Lyr Req: 'The pigeons in the market square'

Subject: Lyr Req: 'The pigeons in the market square'
From: GUEST,guest tfox
Date: 12 Dec 08 - 10:35 AM

I found this forum while searching for the lyrics of "The pigeons in the market square" - which we used to sing in Hull (England) during the 1940s - could anyone quote or direct me to the lyrics please?

The lines I remember are:
"The pigeons in the market square/strut about the pavement there/Their feathers silver blue and green/ would make a garment for the [a?] queen"...

Many thanks in advance
TFox

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'The pigeons in the market square'
From: GUEST,ciencias y artes patagonia
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 02:30 AM

I too have just found this page in the same away. I used to live in Newcastle upon Tyne and I am often reminded of the same lyrics when seeing pigeons but cannot remember where I learned them or where they are from and would be interested to know.
As I remember it "strut" comes in the next line to the ones you give. This may help you remember more.
This is all that I remember.

"The pigeons in the market square/walk upon the pavement there/Their feathers silver blue and green/ would make a garment for a queen/
They strut about and nod their heads....."

Best wishes from Ciencias y Artes Patagonia

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'The pigeons in the market square'
From: GUEST,Pearl
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 07:02 PM

"The pigeons in the market square
Walk upon the pavement there.
Their feathers silver blue and green
Would make a garment for a queen.

They strut about and nod their heads
And boldly walk on garden beds.
They are as tame as tame can be.
They're not at all afraid of me!

And when I walk from school each day,
I always go the longest way
Because I like to see them there...."


That's all I can remember!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'The pigeons in the market square'
From: GUEST,J. Symonette
Date: 21 Oct 09 - 10:23 AM

I remember singing this song as a little boy in Primary School. I cannot remember any additional words, other than the ones you have already. I have been trying to find my music teacher who taught it to me. I don't know if she's still alive. Does anyone know the composer of this piece?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'The pigeons in the market square'
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Jun 10 - 02:55 AM

The lyrics were in the Troubadour song books we used in Dundee in the 1950 s. I think the pigeons were in the same book as The Sweet nightingale.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'The pigeons in the market square'
From: GUEST,Barney
Date: 27 Feb 12 - 07:27 AM

An old man from South Down sang me that song recently. He's promised to write it down for me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'The pigeons in the market square'
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 27 Feb 12 - 10:31 AM

Thanks for resurrecting this nice children's song.

Perhaps it ended like this:

And when I walk from school each day,
I always go the longest way
Because I like to see them there...."
THE PIGEONS IN THE MARKET SQUARE.

It seems like a logical way to end the song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'The pigeons in the market square'
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Mar 12 - 10:56 AM

I just happened to be sitting at my desk and thought about this song again. I played the melody and some of the harmony at the piano today.   I would love to teach the complete song to my students in Florida. I learned this song as a Primary School student in the Bahamas. Does anyone know where I can find the score? I need to know how this song ends! Please help!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'The pigeons in the market square'
From: GUEST,Richard
Date: 27 Jun 12 - 04:59 PM

The lyrics are exactly as Pearl has written, with the correct ending by Leeneia. I sang this as a young boy in an Eistedfod in East London, South Africa. I don't know how these forums work but would be very happy to play the song to anyone who wants to know exactly how it goes. I do not however have the sheet music.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'The pigeons in the market square'
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 28 Jun 12 - 02:15 PM

To Guest from March 12th: why wait for the old music? Make up a new tune and bring this song back to life.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'The pigeons in the market square'
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Aug 13 - 01:34 PM

Hi there

When I was a child back in the 70s, my music teacher pushed me into competition singing this song.

I won the first place trophy with this damned song. I believe there is a cassette tape of me singing it at my mothers... Hmmm

Anyhow, yes the lyrics as stated in this thread are complete. So funny to stumble across this forum...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'The pigeons in the market square'
From: GUEST,Pat
Date: 25 Mar 15 - 12:40 AM

I sang this song in the sixties in Fulham. I loved it, but I always thought the words were 'make a carpet for a queen ' not a garment!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'The pigeons in the market square'
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Dec 16 - 05:51 PM

I remember having this sung to me and can sing it still but I heard it as the feathers silver, blue and green would make a pageant for a queen.   the lo- o- ongest way in the last verse is stretched out musically to suggest a- child going the longest way and taking their time over pigeon admiring.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'The pigeons in the market square'
From: GUEST,Woodcock Primary - Bamamas
Date: 04 Jan 17 - 06:18 PM

I remember singing this song in a competition during the 1970's. Ms. Wallace was the music teacher.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'The pigeons in the market square'
From: GUEST,Susan Bromley
Date: 22 Nov 19 - 06:40 AM

I love this song. We used to sing it regularly at junior school in Derby in the 1950's. Wonderful memories. Happy days. Days when the world was simpler and we were more innocent.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'The pigeons in the market square'
From: GUEST,Guest - Barbara
Date: 03 Dec 20 - 04:54 PM

I used to sing this song at primary school in Hamilton, New Zealand, in the mid-1960s. The lyrics quoted above are almost as I remember them:

The pigeons in the market square/Walk upon the pavement there/Their feathers silver blue and green/Would make a garment for a queen/They strut about and nod their heads/And calmly walk on garden beds/They're as tame as tame can be/They're not at all afraid of me/And when I go to school each day/I always go the lo-o-ongest way/Because they like to see me there/The pigeons in the market square.

It's memorable to me because the teacher had a bee in her bonnet about the pronunciation of 'pigeon'. Of course everyone says pidgin (or pidgn with a New Zealand accent) but she insisted that it was 'pidge-on'. So we had to sing 'The pidge-ons in the market square', which sounded so stilted and odd that I have never forgotten the song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'The pigeons in the market square'
From: saulgoldie
Date: 04 Dec 20 - 06:27 AM

Please forgive me. I can not resist adding this. It's in Digitrad.

POISONING PIGEONS IN THE PARK
(Tom Lehrer)

Spring is here, a-suh-puh-ring is here.
Life is skittles and life is beer.
I think the loveliest time of the year
Is the spring. I do, don't you?
'Course you do.
But there's one thing that makes spring complete for me,
And makes every Sunday a treat for me:

All the world seems in tune on a spring afternoon,
When we're poisoning pigeons in the park.
Every Sunday you'll see my sweetheart and me,
As we poison the pigeons in the park...(and so on)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'The pigeons in the market square'
From: GUEST,Anne Welding
Date: 03 Aug 21 - 04:23 PM

Sang this in primary school in the 1950s, Lower Darwen, Lancashire

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'The pigeons in the market square'
From: GUEST,#
Date: 03 Aug 21 - 05:52 PM

Loosely connected to the song, perhaps.

https://www.avintagesplendor.com/krakow-the-pigeons-of-market-square/

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'The pigeons in the market square'
From: GUEST
Date: 14 May 23 - 11:38 AM

It end with because they like to see me there the pigeons in the marker square