Counting Songs

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: 8_Pints
Date: 04 Jul 01 - 04:06 PM

I am fairly certain that these are Cumbrian (hence the close correlation with Cornish & Welsh words).

Jake Thackery sang the song and I'll dig out the LP refernce later.

Bob vG

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: Grab
Date: 04 Jul 01 - 04:49 PM

There's the Scottish song Three craws in the DT, which my mum liked as a walking song. Has to be sung in a Scottish accent though.

Graham.

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 04 Jul 01 - 05:29 PM

OkScout, you said:

"Honey, you can't love one,
Honey, you can't love one,
You can't love one and still be fun
So I'm leaving on the midnight train
La-dee-dah, oh boy, toot, toot!"

That's similar to the old-time song, Ridin' on that New River Train".

Ridin' on that New River Train,
Ridin' on that New River Train,
My sweetheart said, said she'd rather see me dead
Than ridin' on that New River Train.

Darlin', you can't love one.
Darlin', you can't love one.
You can't love one and have any fun!
Ridin' on that New River Train."

The New River is an actual river, in Tennessee I think. Seems to me I've heard an historical explanation about why it was so undesirable to be seen ridin' on that train, but I disremember it now.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: GUEST,Sheila
Date: 05 Jul 01 - 10:05 AM

Hi! Whiskers, I learned that as "Alison's Camel" and we ended it with ".....a horse, OF COURSE!!!!!" Interesting how children's songs change in the oral tradition.

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 05 Jul 01 - 12:01 PM

5 little pumpkins sitting on a wall
A witch came riding by
Ha ha ha I'll take you home
and make some pumpkin pie Ha Ha
4 little pumpkins......
Good for Halloween

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: MMario
Date: 05 Jul 01 - 12:22 PM

another thread

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: SharonA
Date: 05 Jul 01 - 02:52 PM

mooman, the St. Ives rhyme sounds just what I learned, with a slight difference in the last line: "How many were going to St. Ives?" But this is more a riddle than an arithmetic song (the answer, of course, being... or shouldn't I tell?).

There are other songs I can think of with numbers of animals, but again they're not counting songs: Six Little Ducks; Three Little Kittens; Three Blind Mice. Then there is a counting song (but NOT with numbers) for toes: This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home, etc.

Isn't there a counting-down song with a mother duck mourning the loss of all her offspring in the next-to-last verse, then finding them all in the last verse?

SharonA

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: SharonA
Date: 05 Jul 01 - 04:16 PM

Oh, yes, there's also:

"And it's one, two three, what are we fightin' for?...
And it's five, six, seven, open up the pearly gates..."
("Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die" Rag)

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: 8_Pints
Date: 05 Jul 01 - 08:06 PM

The song 8 Pints was referring to was :- Old Molly Metcalf counting sheep, Yan, tan, tether, mether, pip she counted Up upon Swaledale steep and bleak, Yan, tan, tether, mether, pip she said Grow little sheep come rain, come hail Yan, tan etc Fine warm wool for a lady's counterpane Yan, tan, etc

There are several more verses if anyone is interested!

Sue vG

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: Jim Cheydi
Date: 06 Jul 01 - 06:24 AM

1 banana, 2 banana, 3 banana, 4/ 4 bananas make a bunch and so do many more/ Over hill and highway the banana buggies go/ Coming up to bring you the banana splits show/

La la la la la la la la la la la la la la/

4 banana, 3 banana, 2 banana, 1/ 4 bananas playing in the bright warm sun/ Flipping like a pancake, popping like a cork/ Fleagle, Bingo, Drooper and Snork/

La la la etc/

Kicking up a mess of fun x3/ Lots of fun for everyone

La la la etc/

1st verse repeat.

Does that count?

How about Steps' immortal '5, 6, 7, 8'?

JC

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: SharonA
Date: 06 Jul 01 - 01:04 PM

What about the intro to the old "Laverne and Shirley" TV show? (I'm not sure of the spelling or pronunciation, but here goes nuthin'):

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight
Schlamiel, schlameizel, Hoffenstaff Incorporated...

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 06 Jul 01 - 01:17 PM

THREAD CREEP ALERT:

Related to the counting songs are the alphabet songs. I'll lead off:

A, you're adorable,
B, you're so beautiful,
C, you're a bundleful of charms... etc. etc. ad nauseam.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: Chicken Charlie
Date: 06 Jul 01 - 06:14 PM

(Oh, Children) Go where I send thee.
How shall I send thee?
I'm gonna send you one by one,
One for the little bitty baby that was born in Bethlehem.

