackfly song, I've been bitten a lot by the little bastards! (In North Ontarioio)
Rick

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Roger the zimmer
Date: 03 Aug 99 - 03:38 AM

..network problems (mercifully) prevented me from continuing yesterday...
Blue-tailed fly;Lambton Worm;La Tarantella;Come into my parlour said the spider to the fly; Scratch scrathc me back(?)
Less seriously(?) Maggot May (Spinners);Scorpio(n) rising (Jools Holland);Cricket Calypso (Mighty Flea) and one I remember from campfires:
There was a little fly who liked to roam
So he packed his bags and he left his home
He crapped on the butter
And he crapped on the tea
And if I'd been there he'd have crapped on me

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Roger the zimmer
Date: 03 Aug 99 - 04:06 AM

...BTW What goes 1,999 clump? A Millennium Bug

Don't clap too loud, it's a very old computer!

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Tiger
Date: 03 Aug 99 - 07:13 AM

One of my favorites - "Never Swat a Fly" - 1930

by DeSylva, Brown & Henderson appeared in 1930 flick "Just Imagine"

Sound clip (McKinney's Cotton Pickers) at:

http://www.redhotjazz.com/songs/cotton/neverswat.ram

Done nicely by Kweskin's jug band in the 60's (Maria Muldaur still sings it).

.....Tiger

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 03 Aug 99 - 08:39 AM

Ahaa! A perfect thread to ask this question. Twenty minutes ago both our cats proudly walked into the house with a creature that was emitting a LOUD sound like a short circuiting wire! The visiting Strobels from Rochester (still half asleep) must have wondered what was blowing up. I watched in awe for ten minutes as they (the cats, not the Strobels) chased the largest bug I've ever seen around the dining room floor. Summoning up huge courage I interceded and crushed the sucker with my shoe (sorry Albert Schweitzer, but this thing was NOT something I wanted to co-habitate with)
I thought it was a June Bug. Do they have two very big wings? Anybody know what it was? If it's just the largest fly (about 2 1/2 inches long) on the planet, I'm moving to Alaska!
Rick

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Bert
Date: 03 Aug 99 - 09:35 AM

Rick, it was most likely a cicada.

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Marion
Date: 03 Aug 99 - 03:27 PM

Hotspur, I have composed a song about redworms because I have a vermicompost colony in my apartment and I love them. Some of the vocabulary might be a little over the kids' heads (and over some of the adults' heads too) but if you like I can post the lyrics. It's a basic DGA song, I can give you the chords but I don't know how I would communicate the melody. Let me know if you're interested - I'm a little shy about plunging in with original lyrics on a traditional music site.

Marion

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Bert
Date: 03 Aug 99 - 03:34 PM

....I love them??? What do you serve with them?

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Marion
Date: 03 Aug 99 - 04:56 PM

hey Bert...

Close your eyes and open your mouth, okay?

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 03 Aug 99 - 10:46 PM

Thanks Bert.
Rick

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: raredance
Date: 03 Aug 99 - 11:15 PM

You can find a lot of insect songs in the DT by searching for the specific insect, the category @insect is pretty feeble. Things to search for include (and be sure to truncate to pick up the plurals): bee, fly, flies, butterfly, butterflies, grasshopper, cricket, flea, mosquito, caterpillar, maggot, blackfly(flies), tick, bumblebee, bedbug, bug, spider, boll weevil and any others you can think of. Admittedly some of the hits are songs where the particular insect is rather incidental to the song, but there are some other songs that have quite a few insects in them (e.g. versions of Frog Went A-courting). I haven't run all those searches for a couple years so there are certainly more songs added since then.

Some other songs:
Chistine Lavin's "I'm a Fly On A Plane" if you enjoy insects meeting their demise
Dean Stevens' "Ant and Grasshopper" (in the DT)
Malvina Reynolds' "Hello Lady Bug:
"Butterflies" (Theme song of BBC TV series some years ago)
Pete Seeger's "People Are Scratching"
"Metamorphosis" recorded by the Gateway Singers (this has some great lines: "PIty the poor caterpillar, whom nobody loves, no not even me" and the stepped on caterpillar "hideous goo that sticks to your shoe")
Tom Paxton's "Fred" about a dog and a flea
"Ma!, Ma! Where's My Pa?" a political song commissioned by the Republicans (not Irish) for use against Grover Cleveland who had fathered an illegitimate child.
"When I See An Elephant Fly" Walt Disney's Dumbo.

rich r

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: WyoWoman
Date: 03 Aug 99 - 11:45 PM

Rick -- has to be a cicada. My dogs and cat used to love 'em. Not only do you get a nice, crunchy bug to eat, it vibrates in your mouth and makes an amazing noise at the same time. Until, of course, you crunch it really hard, and then it's just not as much fun any more. Cool toy/snack in Petland. It's amazing PetSmart hasn't figured out a way to take 'em commercial!

WW

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Wolfgang
Date: 04 Aug 99 - 09:12 AM

funny, nobody mentioned Melanie yet, singing "Alexander beetle".

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Tiger
Date: 04 Aug 99 - 10:01 AM

"The Black Cavalry" tells of a nasty bunch of fleas.

All 'round me body they formed an arch,
And all 'round me body they played the dead march.
The bloody old major gave me such a nip
That he nearly had taken the use of me hip.

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Mark Clark
Date: 05 Aug 99 - 09:57 AM

CarlZen,

The New Lost City Ramblers collected and published a version of "There Ain't No Bugs On Me" that included the following verses. They might have been from Charlie Poole but I can't verify that from here.

The night was dark and stormy,
The air was filled with sleet,
The old man joined the Ku Klux,
And Ma she lost her sheet. br>
Billy Sunday was a preacher,
His church was always full,
People came from miles around,
To hear him shoot the bull.

Now a monkey swings by the end of his tail,
And he swings from tree to tree,
There may be monkey in some of you mugs,
But there ain't no monkey in me.


Those are offered in the interest of scholarship, I hope no one is offended.

