Lyr Add: Witches on Broomsticks / Halloween Sights

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Lyr Add: Witches on Broomsticks / Halloween Sights

20 Nov 08 - 11:46 AM (#2498517)
Subject: Lyr Add: Witches on Broomsticks
From: VirginiaTam

WITCHES ON BROOMSTICKS

Witches on broomsticks
With cats and bats
Fly around after dark
In their funny black hats

How queer are the noises
On Halloween night
And then through the window
You see a strange sight

Big red eyes
And a big red nose
You sit close to Mother
And curl up your toes

It's good to have Mother
To kiss you goodnight
And know that the witches
Have all taken flight

My mother sang this to me when I was a little one. I sang it to my children. I have no idea where it comes from. Anyone familiar with it?

21 Nov 08 - 02:53 AM (#2499113)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Witches on Broomsticks
From: VirginiaTam

has anyone else heard this song?

21 Nov 08 - 03:26 AM (#2499124)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Witches on Broomsticks
From: Joe Offer

Hi, Tam -
It looks like the person who posted on this page (click) has a far weaker memory than yours, but maybe it will trigger your memory.
I checked our School Songbook Index threads and found nothing likely to be your song.
-Joe-

21 Nov 08 - 01:19 PM (#2499444)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Witches on Broomsticks
From: VirginiaTam

Thanks Joe

You did better than I did in searching for it. I tried every permutation of lyric in google. I was hoping it was something my Gammy (grandmother) had composed and taught to my Mom. Ahh well. I know the tune but as I don't read music I cannot get it down in print.

I have been trying to catch up with my octagenarian Mom (very busy lady) to ask her about it. I am thinking it is something she learned in school (Virginia) in the mid 1930s to late 1940s. If I learn more I will post it.

26 Nov 08 - 04:34 PM (#2502344)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Witches on Broomsticks
From: VirginiaTam

What a world what a world.

So I finally catchup with my jet setting octagenarian Mom. She emails me that she doesn't remember the song. She did a google search on Witches on Broomsticks and came up with Harry Potter.

I feel so weird. My 82 year old mom, who I am looking to for a bit of folk memory resorts to lookin it up on the internet.

27 Nov 08 - 10:04 PM (#2503261)
Subject: Lyr Add: HALLOWE'EN SIGHTS (Lillian Mohr)
From: Jim Dixon

Copied from KIDiddles.com:

(They have a playable midi file on that page.)

HALLOWE'EN SIGHTS
Words and Music By: Lillian Mohr
Adapted By: Terry Kluytmans
Copyright © 1998 KIDiddles.com

1. Witches on broomsticks with cats and bats
Ride 'round after dark in their pointed black hats.
How spooky are the noises on Hallowe'en night,
And then through the window we see a strange light.

2. Bright staring eyes and a glowing nose;
I sit close to Daddy and curl up my toes.
It's old Jack-o'lantern, he peeks in the room,
A worse looking spook than a witch on a broom.

3. Hallowe'en night can be lots of fun,
But somehow I'm glad when it's over and done.
It's good to have Daddy to kiss me good-night,
And know that the spooksters have all taken flight.

28 Nov 08 - 02:46 AM (#2503329)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Witches on Broomsticks
From: VirginiaTam

Wow Jim

Thanks

Melody is as I remember it on midi. I learned this sitting on my mothers lap at age 4 or 5 in 1962 or 63. But only one verse.

Now to research Lillian Mohr and Terry Kluytmans. Pure curiosity.

28 Nov 08 - 03:20 AM (#2503333)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Witches on Broomsticks
From: Joe Offer

A Google search tells me Lillian Mohr Fox was involved in the preparation of school songbooks for publication by Birchard and by Silver Burdett. We have most of the Silver Burdett songbooks indexed in our School Sonbook Index, but we haven't done much with Birchard (possibly because the Birchard books are not as interesting and colorful). Maybe the song will come up as we continue the indexing project.

Oh, and here (click) is information on Terry Kluytans, who operates the "kididdles.com" Website - I don't think she had anything to do with the song's origins.
-Joe-

28 Nov 08 - 04:12 PM (#2503785)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Witches on Broomsticks
From: VirginiaTam

Thanks Joe

You did it before I got a chance to. Suppose I can lay this to rest. now.

03 Oct 11 - 04:12 PM (#3233244)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Witches on Broomsticks
From: GUEST

My Grandma & Mom sang this song to me....

Witches on brooms with cats & bats
Ride round after dark in their funny black hats
How queer are the noises on Halloween night
And then at the window I see a strange sight....

Bright staring eyes, a big red nose
I sit close to Mother and curl up my toes
And then at the door I hear a loud 'rap'
Again at each window a 'tap, tap, tap'

Halloween night is lots of fun
But somehow I'm glad when it's over & done
It's good to have Mother to kiss me good night
And know that the witches have all taken flight

03 Oct 11 - 06:13 PM (#3233324)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Witches on Broomsticks
From: open mike

Hey -- have we heard anything from V. Tam lately??

this reminds me of this one...
"who are the witches, where did they come from?
Maybe your great great grandmother was one..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QE2gGUP5gw

one source credits it to Anne Hills..

