Lyr Req: state capitols / state capitals

Subject: state capitols
From: LC
Date: 02 Feb 00 - 09:14 PM

Anyone know a song about the state capitols, probably from the 20's or 30's? I think it must have been used in schools to teach kids the capitols.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: state capitols
From: MMario
Date: 02 Feb 00 - 09:21 PM

Here's one that I believe was qouted alot in the "little house" books

starts off:

State of maine, augusta, on the kennebec river.... but that's all I remember

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: state capitols
From:
Date: 02 Feb 00 - 09:44 PM

I used to teach elementary general music, and we did one that was an alphabetical listing to the tune of "Turkey in the Straw"... try it... Alabama and Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas... etc

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: state capitols
From: SeanM
Date: 02 Feb 00 - 10:33 PM

There's a version (to the tune of "Turkey In the Straw") that recently appeared on the cartoon "Animaniacs", but it is copywrighted, unfortunately.

M

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: state capitols
From: Sorcha
Date: 02 Feb 00 - 10:41 PM

I remember "What did Delaware (Della wear), She wore a yellow gown" Is this part of the same song, or a State song, rather than Capitals?

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: state capitols
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 02 Feb 00 - 11:05 PM

Sorry, LC, I don't know it either, but I'll give you another slightly related song: Lou and Phil Berryman's Your State's Name Here. (I'm so glad that's in the DT, because I lost my Berryman song book.) I'd love to learn that song, though, so I'll watch this thread.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Add: state capitols
From: LC
Date: 06 Feb 00 - 07:24 PM

Thanks everyone. Sounds like MMario might be on to something. I really don't know what I'm looking for. trying to help someone else. thanks again

Subject: RE: Lyr req: state capitols / state capitals
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 15 Oct 03 - 04:07 PM

Sorch said: I remember "What did Delaware (Della wear), She wore a yellow gown"

What did Della Wear, boys? What did Della Wear?
I ask you now,
As a pers'nal friend,
What did Della Wear?

She wore a New Jersey, boys, she wore a New Jersey
I tell you now,
As a pers'nal friend
She wore a New Jersey!

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Lyr req: state capitols / state capitals
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 16 Oct 03 - 10:58 AM

There's "Fifty nifty United States" by Ray Charles (not that Ray Charles!)

Subject: RE: Lyr req: state capitols / state capitals
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 16 Oct 03 - 11:45 AM

"Animaniacs" also had a clever one about cheeses too...

Robin

Subject: RE: Lyr req: state capitols / state capitals
From: open mike
Date: 16 Oct 03 - 04:43 PM

How much did IA weigh boys,
How much did IA weigh,
.....
She weighed a Washing Ton boys,
She weighed a Washing Ton
....
then there was something abuot a New Brass Key...

Subject: RE: Lyr req: state capitols / state capitals
From: PoppaGator
Date: 16 Oct 03 - 04:50 PM

Perry Como recorded a single on "What did Della Wear?" back in the 50s. His version did *not* include the lines "I ask/tell you now, /
As a pers'nal friend"

One other couplet I recall:

Why did Calla phone ya, why did Calla phone?
Why did Call phone ya, was she all alone?
She phoned to say Haw-why-ya (3x)
That's why she did phone.

Subject: RE: Lyr req: state capitols / state capitals
From: GUEST,bensini
Date: 05 Jan 04 - 09:48 PM

The name of the song from the rom Animaniacs that lists the capitols and states is called "Wakko's America" and is available on CD from Amazon.com

Subject: RE: Lyr req: state capitols / state capitals
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 07:21 AM

Wakko's America

Also links further down the page to 'Nifty Fifty'

Nigel

Subject: Lyr Add: DELAWARE (Irving Gordon; from Perry Como)
From: GUEST,Robby
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 03:45 PM

If anyone is interested, here are the lyrics to "Delaware" as performed by Perry Como:

DELAWARE
Words and Music by Irving Gordon, ©1959.
As recorded by Perry Como.

[DRUM ROLL]

Oh, what did Della wear, boy?
What did Della wear?
What did Della wear, boy?
What did Della wear?
She wore a bran' new jersey.
She wore a bran' new jersey.
She wore a bran' new jersey.
That's what she did wear.

One! Two! Three! Four!

Oh, why did Calla 'phone ya?
Why did Calla 'phone?
Why did Calla 'phone ya?
Was she all alone?
She called to say how ar' ya.
She called to say how ar' ya.
She called to say how ar' ya.
That's why she did call.

Uno! Due! Tre! Quattro! [ITALIAN]

Oh, what did Mrs sip, boy?
What did Mrs sip?
What did Mrs sip, boy,
Through her pretty lips?
She sipped a Minne soda.
She sipped a Minne soda.
She sipped a Minne soda.
That's what she did sip.