- Mark

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 05 Aug 99 - 03:27 PM

1. The Lampton Worm

2. I can see a great big spider, creeping up on me/ (something something)/ gonna gobnble me up/gonna gobble me up/I know (rendered I knoooooooooooooooooooow)/cos my mummy said so (several other verses I only half remember).

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Bert
Date: 05 Aug 99 - 03:47 PM

Little fly upon the wall
ain't you got no clothes at all
Blimey, ain't it cold?

Bert.

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Bert
Date: 05 Aug 99 - 05:07 PM

Oops! the third line of that little gem just came back from the dark recesses of my forgettory.

So the whole thing goes
Little fly upon the wall
ain't you got no clothes at all?
ain't you even got a shirt?
Blimey, ain't it cold?

Bert.

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: CarlZen
Date: 06 Aug 99 - 01:51 AM

Mark - that sounds like it was a reaction to the scopes trial. The town I live in still has a lot of residents who find it necessary to exhort some of those sentiments. Personally, I'm proud of my heritage.

('Love them NLCRers.):-)

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From:
Date: 06 Aug 99 - 09:56 PM

Seems like no one mentioned one of my old favourites. High Hopes

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From:
Date: 06 Aug 99 - 10:05 PM

Here's a site which has the words. They've got a problem with typos but you'll get the gist of it

High Hopes

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Susan A-R
Date: 08 Aug 99 - 10:24 PM

How about The ants go marching one by one

The kids in my family also sing

Last night as I lay sleeping
Upon my bedroom wall
The 'skeeters and the bedbugs
Were playin' a game of ball
The score was two to nuthin'
The 'skeeters were ahead
The bedbugs hit a home run
and knocked me out of bed.

The chorus and the rest of the verses have, alas, not much to do with bugs, but it's fun.

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Dale Rose
Date: 09 Aug 99 - 12:08 AM

Well, I have found the centipede song, The Wee Kirkcudbright Centipede, apparently by Matt McGinn. The Song of the Doodlebug is still among the missing. I have no time at the moment, but within the next day or two I will get around to transcribing Centipede. (I don't care if someone else knows it and beats me to it!)

Subject: Lyr Add: DOODLEBUG SONG (Georgia Yellowhammers)
From: Pete peterson
Date: 09 Aug 99 - 11:10 AM

THE DOODLEBUG SONG

When I was a kid, tell you what I did
To pass the time away
I looked all around until I found
A doodle hole and I'd say--

Doodle, doodle, doodle-- BUG, BUG, BUG
Doodle, doodle, doodle-- BUG, BUG, BUG
That doodlebug come out and looked all around
And doodled back in the ground

What a pleasure for me, in the wild to see
That doodle coming out
I'd gaze on down and in the ground
I'd twist his tail about

I don't know why to the doodle I'd lie
But this is what I'd say
Oh your house is afire and your children are crying
Oh, doodle, come up this way

Now that I'm old I wish I did own
A doodle piece of ground
I'd go out each day and with him I'd stay
And happiness would abound

First 3 verses from the Georgia Yellowhammers, last from Jeff Warner & Jeff Davis. I love this song.

Note: If singing this in schools, add motion! Tell the kids to jump up in the chorus as the D "jumps up" and then "look around" and then sit back down slowly as they doodle back in the ground. Works great, but don't make this the LAST song unless they are about to have Recess as the kids get very excited.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE WEE KIRKCUDBRIGHT CENTIPEDE (McGinn)
From: Dale Rose
Date: 09 Aug 99 - 09:43 PM

As near as I can tell, it is by Matt McGinn of ... Kirkcudbright. Deb Mullins (now Carbone) is the only one I have heard do it, though I saw evidence of several other versions on the internet.


THE WEE KIRKCUDBRIGHT CENTIPEDE
As recorded by Matt McGinn on "The Best of Matt McGinn" (2003)

The wee Kirkcudbright Centipede, she was very sweet.
She was ever so proud of every one of her hundred feet.
Early ev'ry morning, her neighbors came to glance.
She always entertained them with a beautiful little dance.

CHORUS 1: As leg number 94 gave 95 a shunt,
Legs numbers 1 and 2 were twisting out in front.
As legs numbers 9 and 10 were wriggling up the side,
Legs 73 and 4 were doin' the Palais Glide.

Her neighbor, Jenny Longlegs, with jealousy was mad.
She went out and bought herself a pencil and a pad.
She came a month of mornings and made a careful note
Of every step the centipede made and this is what she wrote: CHORUS 1

Arrumed[=armed] with exact notation, young Jenny Longlegs tried
To dance just like the centipede; she failed and nearly cried.
She grabbed ahold of the centipede; she says: "Now have a look,
And tell me how you do these steps I've written in my book." CHORUS 1

Said the centipede: "Do I do that?" She tried to demonstrate.
She'd never thought on the thing before; she got into a terrible state.
Her hundred legs were twisted; she got tied up in a tangle.
She fractured 7 shinbones, 14 kneecaps, and an ankle.

CHORUS 2: As legs numbers 1 and 2 were tied with 3 and 4,
Legs numbers 5 and 6 were trampled on the floor.
Leg number 15 was attacked by number 10.
97 and 98 will never dance again.

The wee Kirkcudbright Centipede, she suffered terrible pain.
And some of us were very surprised she ever danced again;
But now she tells her neighbors, ev'ryone that calls to see,
"Never try an explanation of what comes natur'lly!" CHORUS 1

---

A printed version submitted by Jack Campin. This version matches the Matt McGinn recording almost exactly.
Jack says: "This is how it is in the book "McGinn of the Calton". I also have the single-sheet publication (which will doubtless be different) but can't find it right now.

The Palais Glide is a standard dance in the Scottish repertoire - goes to a 6/8 march (which the song is) and like most Scottish dances it's a geometric exercise I cannot get my head round."

THE WEE KIRKCUDBRIGHT CENTIPEDE
(Matt McGinn)

The Wee Kirkcudbright Centipede
She was very sweet,
She was ever so proud of every
One of her hundred feet.
Early every morning,
Her neighbours came to glance,
She always entertained them
With a beautiful little dance.