[Start over; build each verse like Twelve Days of Xmas.]
I'm not going to recall all the numbers, but search "Go Where I Send Thee" or variants thereof.

Two for Paul and Silas.
Three for the Hebrew children.
Six for the six that couldn't get fixed.
Eight for the eight that stood at the gate.
Etc....

Flanders and Swann [not BTF? Damn age!]did a pseudo-Russian folk song they called "In the Desert." Odin, odin, odin verblud ushol--One camel moves of. They got up to twelve. You had to hear it; point was it was done--or overdone--in imitation of a Jewish cantor with that kind of resonance and intonation. Not exactly a knee-slapper if you just tell it.

Also "Green Grow the Rushes," another one that builds like 12 Days.
I'll sing you one, ho! Green grow the rushes, oh.
What is your one, oh?
One is one and all alone, and everymore shall be it so.
Two, two the lily-white boys, cloth-ed all in green, oh.
Three, three, the rivals.
Four for the Gospel makers.
Five for the symbols at your door.
Six for the six proud walkers.
Seven for the bright stars in the sky.
Eight for the April rainers.
Nine for the nine bright shiners.
Ten for the Ten Commandments.
'leven for the 'leven that went to Heaven.
Twelve for the Twelve Apostles.

CC

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: gaelicconquest
Date: 02 Aug 01 - 06:23 PM

does anyone know who wrote this song or is itv traditional?

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: Gareth
Date: 03 Aug 01 - 04:34 PM

The Bells of Aberdovey ?

Gareth

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: The Walrus
Date: 04 Aug 01 - 07:35 AM

A chant rather than a song, but how about the magpie count? This is the version I knew

One for sorrow
Two for mirth
Three for a funeral (or wedding)
Four for a birth
Five for sil'er (silver)
Six is gold
Seven a tale should ne'er be told
Eight is Heaven
Nine is Hell
and Ten is the De'il in his own sel'

5-8 don't seem to quite match with the rest.

Regards

Walrus

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: Crazy Eddie
Date: 05 Aug 01 - 04:02 AM

There were ten in the bed, and the little one said
"roll over, roll over"
So they all rolled over and one fell out,
And hit the ground & gave a shout,
"Please remember to tie a knot in your pyjamas, Single beds were only meant for [shouted:]one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight,nine".

There were nine in the bed, and the little one said
"roll over, roll over"
So they all rolled over and one fell out,
And hit the ground & gave a shout,
"Please remember to tie a knot in your pyjamas, Single beds were only meant for [shouted:]one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie)
Date: 05 Aug 01 - 05:13 PM

A Kentucky counting-out rhyme. Children each place an index-finger on the counter's knee, making a ring of fingers. As he/she touches each finger on the beat of the rhyme, the chant is: William Tremmytoe he's a good waterman,
Catches hens, puts em in pens-
Some lay eggs, some none
Wire, brier, limber-lock,
Three geese in a flock
One flew east, and one flew west
And one flew over the cuckoo's nest
Three little hully-gulls sittin in a spring
O-U-T spells out you go, you
Ol' dirty dish-rag, you!

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: GUEST,Paul Burke
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 04:05 AM

French one (sorry, no cidillas or accents):

Un kilometre a pieds, ca use, ca use Un kilometre a pieds, ca use mes souliers

Deux...

Oh, and it's "where's my CROOK AND stick" is it? I've been songing it wrong all these years..

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: vindelis
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 06:10 PM

What about 'On the First Day of christmas my true love gave to me a Partridge in a pear tree' etc?

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: rich-joy
Date: 09 Jun 02 - 02:39 AM

refresh

see also LYR ADD : Old Molly Metcalfe

I'm STILL intrigued about these Shepherd Counting rhymes!!!

I just read a novel which mentions that in Suffolk, 1 to 10 was : unna / tina / wether / tether / pinkie / hater / skater / sara / dara / dic

The above posts mention the songs : Old Molly Metcalfe and The Lincolnshire Shepherd, which use these fascinating systems, supposedly relics from the old Celtic languages (pre Nordic and Norman conquest) - is this still thought to be the case?? Are they still in use anywhere?? What about examples from further north??

Maybe I'll start a new thread on this in hopes of some new replies .. Cheers! R-J

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: CarolC
Date: 09 Jun 02 - 04:05 AM

Clicky for Shepherds Counting Systems : British only thread.

