I'm 16 years old and have been an American Girl Scout in Washington (State) since 1st grade. I still remember a lot of camp songs from when I was a Brownie and Junior but sadly the rest of my troop has forgotten or finds it too tedious to remember camp songs. I've heard many different versions but the chorus with the "treasures/pirates" always stays the same, as does the "river to the sea" and the "starboard/port" verses stay the same. The third verse I usually hear is the "window drear" verse, I never learned the tradition of humming it.

I know very little about the legend behind it, but the version I heard was that it was a very sick girl who wrote the story from her bed and died an hour after writing the song.

Since learning the story and understanding how sad it is, I don't generally sing the parody we learned, but the one I know is about the Boy Scouts. A Girl Scout friend of mine taught it to me one day when we were playing at my house. If it didn't come from such a sad song, I'd love it because of how it insinuates that the Girl Scouts are tougher than Boy Scouts.

Out of my tent flap looking in the night
I can see the Boy Scouts having a fight
Silently flows the pillow through the air
And the Boy Scout Leader starts to swear

Boy Scouts, I would like to fight with you
I would like to make you black and blue
Boy Scouts, oh did you ever know
That you're fighting with Girl Scouts, brave and bold