CHORUS
As leg number ninety four
Gave ninety five a shunt,
Legs number one and two
Were twistin' out in front,
As legs numbers nine and ten
Were wriggling up the side,
Legs seventy three and four
Were doing the Palais Glide.

Her neighbour Jenny Longlegs
With jealousy was mad
She went out and bought herself
A pencil and a pad.
She came a month of tnornings
And made a careful note
Of every step the centipede made
And this is what she wrote.

Armed with exact notation,
Young Jenny Longlegs tried
To dance just like the centipede,
She failed and nearly cried,
She grabbed a hold of the centipede,
She says, 'Now have a look
And tell me how you do these steps
I've written in my book?'

Said the centipede, 'Do I do that?'
And she tried to demonstrate,
She'd never thought on the thing before
She got into a terrible state,
Her hundred legs were twisted,
She got tied up in a fankle,
She fractured seven shinbones
Fourteen kneecaps and an ankle.

As legs number one and two
Were tied to three and four,
Legs number five and six
Were trampled on the floor,
Leg number fifteen        
Was attacked by number ten,
Ninety seven and ninety eight
Will never dance again.

The Wee Kirkcudbright Centipede,
She suffered terrible pain,
And some of us were very surprised
She ever danced again,
But now she tells her neighbours
Every one that calls to see,
Never try an explanation
Of what comes naturally.

Matt McGinn Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAFqFAWwteA

Subject: Lyr Add: COUSIN CATERPILLAR^^^
From: HaHa
Date: 10 Aug 99 - 06:10 PM

"COUSIN CATERPILLAR" by Mike Heron:

My cousin has great changes coming:
One day he'll wake with... wings.
My cousin has great changes coming:
One day he'll wake with... wings.

Do-da do-da-di do-da-di do-da,
Do-da do-da-di do-da-di do-da-di do-da-di do-da-di do-da.

Cousin Caterpillar, seven pairs of legs for you.
Cousin Caterpillar, can you tell me what they do?

Well all that I can say
Is that they seem to help some way
To pull my little body along.
...To pull my little body along.

Well first I didn't know their use
But worrying you only lose,
So I said I love you and I love what you do:
Come on, do your thing.

Do-da do-da-di do-da-di do-da,
Do-da do-da-di do-da-di do-da-di do-da-di do-da-di do-da.

Cousin Caterpillar, white and silky threads for you.
Cousin Caterpillar, can you tell me what they do?

Well all that I can say
Is that they seem to help some way
To pull my little body along.
...To pull my little body along.

Well first I didn't know their use
But worrying you only lose,
So I said I love you and I love what you do:
Come on, do your thing.

Do-da do-da-di do-da-di do-da,
Do-da do-da-di do-da-di do-da-di do-da-di do-da-di do-da.

My cousin, as you see,
Takes his changes easily.
O happy we,
Could we take each change so easily.

Then all that we could say
Is that it would seem to help some way
To pull our little bodies along.
...To pull our little bodies along.

Well first we wouldn't know their use
But worrying we'd only lose,
So we say I love you and I love what you do:
Come on, do your thing.

Do-da do-da-di do-da-di do-da,
Do-da do-da-di do-da-di do-da-di do-da-di do-da-di do-da.

My cousin has great changes coming:
One day he'll wake with... wings.
My cousin has great changes coming:
One day he'll wake with... wings.

[The Incredible String Band: The Big Huge, 1968]
^^

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Bill D
Date: 10 Aug 99 - 06:31 PM

"I objurgate the centipede
A bug we do not really need
At sleepy time he beats a path
Straight to bedroom, or the bath
You always wallop where he's not
Or if he is, he makes a spot"

Ogden Nash..(no tune, but what the heck)

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: GUEST,mukraken
Date: 14 Apr 04 - 01:52 AM

The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out,
The worms play pinocle on your snout...

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: GUEST,MIke
Date: 27 Mar 07 - 12:01 PM

Little fly upon the wall
Aint you got no clothes at all?
Not even a pair of jim jams?
Blimey, aint you cold?

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 04:51 AM

Jerry Garcia and David Grismans ' Aint No Bugs On Me '

There may be bugs on some of you mugs,

But there aint no bugs on me.

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 07:42 AM

Guess I missed this thread the first time around.

By the way, in our circle is entomologist Alan Eaton who is always looking for buggy songs to sing.

Has anyone mention "The Blackfly Song" ?

Then there's Richard Johnson's "Plum Island National Anthem" with many mentions of greenhead flies.

And on Jeff Warner's CD is "Yucky Bugs" (Bug Squishing Party).

Linn

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 08:40 AM

Matt McGinn was from Glasgow. Another of his pieces (a recitation rather than a song) is "The Big Effen Bee".

And another recitation is Burns's "To a Louse".

There are surely lots of Caribbean songs about Anancy the spider goddess? Azizi, is that something you know about?

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Azizi
Date: 28 Mar 07 - 09:11 PM

Yes, I know some Anansi the spider stories, but I don't know that
I know any of the songs that traditionally wwere {are} sung with those stories. I've read that many of the traditional Jamaican and other Caribbean social folk songs came from Anansi stories. But I don't know which songs these are. And I doubt if any of these songs are {were}about 'bugs'. Rather, they probably are {were} about some aspect of that particular story.

**

But since you introduced the subject, I'd like to share some information about Anansi:

The word "anansi" {pronounced ah-NAH-see} means 'spider' in Twi, an Akan language {Ghana, and Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa}. The Ashanti {Asante} are a relatively well known division of the Akan ethnic group.

"Aunt Nancy" is an Americanized version {South Carolina} of the name Anansi. Quoting from Wikipedia, other versions of this name are:

Other names
Anancy (Jamaica, Grenada)
Anancyi
Ananse
Hanansi
Compé Anansi
Kweku Anansi (Akan)
Nansi
Mr. John

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/anansi

-snip-

[Mr. John]??

Anyway...