Un! Deux! Trois! Quatre! [FRENCH]

Oh, where has Ore gone, boy?
Where has Ore gone?
If you want, I'll ask 'er.
I'll ask 'er where she's gone.
She went to pay her taxes.
She went to pay her taxes.
She went to pay her taxes.
That's where she has gone.

Eins! Zwei! Drei! Vier! [GERMAN]

Oh, how did Wiscon sin, boy?
She stole a new brass key.
Too bad that Arkan saw, boy,
And so did Tenne see.
It made poor Flori die, boy.
It made poor Flori die, you see.
She died in misery, boy.
She died in misery.

Oh, what did Della wear, boy?
What did Della wear?
What did Della wear boy?
What did Della wear?

[WHISTLE AND FADE]

Subject: RE: Lyr req: state capitols / state capitals
From: YorkshireYankee
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 12:32 AM

Not a song, but a rhyme I remember reading somewhere (I think it may have been a book of jokes/riddles) as a kid:

Q. If Mississippi, known as Skippy, gave Missouri, full of fury, her New Jersey to wear to the fair, what in the world would Della wear?

A. I don't know, but Al-aska!

Cheers,

YY

Subject: RE: Lyr req: state capitols / state capitals
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 08 Jan 04 - 10:51 AM

The Animaniacs song called WAKKO'S AMERICA has been posted here. There is also an mp3 file on this page.

There are several recordings available. Go to AMG - All Music Guide or Barnes & Noble, for example, and search for "Animaniacs" as artist or "Wakko's America" as title.

Subject: RE: Lyr req: state capitols / state capitals
From: GUEST,Sara
Date: 29 May 08 - 08:52 PM

does anybody know the lyrics to Wakko's 50 State Capitols? if so, please e-mail them to me. [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Lyr req: state capitols / state capitals
From: Melissa
Date: 29 May 08 - 11:52 PM

Check the links in Jim Dixon's post directly above yours, Sara. I didn't check to see if the mp3 is active but the 'here' link works just fine.

Have fun

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: state capitols / state capitals
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 01 Jun 08 - 12:47 AM

Getting back to the quote from MMario's post—

Here's a quote from an article called "Joseph Joder, Schoolmaster-Farmer and Poet, 1797-1887" By Olynthus Clark, Professor of History in Drake University, published in 1929:

As he sang his reading, so he sang his geography, which was a mere memorizing of names and places from the State of Maine, Augusta, on the Kennebec River, throughout, to the State of Texas, Austin, on the Colorado River, and repeating each couplet.

A quote from School History of the United States by Albert Bushnell Hart, 1920:

All sorts of ways of interesting children were invented, such as "singing geography." A whole school would sing, to the tune of "Pop goes the Weasel,"
"State of Maine, Augusta, on the Kennebec River,
State of Maine, Augusta, on the Kennebec River,
Florida, Tallahassee, is an inland city,
Florida, Tallahassee, is an inland city."

A quote from My Story by W. H. Jennings, 1915, from a web site called Iowa in the Civil War:

Our principle [sic] books were the old Elementary speller with the words arranged alphabetically, a reader and arithmetic and sometimes a small geography. We learned the states, their capitals and location by song. I never could carry the tune commencing, State of Maine, Augusta on the Kennebec river, etc.

A quote from "The Old Red Brick Schoolhouse" edited by Charlotte Reeve Conover, copyright circa 1906, from the web site "Dayton [OH] History Books Online":

The lessons in geography were recited in a high sing-song, which modern educators would not allow for a minute, but which fixed facts in the mind like iron.
"State of Maine, Augusta, on the Kennebec River.
"Massachusetts, Boston, on the Boston Harbor."
Fifty years have not succeeded in erasing the jingle nor the lesson.

From "Our Times, 1900-1925," by Mark Sullivan, 1926: (I suspect this book has lots more information, but only snippets are viewable online.)

…the rivers in the first two states happened to approximate a rhyme:
Maine, Augusta, on the Kennebec.
New Hampshire, Concord, on the Merrimac…

The following list is given in First Lessons in Geography by James Montieth, 1854, at Project Gutenberg – but this is just a list, not a song:

 LESSON XX.
  CAPITALS.
  
  CAPITAL OF THE UNITED STATES,
  WASHINGTON,                       on the    Potomac River.
  
