Lyr Add: Songs about the body

Subject: Lyr Add: Songs about the body
From: GUEST,Emmie
Date: 19 Oct 21 - 08:43 AM

I am due to teach some folk music workshops in a special school. We will be doing dancing and singing. The words need to be simple and have easy words and repetition. We will probably use some sign language with the words as well to help people learn the meanings.

The school have a theme this term which is "me, my self and my body" I am wondering if anyone knows any traditional songs that reference the body in some way and that are appropriate for children. I am broadly thinking of doing songs about things people have used their bodies for i.e. work songs, sea shantys, rambling, dancing, eating and drinking that sort of thing but if anyone knows any body related songs that would be great.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Songs about the body
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Oct 21 - 10:36 AM

Possibly a bit too complicated - though a very catchy chorus - Roy Bailey singing Leon Rosselson's "You Need Skin"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqaV78kJj-w&ab_channel=krasnapolski2000

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https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=35163

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Songs about the body
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Oct 21 - 10:40 AM

oh yes i'd forgotten about that song...thanks so much. A friend played it to me in the car a couple of years ago and said it was was one of his favourite childhood songs. I love leon Rosselson.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Songs about the body
From: GUEST,RA
Date: 19 Oct 21 - 03:02 PM

The one about all the bones and how they join together.

The knee one's connected to the thighbone, etc...

Or if you are from New York State, the kneebone Schenectady...

Sorry.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Songs about the body
From: GUEST,RA
Date: 19 Oct 21 - 03:10 PM

Ps it seems to be called 'The Skelton Dance' or 'Dem Bones'. Maybe not a traditional song in the classic sense, but a good one!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Songs about the body
From: Joe Offer
Date: 19 Oct 21 - 03:41 PM

Be sure to see the "Songs about anatomy" thread:

https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=98739

Also see the songs in the "Dry Bones" series:

https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=9901Z

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Songs about the body
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 19 Oct 21 - 03:49 PM

Hokey Cokey.
Twenty Tiny Fingers
Nobody Nose the Trouble I've Seen

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Songs about the body
From: Monique
Date: 19 Oct 21 - 04:09 PM

Don't forget "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" that's been translated/adapted in a lot of languages.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Songs about the body
From: GerryM
Date: 19 Oct 21 - 05:32 PM

My Anna lies over the ocean,
My Anna lies over the sea.
My Anna lies over the ocean,
Oh, bring back my anatomy.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Songs about the body
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 20 Oct 21 - 01:01 AM

You need hands to hold someone you care for
You need hands to show that you're sincere
When you feel nobody wants to know you
You need hands to brush away the tears
When you hold a brand new baby
You need tender hands to guide them on their way
You need hands to thank the Lord for living
And for giving us this day

1958 Max Bygraves picked up the basics of songwriting. Describing "You Need Hands" as one of his early attempts, he relates how "...I had penned the rough guide to a song" while appearing in Swinging In The Lane. Later, it was recorded by Eydie Gormé and became a big hit; the original version was the alternative A Side to "Tulips From Amsterdam".

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Songs about the body
From: BobL
Date: 20 Oct 21 - 04:16 AM

I remember Bernard Bresslaw's parody:

You need feet to stand up straight on,
You need feet to kick your friends,
You need feet to keep your socks on,
And stop your legs from fraying at the end...

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Songs about the body
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 20 Oct 21 - 08:50 AM

I always thought the Max Bygraves one was a German song

You need Hans...

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Songs about the body
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 20 Oct 21 - 09:32 AM

IO'm sure this could be sung to a better tune.......https://youtu.be/BwHMMZQGFoM

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Songs about the body
From: gillymor
Date: 20 Oct 21 - 09:54 AM

The Two Sisters (or Twa Sisters)
gets a bit graphic and grisly re body parts-

There were two sisters lived in a bower,
    Oh the wind and rain,
There were two sisters lived in a bower,
    Oh the dreadful wind and rain.

Johnny courted the eldest with a gay gold ring,
But he loved the youngest above all things.

Johnny courted the eldest with a brooche and knife,
But he loved the youngest with all his life.

Oh the eldest envied the sister fair
For her pretty little face and her long flowing hair.

“Now sister, sister, come to yon sea strand,
And see our father's ships a-coming home to land.”

And the eldest pushed the youngest in
For she knew, her sister, she could not swim.

Some times she sank, and some times she swam,
Until she came to the miller's dam.

Oh the miller standing at his door
And he saw her drowning by the shore.

“Oh miller, I'll give you this gay gold chain
If you bring me back to my father again.”

And the miller took that gay gold chain
And he pushed her back in the water again.

Her father's knight he came riding by
And this fair maid's body chanced to spy.

Oh he took three locks of her long yellow hair
And with them strung a bow so fair.

And what did he do with her breast bone?
He made it a fiddle to play upon.

And what did he do with her veins so blue?
He made fiddle strings to play a tune.

And what did he do with her fingers slight?
He made little pegs to hold them tight.

And the only tune that the fiddle would play
Was oh the wind and rain,
And the only tune that the fiddle would play
Was oh the dreadful wind and rain.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Songs about the body
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Oct 21 - 12:59 PM

"The Pope's Toe" - song by Con O'Driscoll.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Songs about the body
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Oct 21 - 06:11 PM

Thanks for these suggestions. I had thought of two sisters...quite macabre but wonderful. Another song I am thinking of is what shall we do with the herrings head.