Re: the name 'Kweku Ananse', I've seen "Kwaku Ananse" used much more than "Kweku Ananse" [ah-NAH-say]. This translates as "Wednesday Spider", as "Kwaku" {"Kweku"} is an Akan day name for 'male born on Wednesday". It would be interesting to know more about characteristics were {are} associated with the Wednesday spirit {soul} and why Ananse was said to be "born" on that particular day.

Anansi is a male trickster figure. He is usually portrayed as a spider man. I've read that Anansi was the source for the comic book character "Spiderman", but I'm not sure if this can be verified.

In many spider stories, Anansi is protrayed as a lazy, cunning man. But there's more to the spider than what meets the eye.

Imo, the esoteric symbol of the spider web provides a clue to a deeper meaning for the spider in Akan culture {and other cultures}. The importance of the spider symbol in culture is also revealed by the fact that the spider is said to be the owner of all the Sky God {Onyame's} stories {meaning the Sky God gave them to him after he completed several specific tasks}.

I've read that Anansi the spider is important because he symbolizes how even a small, relatively helpless person can overcome someone bigger than himself {herself} by using his {or her} mind. I think this one layer of the meaning of the spider. A deeper meaning may be that the spider and the spider web symbolize the fact that we are all interconnected.

For more online information on Anansi, click:

http://jamaicans.com/culture/anansi/anancy_intro.shtlm

and

http://geocities.com/shandycan/culture_notes.com

and

http://jamaicans.com/culture/anansi/index.shtml

For information on Akan day names, click:

http://theearthcenter.com./ffarchivesdento.html

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 02:40 PM

I love molasses, good ol' country sorghum;
I eats it in the winter and the fall;
Summer it gets so full of flies
It resembles raisin pies --
That's the way I likes it best of all!

Then there's this one if you like the blues:

Words and music by Julius Lester
© 1965 Hyperson Music Publishers

Cockroach Blues

Lord, I wouldn't mind roaches
If they would help me pay my rent;
I said I wouldn't mind roaches
If they would help me pay my rent,
But you know a roach said to me, "You better move,
I want one of them luxury apartments."

I bought a spray last night
And I sprayed all over the house...(as above)
I got up this morning,
Roaches thanked me for killing a mouse.

Now I wish I had a penny
For every roach I've seen...(as above)
Nobody in this world
Would have to work again.

There were some roaches on the stove,
They were standing around in a crowd...(as above)
I walked over to 'em;
Roaches turned around and yelled "Freedom now!"

Warm regards,
Landlady's Daughter

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Vixen
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 03:36 PM

How about the following from Hugh Blumenfeld?

Hugh's Website


THE SNAIL

I am the snail
I don't move fast
But if you look again
I won't be where you found me last

I am the snail
pale as a memory
I am the roaring in the labyrinth
beside the sea

I am a helmet on a shoe
I am the secret smell of you
I am the voices in your ear
that call your name year after year

I am patience
I am proportion
I am progress without fortune...

And if I love,
who would know
Even for a slow lover I am slow


And if I dream
how could you dream it
All your flash of inspiration
only chars the spirit

In a world of salt
in a world of glass
I have spent a whole night
climbing up a blade of grass

I am the snail
I will get where I'm going
I am the speed your hair
and nails are growing

I am the snail
Because I move, all of creation's moving
I know that it's a minor point
but it's still worth proving



© 1997 Hugh Blumenfeld/Hydrogen Jukebox Music (ASCAP)

Hugh - guitar & vocal
Mark - string bass

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Stringsinger
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 04:07 PM

"Bed bugs are mean and evil, sure don't mean me no good" (2X)
Fate's a woodpecker and I'm just a block of wood".

"Laid right down and tried to take my sleep" (2X)
"Saw a bedbug in the corner prayin' 'give me some more to eat'".

La Cucaracha is not about a literal cockroach as in
"marijuana no fumar".

Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Howard Kaplan
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 11:06 PM

I can offer two of my own peculiar songs.

Scarab beetles are featured in "The Buffalo, the Beetle, the Bouncing Kangaroo, and the Bufo marinus Cane Toad". Here's an excerpt:

  Though individually small, they transport ton by ton
  And bury dung that otherwise would bake hard in the sun,
  While mites that hitch a ride on beetles' bodies start to eat
  The eggs of flies that otherwise would for the dung compete.

Earthworms are not a bugs but do qualify as creepy-crawlies, according to the original posting. Here's an excerpt from "Hermes and Aphrodite", concerning the sex lives of these hermaphroditic creatures:

  Each worm has all the organs to participate in sex. It
  Produces sperm in segment ten, while through fifteen they exit.
  Receptacles in nine and ten receive the sperm of mating,
  While in thirteen, the eggs, still immature, remain in waiting.
    Though earthworms, one by one, are small, together they are mighty,
    And every one heeds Hermes' call, for each is Aphrodite.
  

You can follow the blue links to songsheets with the complete lyrics, music, and chords.

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: GUEST,Mike Goldberg
Date: 29 Mar 07 - 11:32 PM

What a great forum this is---
How about "Jimmy Crack Corn, and I don't care"
You can explain to the kids what a "blue-tail fly" is.
Have fun!

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Jim Lad
Date: 30 Mar 07 - 12:29 AM

Matt McGinn's "The Wee Kirkcudbright Centipede" even beats the "Blackfly" song.
Incidently, I saw the "Blackfly" cartoon thing on the telly last night. Not as good as the "Logdriver's Waltz" but a real joy to see it again, just the same.

Subject: Lyr/Chords Add: SPIDER IN THE BATH (Marcus Turner)
From: GUEST,Soundcatcher
Date: 30 Mar 07 - 06:25 AM

Here's one I've frequently dined out on by the brilliant Marcus Turner

    Spider In The Bath      Marcus Turner

¥        Am           E                 Am
¥        Here I am - is anyone about?
¥                      Dm                               Am                             E         Am E
¥        I'm down beside the plug-hole and I   can't get out, and
¥                Am                           E                   
¥        I've been here an hour and a half.
¥                    Am                    Dm           Am           E            Am
¥        Can't anybody help a little spider in the bath?