Clicky for LYR ADD : Old Molly Metcalfe thread.

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: Mr Red
Date: 09 Jun 02 - 04:36 AM

forgive my cymraig but what about "y's cany eto"?
no red sheep though!

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: rich-joy
Date: 09 Jun 02 - 05:10 AM

Thanks CarolC!!!!

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: sian, west wales
Date: 09 Jun 02 - 05:37 AM

Mr Red, I think you're referring to "Oes Gafr Eto" (Is there another goat?) ... of which there are many versions. I think I've read that there are some 17 goat-counting songs (Welsh language) recorded.

sian

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: Gareth
Date: 09 Jun 02 - 07:30 AM

Just for you Mr Red, sorry but it will have to be goats tho

Oes gafr eto? Oes heb ei godro?
Ar y creigiau geirwon mae'r hen afr yn crwydro
Cytgan:
Gafr wen, wen, wen Ie
Finwen, finwen, finwen
Foel gynffonwen, foel gynffonwen
Ystlys wen a chynffon
Wen, wen wen.

(On repeat increase speed of melody
AND follow with all preceding colors).

Gafr du (etc)
Gafr goch (etc)
Gafr binc (etc)
Gafr lahs (etc)

English by William Cole and Peter J. Stephens

Where is the goat? It's time for milking
Off among the craggy rocks the old goat is wand'ring.
Chorus:
Goat white, white, white
With her lip white, lip white, lip white
With her tail white, with her tail white
With her tail and flank white,
White, white, white.

(On repeat increase speed of melody
AND follow with all preceding colors).

Goat black (etc)
Goat red (etc)
Goat pink (etc)
Goat blue (etc)

The original website source and the Melody can be found Here

Gareth

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Jun 02 - 02:54 PM

Just to correct, the colours for 'counting the goats'
Ddu (pronounced Thee) (originally the word for black is 'Du' (pronounced 'Dee') but it is mutated.)
Goch (originaly 'Coch' but mutated)
Binc (originally 'Pinc' etc.,)
Las (originally glas......)

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: Mr Red
Date: 09 Jun 02 - 06:18 PM

I always thought it was goats, calling it the goat counting shanty but I was corrected last time I requested it so I believed the lass!
Just read the sheep counting thread and counting feet & dividing was qualified by not counting red ones as they were foxes! so I even got my red ones in as well. SORTED

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: BB
Date: 10 Jun 02 - 02:31 PM

One that my husband learnt from his father, who came from Stirling is:

One and one is two, Two and two is four, Four and two is six and six is twelve. Twelve and twelve are twenty-four, Add sixteen and you get two score, A seven and a three make it half a century, And if we have not blundered, Add forty-four and five, And as sure as you're alive, You only need one more to make a hundred!

If anyone knows any more about this song, we'd be delighted to hear.

All the best, Barbara

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: open mike
Date: 10 Jun 02 - 03:53 PM

the most hillarious counting song i have heard is by Trout Fishing in America and it is counting the wheels on a semi truck -- in Latin numerals..! so itgoes: I, II, III IV, but it is sounded out: eye, eye eye, eye eye eye, eye vee, etc. up to eighteen (Ex, VEE, eye eye eye,,,,)then it goes backwards, too.what a hoot!

also green grow the rushes, ho-a bible verse song,... there is the song which uses vowels-I like to eat apples and bananas--which repeats with each vowel- such as I like to OOT OOples and ba noo noos... which is fun to do with signlanguage so people can learn sign language for the vowels...

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From:
Date: 13 Apr 03 - 07:46 PM

Has anyone heard of the song Ho'ven Ho'ven. about a lady who loses her baby while picking blackberries. It has some irish words in it and im not sure exactly how the words are to be said.

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: Penny S.
Date: 14 Apr 03 - 05:32 PM

This link should help - but you really need to post requests like this in a thread of their own. This doesn't belong in a thread about counting songs.

Lullaby

Penny

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 14 Apr 03 - 06:26 PM

One, two, one two three
I love you and you love me.
Three four, three four five
I'm so glad to be alive.
Six seven six seven eight
I was born in Liverpool 8.

