What is a kid's song?

Subject: RE: What is a kid's song?
From: Azizi
Date: 29 Dec 04 - 06:36 PM

Some 6 1/2 years later, I've a correction to make to a post in this thread.

In response to Joe Offer's question about whether Bess Lomax Hawe has any relationship to the famous Lomax family, on Aug 3, 1999 MAG said:

"She doesn't; she is (was??) a Black woman from the Georgia Sea Islands."

Well, actually, Bess Hawes Lomax IS related to the Lomax family.
The woman MAG was thinking of was Bessie Jones. The two "Bessies" collaborated on a 1972 book "Step It Down", which is a wonderful collection of African American children's rhymes from the Georgia Sea Isles.

I'm sure that most Mudcatters know the difference between the two Bessies, but for the record I wanted to correct this understandable misstatement.

And for those who want to know more about these two fascinating women:

See this excerpt about Bess Hawes Lomax:

In the 1960s, the effect of the Lomax clan on folk music literally spanned the country. On the East Coast, Alan Lomax continued ably to carry on the tradition of his father, John, by collecting folk songs from all over the world and lecturing on folk music at leading universities. Across the continent, in Santa Monica, California, his younger sister, Bess Hawes, ranked as one of the foremost unofficial authorities on folk music in the west...

In addition to teaching folklore and folk music at California State University at Northridge during the sixties, she joined the summer teaching staff of the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts in Idyllwild, California. She is the co-author (with Bessie Jones) of a book of Afro-American children's games. Step It Down (Harper & Row, 1972). Bess Lomax Hawes is currently living in Washington, D.C., and working for the Division of the Performing Arts, Smithsonian Institution.

http://users2.ev1.net/~smyth/linernotes/personel/HawsBess.htm

Also see this excerpt from a bibliography about the African American singer and folklorist Bessie Jones, who died not long after the publication of "Step it Down" [although I don't know the exact year].

Although closely associated with the unique music of the Georgia Sea Islands, singer Bessie Jones was not actually born on the islands, but in a small mainland Georgia town. As a young woman she moved to the islands and became an intrinsic part of the cultural life there. Located directly off the Georgia coast, these islands represent a small but fascinating chapter in American history, a bit of which bears repetition to fully understand Jones' background....

Her performances, recordings, and educational programs earned many awards, including a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Like all great folk artists, her voice has continued ringing on since her death. She perhaps may not have had much in common with the rap and techno music of the '90s, but the techno recording artist Moby chose to sample her voice on his recordings.* ~ Eugene Chadbourne

http://www.mp3.com/bessie-jones/artists/27610/biography.html

*Moby has a recording that features the words to "Green Sally Up", a rhyme that had been the topic of some discussion at the Mudcat Cafe...

Subject: RE: What is a kid's song?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Apr 20 - 10:28 PM

Another Dummy Line verse, from Paul Rippey -

The president came to the briefing room
Said I know the way to save us all from doom
Injecting Lysol kills the germs just fine
Now we’re riding on the dummy dummy line.

Subject: RE: What is a kid's song?
From: PHJim
Date: 28 Apr 20 - 12:06 AM

I taught school for over thirty years and taught a bunch of songs to kids and learned a bunch from kids as well.
They seemed to like:
Boodle-Am Shake,
Be Kind To Your Parents,
Carl Martin's Barnyard Dance,
Rosalee Sorrel's I'm Gonna Tell,
The Watermelon Song,
Singing In The Bathtub,
Hopalong Peter (I leaned it from the New Lost City Ramblers)
Beans In My Ears (Len Chandler)
Going To The Zoo (Tom Paxton)