C                             F                     C                                E
I woke up feeling hungry in the middle of the night.
F                    C                                     Dm                  E
I saw a moth go by and thought "there goes a tasty bite".
F                                        C                          Dm               G              C
I chased it up the mirror and along the window-sill,
   F                                        C                        Dm                        E
Around behind the toothpaste - and then I tripped and fell, and...

C                                                    F                             C                                E
The sides are steep & slippery Ôcos the bath has just been cleaned,
F                            C                                     Dm               E
And everything is cold and wet and Avocado Green.
F                                                C                  Dm    G    C
There's a long lumpy Loofah, some pumice in a dish,
        F                        C                        Dm                     E
And all I have to talk to is this purple plastic fish, and...

C                                                     F                                     C                        E
There's no need to be scared, 'cause I won't do you any harm.
        F                                    C                             Dm                          E
Just take me to the garden where it's nice and safe and warm,
         F                                C                  Dm               G              C
Then put me down real gently and I'll run back home to Mother,
F                        C                        Dm                        E
One leg after the other after the other after the other after the
F                G                                        Am                        Dm
other..after the other after the other after the other!! And...
        Am            Dm                   Am    E            Am
Can't anybody help a little spider in the bath?

Regards John

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Howard Kaplan
Date: 02 Apr 07 - 10:26 PM

The NFB has posted a video of its 1991 animated short, "Blackfly", on its web site at http://www.nfb.ca/animation/objanim/en/films/film.php?sort=title&id=25968. There's no charge to watch it, but I can't see any way to download it, only to watch it in the supplied viewer.

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: GUEST,DCliff
Date: 22 Jun 07 - 01:25 PM

That was pretty good, Bertie, but that ain't the way I heered it!
...The way I heered it went:

"Little fly upon the wall,
Ain't you got no clothes at all?
Ain't you got no little shirt?
Ain't you got no little skirt?
Gush! [rhymes with push]
Go to God!!"

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Rog Peek
Date: 22 Jun 07 - 01:32 PM

'Surry with the Fringe on Top'?

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: GUEST,gemfly
Date: 19 Feb 08 - 03:43 PM

Does anyopne have the chords for the 'never swat a fly' song? would be great to get them. Thanks g x

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: topical tom
Date: 19 Feb 08 - 03:57 PM

Maybe this song was already mentioned if so please ignore!

            The itsy-bitsy spider went up the water-spout.
            Down came the rain and washed the spider out.
            Out came the sun and dried up all the rain
            And the itsy-bitsy spider went up the spout again.

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 19 Feb 08 - 04:53 PM

Litle fly upon the wall
Aint you got no home at all ?
Aint yo got no mum nor dad ?
Fly Bastard !!

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 19 Feb 08 - 05:01 PM

Nana Mouskouris 'Butterfly'
"Come into my parlour" said the spider to the fly!
The Surrey with the fringe on the top! (Well it is a buggy!)

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 19 Feb 08 - 08:40 PM

If anyone is seriously interested in all the many verses to "The Spider and the Fly" I might be encouraged to post them.

But "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top" is beyond the pail.

My mother once got a children's book published titled BUG CITY which was full of outrageous puns.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: GUEST,frape family
Date: 01 Jun 08 - 04:04 PM

little fly upon the wall???? the way we heard it was;

little fly upon the wall,
aint you got no clothes at all,
not a little shimmy shirt,
or a blouse or a skirt,
blimey aint you cold

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: GUEST,Henryp
Date: 02 Jun 08 - 04:13 PM

Wallabug from the Anne and Frank Warner Collection

I bought a cow from Farmer Jones
She were nothing but skin and bones
Fattened her up just as fine as silk
She jumped the fence and she skimmed her milk

Wallabug, wallabug you can't fool me
I'll be as good as good can be
If you see a wallabug night or day
Make a noise like a wallabug and fly away

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: GUEST,Peg
Date: 17 Nov 08 - 02:42 PM

The way my grandmother said it was:

Little fly upon the wall
him ain't got no mom at all
him ain't got no shimmy shirt
him ain't got no petty skirt
(deliver next line slowly, with feeling)
him ain't got to mom to comb his hair
(lightly)
him no care, him got no hair!

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Joe_F
Date: 17 Nov 08 - 10:58 PM

Another itsybitsy:
thread.cfm?threadid=2582#10699
Another spider in the bath:
Detail.CFM?messages__Message_ID=1587277

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: GUEST,AL
Date: 17 Jun 09 - 02:57 PM

Here's a call-and-response camp song:

Flea!....(Flea!)
Flea Fly!...(Flea Fly!)
Flea Fly Flow!...(Flea Fly Flow!)
COO-ma-law-da, COO-ma-law-da, COO-ma-law-da VIsta! (rpt)
Oh, no, no-no, la vista! (rpt)
EX-ah meany DEci meany OO-ah, low AH-la meany! (rpt)
BEE billy OATen doaten OO-ah, low AH-la meany! (rpt)

The repeat the whole thing. 1st three lines spoken (or shouted), next four sung. Each repetition can be faster or slower, louder or softer, but it's a good idea to make the last one the soft one....

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: GUEST,Al
Date: 17 Jun 09 - 03:03 PM

Here's a you-tube puppet version of Flea Fly Flo. (I do it differently than them--the folk process does its work!) Found this (and others) by googling "flea fly flo"

Subject: Lyr Add: THE LOUSE HOUSE OF KILKENNY
From: Gweltas
Date: 17 Jun 09 - 09:58 PM

The Louse House Of Kilkenny
(Trad)

Oh, the first of me downfall I set out the door
I straight made me way on for Carrick-on-Suir
Going out by Rathronan 'twas late in the night
Going out the West Gate for to view the gaslight
Radley fal the diddle ay
Radley fal the diddle airo

I went to the town's hall to see the big lamp
And who should I meet but a bloody big tramp
I finally stepped over and to him I said:
"Will you kindly direct me to where I'll get a bed?"
Radley fal the diddle ay
Radley fal the diddle airo

'Twas then he directed me down to Cooks Lane
To where old Buck St John kept an old sleeping cage
From out of the door was a small piece of board
Hung out on two nails with a short piece of cord
Radley fal the diddle ay
Radley fal the diddle airo

