Years ago when I was in church camp, the song leader (a lady named Iris Bell) had us singing the "Oh, Nickodemo" song as a round. It was apparently a bunch of nonsense words strung together but we had a blast singing it. Anyhoo, it went like this (lyrics may have been spelled differently): Quick quack quannie onnie monnie monnie doshnick, Quick quack quo, quick quack quo. Quick quack quannie onnie monnie monnie doshnick, Quick quack quo, quick quack quo. Oh, Nickodemo, oh jolly-olly-ahmo, Oh, Nickodemo, oh jolly-olly-oompa-oompa-oompa Some of the pronunciations: The words "quannie onnie monnie monnie" rhymed with the name Bonnie The "doshnick" rhymed with the exclamation "Gosh Nick" The j in jolly is not the usual j but a "zh" like in "measure" Here is a rough sketch of the tune The tune for the two long lines is exactly the same as the opening line in Rosemary Clooney's "This Ole House", such as: G Bb Eb Eb Eb Eb Eb Eb "This old house once knew my children," "Quick quack quannie onnie monnie monnie doshnick," Then the next two lines are, G Bb A "Quick quack quo," G Bb Eb "Quick quack quo." The above lines are repeated, then the song moves to the refrain: [up one octave] Eb Eb Eb Eb C Eb D C Bb G Oh, Nick o demo, oh jolly-olly-ahmo, Bb C Bb Bb F Bb C D Eb Eb Eb Eb Eb Eb <--Eb's octave down Oh, Nick o dem o, oh jolly-olly-oompa-oompa-oompa
Although I show all of the notes as of the same duration and have some notes covering a 2-syllable word, play them and you will get a good idea how the song was sung. EuGene
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