  EASTERN STATES.
    States.          Capitals.                  Situation.
  MAINE,           Augusta,         on the    Kennebec.
  NEW HAMPSHIRE,   Concord,         on the    Merrimac.
  VERMONT,         Montpelier,      on the    Onion.
  MASSACHUSETTS,   Boston,          on the    Boston Harbor.
  RHODE ISLAND,    Providence,      on the    Providence Bay.
                   Newport,         on the    Rhode Island.
  CONNECTICUT,*    Hartford,        on the    Connecticut.
                   New Haven,       on the    New Haven Bay.
        * kon-net'e-kut.
  
  
  LESSON XXI.
  MIDDLE STATES.
  
    States.          Capitals.                  Situation.
  NEW YORK,        Albany,          on the    Hudson.
  NEW JERSEY,      Trenton,         on the    Delaware.
  PENNSYLVANIA,    Harrisburg,      on the    Susquehanna.
  DELAWARE,        Dover,           on the    Jones' Creek.
  
  
  LESSON XXII.
  SOUTHERN STATES.
  
    States.          Capitals.                  Situation.
  MARYLAND,        Annapolis,       on the    Severn.
  VIRGINIA,        Richmond,        on the    James.
  NORTH CAROLINA,  Raleigh,       near the    Neuse.
  SOUTH CAROLINA,  Columbia,        on the    Congaree.
  GEORGIA,         Milledgeville,   on the    Oconee.
  FLORIDA,         Tallahassee,               Inland.
  ALABAMA,         Montgomery,      on the    Alabama.
  MISSISSIPPI,     Jackson,         on the    Pearl.
  LOUISIANA,       Baton Rouge,*    on the    Mississippi.
  TEXAS,           Austin,          on the    Colorado.
        * bat' on-roozh.
  
  
  LESSON XXIII.
  WESTERN STATES.
  
    States.          Capitals.                  Situation.
  ARKANSAS,        Little Rock,     on the    Arkansas.
  TENNESSEE,       Nashville,       on the    Cumberland.
  KENTUCKY,        Frankfort,       on the    Kentucky.
  OHIO,            Columbus,        on the    Sciota.
  MICHIGAN,        Lansing,         on the    Grand.
  INDIANA,         Indianapolis,    on the    West Fork of the White.
  ILLINOIS,(oy)    Springfield,   near the    Sangamon.*
  WISCONSIN,       Madison,         on the    Fourth Lake.
  IOWA,            Iowa City,       on the    Iowa.
  MISSOURI,        Jefferson City,  on the    Missouri.
  CALIFORNIA,      Sacramento,      on the    Sacramento.
        * sang'ga-mon.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: state capitols / state capitals
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 02 Jun 08 - 12:09 PM

Searching for "singing geography" I found more interesting stuff:

From The Ohio Educational Monthly By Ohio State Teachers Association, 1863:

SINGING GEOGRAPHY.—A subscriber requests us to give our opinion of "Singing Geography on Outline Maps." In our experience as a teacher, we gave this method of teaching local geography a thorough trial, especially in evening schools. Our classes acquired a familiarity with the subject with surprising readiness, but the results were specious and deceptive. The knowledge acquired so easily was like the "early dew"—liable to evaporate. The plan may doubtless be used with advantage to awaken an interest, etc., but we abandoned it long since as a school exercise.

From School Management by Alfred Holbrook, 1871:

Take for example, Singing Geography. Teachers formerly came around with their big out-line maps and claimed to teach all that was necessary to be known about Geography in a week or two, in all the tunes from Old Mear to Fishers' Hornpipe, from Coronation to Money-Musk. The children remember the tunes and whistle them to the present time, perhaps. But what discipline or development was attained by singing
"Connecticut, Hartford and New Haven,
Connecticut, Hartford and New Haven."
It does not take much Common Sense to discover that such hobgoblin performances don't do much, in favor either of knowledge or virtue.

From The Student edited by Isaac Sharpless and Watson W. Dewees, 1883:

Along the path trod by educational reformers of the last generation, are wrecks enough of exploded theories, to teach us humility and caution. The Mental Arithmetic craze, the Singing Geography craze, the Periodical Spelling Bee craze, are examples. No one can foretell that written examinations will not pass into history as some sort of a craze, or at least re-appear in a greatly modified form.

From Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, 1884:

"...What's your line—mainly?"

"Jour printer by trade; do a little in patent medicines; theater-actor—tragedy, you know; take a turn to mesmerism and phrenology when there's a chance; teach singing-geography school for a change; sling a lecture sometimes—oh, I do lots of things—most anything that comes handy, so it ain't work. What's your lay?"