I looked up and down till I found out the door
And a queerer old household sure I ne'er saw before
Then the Misses came out and these words to me said:
"If you give me three coppers, sure I'll give you a bed"
Radley fal the diddle ay
Radley fal the diddle airo

Well I then stood aside with me back to the wall
And the next thing I saw was an oul cobbler's stall
And there was the cobbler and he mending his brogues
With his hammers and pinchers all laid in a row
Radley fal the diddle ay
Radley fal the diddle airo

Then she brought me upstairs and she put out the light
And in less than five minutes I had to show fight
And in less than five more when the story was best
The fleas came around me and brought me a curse
Radley fal the diddle ay
Radley fal the diddle airo

'Twas all around me body they formed a march
'Twas all around me body they played the Death march
For the bloody oul major gave me such a pick
That he nearly made away with half of me hip
Radley fal the diddle ay
Radley fal the diddle airo

Now I'm going to me study, these lines to pen down
And if any poor traveller should e'er come to town
And if any poor traveller should be nighted like me
Beware of Buck St John and his black cavalry
Radley fal the diddle ay
Radley fal the diddle airo

This concerns the hazards and fun of boarding houses in the 19th century. The fleas (black cavalry) have fun on the body of the boarder. See also The Black Cavalry.

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: open mike
Date: 13 Apr 10 - 08:48 PM

is this about songs about insects or horse-drawn carriage type buggies?

I recently rc'd a c.d. by Ellis Paul with kids' songs including the

Dragon Fly Races.

I used to sing a song at camp about a buggy..

Horsey, horsey, on your way,
We've been together for many a day
So, let your tail go swish
and your wheels go round
Giddy up we're home ward bound

I like to ride a horse and buggy
I like to ride all over town
I like to hear old Dobbin go clip clop
I see those wheels go round

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 13 Apr 10 - 09:06 PM

Our friend Alan Eaton, entymologist and folk singer, has written a useful rap, uh, "song" entitled, "We're the Ticks".

It teaches tick lifecycle, safety precautions, etc. (and he sometimes threatens us with a quiz afterwards).

Linn

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 13 Apr 10 - 09:52 PM

Ted Edwards 'Ladybird' is probably the nicest 'bug'song I do !

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 02 Jul 10 - 03:30 PM

I knew an old woman who swallowed a fly! Perhaps she'll die!

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Aug 10 - 04:55 PM

Blue Tail Fly ( Jimmy Crack Corn )

When I was young I used to wait
On master and hand him his plate
Pass him the bottle when he got dry
And brush away the blue-tail fly

Chorus
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care
Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care
Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care
My master's gone away
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

When he would ride in the afternoon
I'd follow him with my hickory broom
The pony being rather shy
When bitten by the blue-tail fly

Chorus

One day he rode around the farm
Flies so numerous that they did swarm
One chanced to bite him on the thigh
The devil take the blue-tail fly

Chorus

Well the pony jumped, he start, he pitch
He threw my master in the ditch
He died and the jury wondered why
The verdict was the blue-tail fly

Chorus

Now he lies beneath the 'simmon tree
His epitaph is there to see
"Beneath this stone I'm forced to lie
The victim of the blue-tail fly"



Another bug song..... I don't like Spiders and Snakes by Jim Stafford

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Apr 11 - 02:00 PM

This thread was refreshed by a [now deleted] Spam message. I have to admit that the first "buggy song" that came to my mind was "Surrey With the Fringe on Top."

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Joe_F
Date: 26 Apr 11 - 04:04 PM

A flea and a fly in a flue
Were imprisoned, so what could they do?
   Said the flea, "Let us fly!"
   "Let us flee!" said the fly.
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Apr 11 - 04:12 PM

Tinker posted a version of "Flea Fly" here that's close to the version I know. The Digital Tradition has a buggy version of Pink Pajamas - I wish it had better spelling...

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Haruo
Date: 06 May 11 - 10:31 PM

Don't see a reference here to the Entomological Hymnody thread, including my Potato Bug Hymn...

Haruo

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Haruo
Date: 06 May 11 - 10:33 PM

Sorry. Entomographical.

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: The other Hank
Date: 07 May 11 - 10:43 AM

I rocked a little with my Telecaster on "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider". I changed the words some and inserted the names of my Grand-Children. I don't know how to post it but I can attach it to an e-mail. [e-mail]. My daughter said it was a "hit with a bullet".

Subject: RE: Buggy songs?
From: Bettynh
Date: 01 Aug 11 - 01:39 PM

Red Hot Chili Peppers do "Flea Fly Floo"

Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxter do "Flea and a Fly in a Flue"

Subject: Lyr Add: MEAN OLD BEDBUG BLUES (Lonnie Johson, etc
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 27 Dec 13 - 03:48 PM

MEAN OLD BEDBUG BLUES
As recorded by Lonnie Johnson, 1927.

Man, a bedbug sure is evil; he don't mean me no good. (2x)
He thinks I'm a woodpecker, and he takes me for a chunk of wood.

When I lay down at night, I wonder how can a poor man sleep (2x)
When some holding your hand while the other ones eat your feet.

Bedbugs big as a jackass will bite you and stand and grin, (2x)
And drink up all the bedbug poison, then come back and bite you again.

Something was moanin' in the corner; I tried my best to see.
Something was moanin' in the corner; then I walked over to see.
It was a mother bedbug prayin' to the good Lord for some more to eat.

I have to set up all night long; my feet can't touch the floor, (2x)
'Cause the mean old bedbugs told me that I can't sleep there no more.


[Verse 1 transcribed as sung, but it makes more sense as "He thinks he's a woodpecker..." and some others sing it that way.]

[Bessie Smith sings similar lyrics, but she substitutes this last verse:]

Got myself a wishbone; bedbugs done got my goat.
Got myself a wishbone; wish they'd cut their own doggone throat.

[Bobby Leecan & Robert Cooksey add this verse:]

I came home this mornin', staggered in my door. (2x)
Bedbugs met me, said, "Hot papa, you can't come in here no more."