07 Sep 12 - 11:14 PM (#3401574)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Witches on Broomsticks / Halloween Sights
From: GUEST

Well my DAD used was a radio personality here in the Jackson Mississippi area and every Halloween I could remember he'd recite this to us just before we went to bed. Only this is how I recall it. And ONLY this part: Halloween night is lots of fun but oh am I glad when it's over and done. It's good to kiss mommy and daddy good night and know that the witches have all gone on flight.

Weird. And he's originally from New York. I believe his dad taught it to him. I like the way his version is first person and brings in mommy and daddy. But that's just me. ;)

Just wanted you to know that yes, it is a small world.

01 Feb 19 - 05:54 AM (#3974343)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Witches on Broomsticks / Halloween Sights
From: GUEST,Francesca Santoro

I sang it in grade school in the 1940s in California.

I learned the second verse differently:

Bright staring eyes and big red nose!
I sit next to mother & curl up my toes.
It's Old Jack O' Lantern he peeks in the room.
A worse-looking spook than a witch on a broom.

The rest is the same, though, and it's fun to see it again. I'll never forget the tune or the words.

27 Oct 21 - 11:06 PM (#4124391)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Witches on Broomsticks / Halloween Sights
From: GUEST,So excited to read about my fav Halloween so

I learned this in grade school too and never forgot it and sang it to my children too . I remember it with slight differences .

29 Oct 22 - 12:43 PM (#4156675)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Witches on Broomsticks / Halloween Sights
From: GUEST,mi kelly

My mother sang this to my sister and I, grandkids and great grandkids. I'm sending out to them in an email today. We are from Ohio. The variations above are funny. We used: strange sight, instead of light and Bright starey eyes. My favorite for Halloween and not too scary for the kids. Have some Halloween fun everyone!

30 Oct 22 - 01:59 PM (#4156756)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Witches on Broomsticks / Halloween Sights
From: Nigel Parsons

Witches on broomsticks with black cats beside them
Witches dance 'sky-clad' with no clothes to hide them
Up in the woods on the dark Autumn nights,
These are a few of my favourite sights . . .

(Apologies to Sound of Music)
I may expand upon this ;)

31 Oct 22 - 06:43 PM (#4156879)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Witches on Broomsticks / Halloween Sights
From: GUEST

My mom always sang this song to me and my siblings and we too sang it to our kids and grandkids. My mom is 94, born in 1928. She is from Arkansas and claims she learned it in school when she was very young.

06 Nov 22 - 07:55 PM (#4156967)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Witches on Broomsticks / Halloween Sights
From: Bill D

In 1945, in 2nd grade,in New Orleans we were taught...

"Halloween,Halloween,
Oh what funny things are seen..
Witches hats, coal-black cats,
Broomstick riders, mice & rats."

I thought it was weak & silly even back then.

06 Nov 22 - 08:31 PM (#4156973)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Witches on Broomsticks / Halloween Sights
From: Charley Noble

Here's one my mother composed as a poem some years ago which I've recently adapted for singing:

Words by Dahlov Ipcar, ©2001
Adapted by Charles Ipcar, 2018
After “Leather Wing Bat”
Key: Em (Gm/9)
Halloween Night Song-2

F----------Dm------C-----------Dm
Late last night my black cat cried,
---F----------Dm-----F-----C----Dm
I wondered why, I won-dered why--
--------F------------C--------Am
For it was a cold October night,
-----------------F------C----F---Dm---C---Dm
And the wind blew high, the wind blew high.

A great orange moon rose high above,
The tossing trees, the tossing trees--
And through that sky dead leaves swirled by,
Borne on the breeze, borne on the breeze.

My black cat clawed and scratched the door,
Mewed and cried, mewed and cried--
I scarce believed she wished to leave,
The warm fireside, the warm fireside.

But when I opened wide the door,
She dashed outside, she dashed outside--
And on a broomstick she leapt astride,
As it sailed by, as it sailed by.

So now I know that my black cat,
Who loves to chase the mice and rats--
Wants to chase the little black bats,
And owls that fly, owls that fly.

If I was a witch on Halloween,
I'd like to fly, I’d like to fly--
And ride my broomstick way up high,
Across the sky, across the sky.

With my black cat I'd take to flight
And chase the bats and owls all night--
And ne’er return until daylight,
When the sun rose high, the sun rose high.

06 Nov 22 - 08:33 PM (#4156975)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Witches on Broomsticks / Halloween Sights
From: Charley Noble

Here's a link to how I sing it (click on MP3 button): https://www.charlieipcar.com/lyrics/halloween.htm