The Scaffold, circa 1967

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie)
Date: 18 Apr 03 - 05:52 PM

"The Bluebird Song," referred to earlier in this thread, goes thus:

When I was a young thing once on a day,
Dreaming under my appletree,
A great flock of bluebirds sailing through the sky
Espied my tree as they passed by-
And O, it was a wonderful sight to see
As they settled down to rest in my appletree!
Count them, said my Mother, "How?" said I,
Out of the window came this reply:

One you'll have sorrow, two you'll have joy,
Three get a present, four get a boy.
Five receive silver, six receive gold,
Seven's a secret that's never been told.
Eight a love-letter with promises three,
Nine mean's your truelove'as true as can be.

Only once in a lifetime, the oldfolks say,
The vision of the bluebirds will come your way-
But only if you're dreaming, only if you're still,
Only in an appletree on a green hill.
So stop all your hurrying and worrying away,
And take time for dreaming on a sunny day-
Wait for the bluebirds and when they come along,
Tell your fortune with the bluebird song.

(Spoken) Boys sing it like this:
One you'll have gladness, two you'll have strife,
Three get a present, four get a wife,
Five receive silver (etc. rest of chorus is same as first one)

(Note: When the birds-("flock" can be any number over three- just "count" each bird as you speak the line)rise and fly, whatever you're saying is your fortune...in doing this, use only the chorus. Mom taught me this rhyme, around 1926, and the rest of the song, and the tune, I made up when telling the story to my little boys at bedtime, about forty-one years ago- hence the "boys" words on the second chorus!) Jean Ritchie

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: denise:^)
Date: 19 Apr 03 - 12:49 AM

One, two, three, four, five--
I caught a fish alive!
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten--
I let him go again!

Why did you let him go?
Because he bit my finger so!
Which finger did he bite?
The little one on the right!

and

Five brown buns in the bakery shop,
Five brown buns with sugar on the top.
Along came a man with a penny to pay,
He looked in the window, and he took one away.

Four brown buns... (etc.--we alternate "man" and "woman" until the last verse)

Three brown buns...

Two brown buns...

One brown bun...

No brown buns in the bakery shop,
No brown buns with sugar on the top.
Along came a kid with a penny to pay,
He looked in the window, but he just went away.

--Denise:^)

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From:
Date: 02 Oct 03 - 10:18 PM

One, two, three
The devil's after me
Four, five, six
He's always throwing bricks
Seven, eight, nine
He misses every time
Halleluiah, Halleluiah, Amen

One from 50+ years ago in vacation bible school.

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: PageOfCups
Date: 03 Oct 03 - 07:54 PM

About those sheep-counting rhymes... I bet Meredith Willson was familiar with them. Remember the scene in The Music Man during the July 4th "exercises" in the gym? The Mayor's wife counts to twenty "in the Indian tongue." I can't locate a text of what she chants, but in my memory of the movie it sure sounds close to those sheep rhymes.

Can anybody come up with Mrs. Shinn's chant to compare the two?

PoC
who notices something new about The Music Man every time she sees it...

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 03 Oct 03 - 08:24 PM

Yan tan tethera & associated British counting systems have been closely examined in This thread which I have requested be included atop this page

Nigel

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: GUEST,Sheleighli
Date: 13 Oct 03 - 12:09 AM

Help, I need to know if anybody has a reliable source that has the original date of this song. I know that it is an old spiritual and was sung during slave times. But I as of yet have not been able to find it. Thanks so much.

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From:
Date: 13 Oct 03 - 12:36 AM

sorry I didn't leave my email [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: GUEST,Sarah
Date: 20 Feb 04 - 09:36 PM

Cinderella,
Dressed in Yella,
Went upstairs to kiss her fella,
By mistake,
She kissed a snake,
How many doctors did it take?
ONE..Two..Three (Et Cetera)
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~**~
Wasen't there a song that said how many children you would have? If you know it I'd be glad to know ^.^

Subject: ADD Version: Three Craws
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Feb 04 - 04:22 PM

The one about the three crows is

THREE CRAWS

Three craws sat upon a wa', sat upon a wa', sat upon a wa',
Three craws sat upon a wa
On a cold and frosty morning.

The first craw couldna flee at a',...

The second craw fell an' broke it ja',...

The third craw was greetin' for it's ma,...

The fourth craw wasna there at a',...

An' that's a' we ken aboot the craws,....

-- The University of St. Andrews Students' Union Song Book (1958)

There is a lovely one for telling your fortune by counting the birds in a tree, but I've forgotten which record I have it on.

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: GUEST,Uly
Date: 16 Jun 09 - 10:18 PM

"Isn't there a counting-down song with a mother duck mourning the loss of all her offspring in the next-to-last verse, then finding them all in the last verse?"