[The Rhythmakers (of which Fats Waller was a member) sing this additional verse:]

I had a quart o' moonshine layin' on my dresser drawer. (2x)
Two big bedbugs come and drink it and bit me 'cause there wasn't no more.

[Other early recordings were made by Betty Gray, Furry Lewis, Kitty Waters, and Vic Lewis & Jack Parnell's Jazzmen.]

Subject: Lyr Add: MEAN OLD BED BUG BLUES (Ernest Tubb)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 27 Dec 13 - 04:18 PM

Tubb apparently used the original tune, or something very close to it, and wrote new words:

MEAN OLD BED BUG BLUES
As recorded by Ernest Tubb

Did you ever see a bedbug that looked just like a whale? (2x)
Well, if you never did, you never been in a real jail.

These bugs are drivin' me crazy; I don't know what to do. (2x)
I could turn my bed over, but they're all over that side, too.

[Yodel]

There's a boy in here with me with ninety-nine years to go. (2x)
Boy, these doggone bedbugs will get fed up on him, I know.

This here old jailer sure is a mean old man. (2x)
All he brings me is beans in my little old bent-up pan.
(Spoken: Looks like a little ol' dog's pan.) [Yodel]

Got a letter from my baby; she didn't have much to say.
I got a letter from my mama; she didn't have much to say.
She said: "Son, don't let them bedbugs whittle my daddy away."

Well, I'll soon be leavin' and I'll be so glad to go (2x)
'Cause these doggone bedbugs done got me whipped, I know.

[Yodel]

Subject: Lyr Add: CHINCH BUG BLUES (Blind Lemon Jefferson)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 27 Dec 13 - 11:07 PM

"Chinch bug" is an alternative name for "bed bug."

These lyrics copied from WeenieCampbell.com and checked by me, as far as possible—but the acoustics are poor, and the enunciation bad, too, so these lyrics should be regarded as tentative, in my opinion. But I can't improve on them.


CHINCH BUG BLUES
As recorded by Blind Lemon Jefferson, 1927.

I never did feel uneasy; I know how you left your tricks.
I never did feel uneasy; I know how you left your tricks.
You leave town today and it's ten days; you've got your business well fixed.

I wonder if the chinches bite in Beaumont, oh, like they do in Beale Street town.
I wonder if chinches bite in Beaumont, like they do in Beale Street town.
The first night I stayed in Memphis, chinch bugs turned my bed around.

I had to get 'ceitful with the bedbugs, to keep the chinches from takin' my life.
I had to get 'ceitful with the bedbugs, to keep the chinches from takin' my life.
Because the chinches got my number, wrote three letters to my wife.

My wife caught me easin', way 'cross that rich gal's room.
I said my wife caught me easin', way 'cross that rich gal's room.
The next time I go to slip out, I ain't gonna leave on the light anymore.

My wife has quit me, and my rich pigmeat gal is too.
I say my wife has quit me, and my rich pigmeat gal is too.
Oh, and I'm lyin' in this cold bed alone, hey, with these chinch bug blues.

Subject: Lyr Add: BUMBLE BEE BLUES (Memphis Minnie)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Aug 16 - 07:19 PM

BUMBLE BEE BLUES
As recorded by Memphis Minnie, 1930.

Bumble bee, bumble bee, won't you please come back to me? (2x)
He got the best ol' stinger any bumble bee I ever seen.

He stung me this mornin'; I been lookin' for him all day long. (2x)
He had me to the place once, I hate to see my bumble bee leave home.

I can't standing(?) him, buzz, buzz, buzz.
Come in, bumble bee; I want you to stop your fuss.
You're my bumble bee, and you know your stuff.
Oh, sting me, bumble bee until I get enough.

Mmm, stinger long as my right arm. (2x)
He stung me this mornin'; I been lookin' for him all day long.

Sometimes he makes me happy, then sometimes he makes me cry. (2x)
He had me to the place once, I wished to God that I could die.

Subject: RE: Songs about bugs, insects, spiders, snails, worms
From: Joe_F
Date: 19 Aug 16 - 09:22 PM

The ants go scouting thru the grass.
They hunt about as on they pass.
If they should march across a worm,
They tickle him and make him squirm.

Sung in grade school, California, 1940s.

Subject: Lyr Add: BUZZIN' THE BEE (Jack Wells, 1916)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 20 Aug 16 - 12:34 AM

You can hear an Edison recording of this song made in 1917 by Arthur Collins and Byron Harlan, at the USCB Cylinder Audio Archive.

The following lyrics are from the sheet music at University of Illinois at Chicago:


BUZZIN' THE BEE
Words and music by Jack Wells, ©1916.

1. I heard a woodland melody,
As I sat down beneath a tree;
And then a bee came winging, singing, singing,
And he stopped in front of me.
Just then another bee flew 'round,
And they both sat upon the ground;
Then I heard one say, "I'll show to you,
Something strictly new."

CHORUS: First you sip the honey from your baby's lip,
Then you buzz around and take another sip;
Then you twirl her on her toes,
Like a bee around a rose,
Then take a tumble,
And do the bumble;
Get a little closer as you start to sway,
If she whispers "no sir," then you jump away,
Buzz your busy baby to the melody,
And you keep on, keep on buzzin' the bee.

2. You need a simple melody,
Just like the buzzin' of a bee;
And then you get excited, so delighted,
With that charming harmony.
You take your girl upon the floor,
And get the band to play some more,
Then you spin her like a great big top,
Till she hollers, "stop!"

Subject: RE: Songs about bugs, insects, spiders, snails, worms
From: GUEST,Senoufou
Date: 20 Aug 16 - 03:12 AM

Two silly children's songs:-

1) (Sung in a silly baby voice with a pronounced lisp)

I'm.....taking home a baby bumble bee!
Won't my mummy be surprised at me?
I'm taking home a baby bumble bee!
Ow! Eee! It's stung me!
I'm...squashing up this baby bumble bee!
Won't my mummy be surprised at me?
I'm squashing up this baby bumble bee!
Ugh! Eee! There's blood all over me!

