Here are they lyrics as sung by Kay Kyser [Kayser?], whose band popularized the song in the mid 1930's [and who may have written it]. BTW, this song, like "Doggie In The Window," and some other "kids' songs" was not originally a children's song, but a song popular with the teenagers and young adults.THREE LITTLE FISHIES
(Saxie Dowell)Down in the meadow in a little bitty pool,
Swam three little fishies and the mama fishy, too.
"Swim!" said the mama fishy, "Swim if you can!"
And they swam and they swam right over the dam.
cho: Boop boop dittum dattum wattum, shoo
Boop boop dittum dattum wattum, shoo
Boop boop dittum dattum wattum, shoo
And they swam and they swam all over the dam.
"Stop!" said the mama fishy, "You'll get lost!"
But the three little fishies didn't want to be bossed,
So the three little fishies went out on a spree
And they swam and they swam right out to the sea.
chorus"Whee!" said the little fishies, "This is fun!
Let's swim and swim 'til the day is done1"
So they swam and they swam, and it was a lark.
Then, all of a sudden, they saw a shark.
chorus
"Help!"cried the little fishies, "Look at all the whales!"
And the three little fishies, they turned on their tails.
And back to the pool in the meadow they swam
And they swam and swam back over the dam.
chorus
A simple but effective way to play it is with a simple, repeated chord progression of G,Em,C, D7 on each of the first two lines of each verse [and the chorus], a progression of G, Em, C, A on the third, and D7, D7, D7, G on the last line.Kayser, of course, then repeats the whole song in baby talk, e.g.:
Down in da meadow in a itty bitty poo,
Fwam fwee widdo fiddies and da momma fiddy, too.
"Fwim!" ted da momma fiddy, "Fwim if oo tan!"
And dey fwam and dey fwam wight ova da dam.
etc.He also does not sing the same chorus twice. Each chorus is a different set of nonsense syllables, until, on the last one, it is only a lot of silly sound effects that most of us can't readily do.
Maybe someone has a link to a recording. I got it from a tape at the library.
Genie