In an early post on this thread, iancarterb noted a two-line round from the Washington Dept. of Agriculture, and said he thought Tom Hunter had written the tune. He quoted one of the two lines: "Apple maggot quarantine area."

He was partly right. The whole song is:

Apple maggot quarantine area
Do not transport home-grown fruit

and the tune is mine. Though it's an honor to have someone think it's one of Tom's. The song is in Linda Allen's collection "Washington Songs and Lore"...but she got the last note wrong!

I can't do ABC, but the tune goes something like this:
1-3 | 2-4 | 3-2-1 | 2-1-8 |
1 5 | 5-5 | 5 1 | 2_

There are a lot of my favorite rounds in this thread. I've learned many of my favorites from Lani Herrmann, like these:

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bea-ear
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair
Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't
(then it repeats, of course)

We welcome in the morning
We welcome in the day

1, 3, 5, 8,
7, 6, 5, 4,
3, 5, 2, 3, 4, sharp, 5
And the 8 is the same as the 1
But an octave apart
Try to sing it by heart

Good night, good night
Time sends a warning call
Sweet rest descend to all
Time, time sends a warning call
Sweet rest, sweet rest descend to all

And an incomparable one by Moondog:

Nero's expedition up the Nile
Failed
Because the water hyacinths
Had clogged the river
Denying Nero's vessels passage
Through the Sudd of Nubia

Thanks, Lani!

Aloha,
Mark