From A California and Later Footprints by Thaddeus Stevens Kenderdine, 1888:

Most people who were school children in 1850 will remember the "singing geography schools" that spread like an epidemic over the land. They were at first held in the evenings and sometimes by day for a month during vacations. The repetition of the geographical names, with the peculiarity of the rising and falling inflections, were entered into with zeal, and much knowledge of the earth with the appendages thereof was obtained. If there was ever music in "singing geography," it was when chanting objects with Spanish names. So as I walked along I mentally sung "San Bernardino Mountain," "Sierra Nevada Mountains," "Upper California," "Monterey," etc., repeating each with the peculiar change of voice which had been taught me in my school days, until something else drove the subject from my mind.

From School Recreations and Amusements by Charles Wesley Mann, 1896.

Singing Geography.—Most middle-aged Americans of the present day will recall with interest and with some amusement the "singing geography" of the days of the '50's. The capitals of the States and Territories of the Union, with their location in reference to water courses, were repeated in short lines set to music, and were sung throughout the land. Each line was repeated once, thus forming a distich, and affording a little variety to the music. Some of the names were apt to be distorted, in order to fill out the measure of the lines.
Maine, Au-gusta, on the Kennebeck River,
Maine, Au-gusta, on the Kennebeck River.
New Hampshire, Concord, on the Merrimac River,
New Hampshire, Concord, on the Merrimac River.
sang the pupils in thousands of schools. And so on, throughout the entire list. The effect was electrical. The dullest pupil was stirred by the melody of the young voices and the novelty of the exercise. Usually some pupil pointed out the capital cities upon a map, as the names were sung. Children "sang the capitals" at home, and demanded maps for the household. Little ones who had not learned to speak distinctly caught the contagion and learned to "point off," as well as to sing, with their older brothers and sisters. The royal road to learning seemed to be discovered. Never was there such a marvel of easy and rapid acquirement of knowledge. What had begun probably as a mere recreation in the study of geography became the settled business of the class. Soon, however, it began to appear to thinking people that the names of capital cities and of rivers did not really constitute the science of geography, and that the mechanical repetition of names did not stimulate thought. Although the advocates of the system fortified themselves with lists of other geographical terms, covering the subjects of bays and straits, capes, islands, etc., "singing geography" fell into disuse and has not been revived, except as an occasional and profitable recreation.

From Sixty-five Years in the Life of a Teacher, 1841-1906 By Edward Hicks Magill, 1907:

It was in this school that I first saw taught what was then called "Naylor's System of Singing Geography." A teacher named Henry Warriner, who went from place to place teaching this system, met with considerable success in securing the memorizing of long lists of names; for instance, the towns on either side of the Mississippi River, from its mouth to the last of its smallest branches. Certain faint echoes of this peculiar chant come back to me as if it were but yesterday. But, like many other fads, it had its day; and I think, if my memory serves me rightly, it was a brief day indeed.

From Whitaker's Reminiscences, Incidents and Anecdotes By R. H. Whitaker, 1905:

When I was a boy we had a geography singing school at the old Red Meeting House, now Holland's church. Starting in a sort of chant, which sounded very much like a sure enough song, our teacher would name all the divisions of the earth, including islands; the oceans, seas, gulfs, lakes, bays and archipelagoes, the rivers, mountains, volcanoes, countries, capitals, largest cities, and so forth, until he had gone all over the world a dozen times in a day. Scholars had no books, but sang after him as he led the song. A large map hung on the wall, and with a reed he would point out the places as he would call their names. The noise was equal to a pack of hounds in full cry after a fox.

A fellow could not help learning, going over the same thing every day for two or three weeks. He would soon get so that he could not only name all the countries, capitals, oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, etc., but could locate them on the map as readily as he could call out their names. I am sure I learned more geography in that singing school than I ever did before or since.

From A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans by Will Thomas Hale, Dixon Lanier Merritt, 1913:

The writer recalls when "singing geography" was a custom in rural schools, all the pupils taking part, although geographies were in use. The custom was doubtless kept up from earlier times for the benefit of the smaller pupils; as, just before dismissal in the afternoon, the pupils of every age and size were ranged around the walls to sing, or, rather, chant. In the biography of Jefferson Dillard Goodpasture, by his sons, A. V. and W. H. Goodpasture, it is said that after his admission to the bar in Overton county he made a tour of the southern counties of Tennessee and north Alabama "singing geography," as well with a view of replenishing his almost exhausted means as for the purpose of prospecting for a location in which to practice his profession. The authors add: "Perhaps some reader may not be familiar with this character of instruction. It was a primitive method of fixing geographical names and localities in the mind. The teacher would lead, and the pupils would follow in concert. For instance, if they were learning the capitals of states, they would sing out: 'Maine, Augusta; Maine, Augusta;—New Hampshire, Concord; New Hampshire, Concord;' and so on."