2)
Nobody likes me, everybody hates me,
I think I'll go and eat worms.
Big fat juicy ones, little skinny-linky ones,
See how they wriggle and squirm!
You...BITE off their heads, SUCK out the blood,
And throw their skins away.
Nobody knows how much I thrive
On worms three times a day!

I also quite like the verse from the very macabre 'Whenever You See A Hearse Go By':-


The worms crawl in,
The worms crawl out.
They crawl in thin
And they crawl out stout.
Ha ha ha! He hee hee!
How happy we shall be!

Sadly, I have a rather juvenile taste in silly songs!

Subject: RE: Songs about bugs, insects, spiders, snails, worms
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 20 Aug 16 - 05:44 AM

Can we include sealife...?    Plankton.


Hannah Werdmuller's Diurnal Migration -

Much of the ocean is not yet explored
Though submarines pootle about the sea floor
Discovering new species wherever they go
Such as elephant-like-squid and eels that glow.

The following formula's certainly true
Of predation dynamics down in the blue:
From the tiniest plankton to the biggest species yet,
One thing they eat, by another are ate.

Here is where a dilemma arises
For the noble phytoplankton photosynthesises
And is thus confined to where the sun shines through,
And so by necessity what eats them too.

But in the photic zone it is easier to see -
The surface is a dangerous place to be.
The darkness it offers substantial protection
From becoming some predator's tasty confection.

So to the surface fishies travel at night
When there's less chance of being espied in the light
But during the day to escape predation
They return deeper down, and that's diurnal migration.



from Pre​-​Apocalyptic Love Song: Limited Edition album, released January 1, 2011

all rights reserved

hear/buy
Diurnal Migration - Hannah Werdmuller

Subject: Lyr Add: NEVER SWAT A FLY (DeSylva-Brown-Henderson
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 Jan 20 - 01:54 PM

This was mentioned by Tiger on 03 Aug 99:

NEVER SWAT A FLY
Words by Buddy G. DeSylva and Lew Brown, music by Ray Henderson, ©1930.

As sung and danced by Marjorie White and Frank Albertson in the film "Just Imagine" (1930). You can see the clip on YouTube. (However, the recordings listed below are better musically, but less complete lyrically.)

[Verse 1] Love has made me tender; I now appreciate
Ev'ry little creature on this earth that has a mate.
Once I hated crickets; I couldn't stand a bee.
Now here is the motto that I follow faithfully:

[Chorus 1] Never swat a fly.
He may love another fly.
He may sit with her and sigh
The way I do with you.
Never harm a flea.
He may have a fav'rite she
That he bounces on his knee
The way I do with you.
Never stop a bee if he is going anywhere.
You may be concluding some terrific love affair.
Be careful!
Don't step on an ant
In the middle of a pant.
He may want to but he can't
The way I do with you.

[Verse 2] I'm the same as you are; tears come to my eyes
When I see professors chasing helpless butterflies.
Fishermen are hateful; they lead a wicked life.
Why, ev'ry day they separate some husband from his wife.

[Chorus 2] Never swat a fly.
He may love another fly.
He may sit with her and sigh
The way I do with you.
Never spray a nit
With a great big can of FLIT.
He may think some nit has "it"
The way I do with you.
Never stop a moth as he is gliding through the air.
He may have a date in someone's flannel underwear.
Be careful!
Don't you dare to slay
Two mosquitoes while they play.
They may want to make "hey-hey"
The way I do with you


There were other early recordings by:
Cotton and Morpheus, 1930-08-01.
Abe Lyman and His California Orchestra, 1930-09-17.
Allstar Californians, 1930-10-01.
Billy Uke Carpenter, 1930-10-01.
Varsity 8, 1930-10-14.
McKinney's Cotton Pickers, with vocal by Billy Coty, 1930-11-04.

Another chorus fragment collected from some recent recording:

Never take a chance
Treading on a pair of ants.
They may want that sweet romance
The way I do with you.

Subject: RE: Songs about bugs, insects, spiders, snails, worms
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 07 Jan 20 - 04:52 PM

Nasty Spider by Jeremy Taylor. Great song.

Subject: RE: Songs about bugs, insects, spiders, snails, worms
From: Stewie
Date: 09 Jan 20 - 10:57 PM

I don't think this one has been mentioned. Here is Murray McLachlan singing Wade Hemsworth's 'Black fly song'.

Black fly

--Stewie

Subject: RE: Songs about bugs, insects, spiders, snails, worms
From: Stewie
Date: 09 Jan 20 - 11:15 PM

My apologies, the 'Black Fly Song' was mentioned early in this thread with a link to the lyrics but not to a performance. Youtube also has videos of the song performed by Bill Staines, Hemsworth himself and several others.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Songs about bugs, insects, spiders, snails, worms
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 12 Jan 20 - 12:55 PM

A GEM HERE
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Songs about bugs, insects, spiders, snails, worms
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 12 Jan 20 - 12:58 PM

Black Widow by Michelle Shocked

Subject: RE: Songs about bugs, insects, spiders, snails, worms
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 12 Jan 20 - 05:11 PM

Hybrid form of 2 Child Ballads 'Lady Isabel' and 'Burd Isabel'.




I'll get me coat!

Subject: RE: Songs about bugs, insects, spiders, snails, worms
From: EBarnacle
Date: 15 Jan 20 - 03:23 PM

Here's a link to Pete Seeger's "The People are scratching."

http://www.lyricsochords.com/The-People-Are-Scratching-Lyrics-Tab-Pete-Seeger-303182

Joe F, I believe your "Flea Fly" is from Ogden Nash.

Subject: RE: Songs about bugs, insects, spiders, snails, worms
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 16 Jan 20 - 04:01 AM

THE Simon Mayor Mandolin Quartet mesmerised a capacity audience at the Courtyard. The encore – a spoof on ‘Home, Home on the Range’ and entitled ‘The Spider in the Shed’ – was gruesomely hilarious and reminiscent of Belloc’s ‘Cautionery Tales’.