Ugh, yes.

Five little ducks went out to play
Over the hills and far away
Mama duck said "Come back quack quack"
But only four little ducks came back

(And so on until the last duck is gone)

Now SAAAAD Mama duck said "quack quack quack quack"....
And all the little ducks came running back!

The tune is very similar to that OTHER duck song

Five little ducks that I once knew
Short ones, fat ones, a yellow one too
But the one little duck with a feather on his back
He led the others with a Quack, quack, quack!

I've had to sing those songs so very much these past few years. I love my nieces, truly I do, but I'm So Tired Of Those Songs!

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: Jeri
Date: 23 Aug 09 - 10:00 AM

Because the thread about Poontang went sideways around this post...

Further versions of William Tremmytoe posted by Kytrad

Wire briar, limber lock.
Six geese in a flock.
One flew east.
One flew west.
One flew over
The cuckoo's nest

I found other versions of a counting rhyme at funtrivia.com, cited by a WikiPedia article on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

William Trimmytoes

Tingle, tingle, tremble toes
She's a good fisherman
Catches hens
Puts 'em in pens
Some lay eggs.
Some lay none.
Wire, blier, limer lock
Three geese inna flock
One flew east,
One flew west,
One flew over the cuckoo's nest
O-U-T spells out
Goose swoops down and plucks you out

And

William Matrimmatoe

William Matrimmatoe
He's a good fisherman.
He catches hens,
Puts them in pens.
Some lay eggs.
Some lay none.
William Matrimmatoe
He's a good fisherman.
Wire, briar, limber, lock.
Three geese in a flock.
One flew east.
One flew west.
One flew over the cuckoo's nest.
Wire, briar, limber, lock.
Out goes you, old dirty dish rag, you.

Go visit the linked page. There's quite a bit of useful commentary and more versions.

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: Joe_F
Date: 23 Aug 09 - 08:35 PM

2, 4, 6, 8!
Who do we appreciate?
Mudcat! Mudcat! Rah!

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: Uly
Date: 23 Aug 09 - 09:56 PM

"Hi! Whiskers, I learned that as "Alison's Camel" and we ended it with ".....a horse, OF COURSE!!!!!" Interesting how children's songs change in the oral tradition."

And *I* learned that as "Sally Ann the Camel". I sang it to my niece, and she promptly decided it must be "Sally *and* the camel *have* so-and-so many humps" - she doesn't seem to think it's strange that Sally randomly becomes a horse at the end of her version!

On topic, I learned as a child:

1, 2, 3, 4
Mary at the kitchen door
5, 6, 7, 8
Eating cherries off a plate

though I've also heard it

2, 4, 6, 8
Mary at the garden gate
Eating cherries off a plate

*thinks*

I think you can say it in French as well...?

Speaking of French, my mother, a Belgian, taught us as children to sing a marching song. I've long since loosely translated it into English for my own nieces:

One mile by foot
It uses, it uses
One mile by foot
It uses up my shoeses!

Two miles...

There's a longer version of it here, but I don't sing it that way :)

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: Martha Burns
Date: 23 Aug 09 - 10:07 PM

Don't give up so quickly on "100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall." Years ago, Frank Hall (then of Bloomington, Ind., now living in Ireland) was sharing an Amtrak train car with a large troop of Girl Scouts, whose singing actually wore him out. In response, he made up this very nice variation on "100 Bottles of Beer."

    It goes,
             "A hundred bottles of beer on the wall,
             A hundred bottles of beer,
             Take one down, put it back up,
             A hundred bottles of beer on the wall."

It's quite a long song, ... much longer, even, than the original.

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Aug 09 - 08:54 AM

I'm looking for children's counting songs for a play I'm writing. Looked through all the wonderful entries here. Don't think I saw the lyrics to "One Little Duck." Three little ducks, floating in the water, three little ducks doing what they oughtter, they ...... on a lily pad, ..... and they said "We're sad." Now there's two little ducks... etc.

Can anybody help with the full lyrics?

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: Snuffy
Date: 25 Aug 09 - 03:12 PM

It's actually called Little White Duck and Google will let you choose from Danny Kaye, Burl Ives and many others.

Subject: RE: Counting Songs
From: GUEST,paco rabanne
Date: 25 Aug 09 - 03:26 PM

2 4 6 8 motorway. Tom Robinson Band 1978. Oh, 100 by the way...