Origins: Sarasponda (child's/Girl Scout song)

Subject: RE: Origins: Sarasponda (child's/Girl Scout song)
From: GUEST,EuGene
Date: 18 Dec 18 - 11:48 PM

Golly, when I typed the notes to the Nickodemo song, they were over the words to which each note pertains, but when I entered the posting on here, they got shifted off to the left.

By the way, although the words "quannie onnie monnie monnie" all have 2 syllables, each is sung under a single Eb note.

Also, the refrain is sung with the Nickodemo and amo drawn out longer, but still taked the same length of time as each of the preceding stanzas.

Although shown in the key of E flat (because that's the key Clooney's "This Ole House" was in), it can be transposed to any other key one wishes.

With the first part being repeated, a 3-part round is possible. When the first group starts to repeat the first part, the second group can begin the song, then when the first group gets to the refrain, the third group can begin.

Subsequently the 3 groups may cycle through again until they all complete the song however many decided upon cycles each gtoup has completed.

EuGene

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I used the preformat <pre> tag </pre> to set the type to monospace. It should be aligned properly now.
-Joe Offer, Mudcat Music Editor

Subject: RE: Origins: Sarasponda (child's/Girl Scout song)
From: GUEST,EuGene
Date: 18 Dec 18 - 09:41 PM

Years ago when I was in church camp, the song leader (a lady named Iris Bell) had us singing the "Oh, Nickodemo" song as a round. It was apparently a bunch of nonsense words strung together but we had a blast singing it.

Anyhoo, it went like this (lyrics may have been spelled differently):

Quick quack quannie onnie monnie monnie doshnick,
Quick quack quo,
quick quack quo.
Quick quack quannie onnie monnie monnie doshnick,
Quick quack quo,
quick quack quo.
Oh, Nickodemo, oh jolly-olly-ahmo,
Oh, Nickodemo, oh jolly-olly-oompa-oompa-oompa

Some of the pronunciations:

The words "quannie onnie monnie monnie" rhymed with the name Bonnie
The "doshnick" rhymed with the exclamation "Gosh Nick"
The j in jolly is not the usual j but a "zh" like in "measure"

Here is a rough sketch of the tune
The tune for the two long lines is exactly the same as the opening line in Rosemary Clooney's "This Ole House", such as:

    G     Bb   Eb      Eb    Eb     Eb      Eb  Eb
  "This   old  house   once  knew   my     children,"
  "Quick quack quannie onnie monnie monnie doshnick," 
  
  Then the next two lines are,
  
     G     Bb   A
  "Quick quack quo," 
     G     Bb   Eb
  "Quick quack quo." 
  
  The above lines are repeated, then the song moves to the refrain:
  
  [up one octave]
  Eb  Eb  Eb Eb C  Eb   D    C   Bb G
  Oh, Nick o demo, oh jolly-olly-ahmo, 
  
  Bb  C    Bb Bb F    Bb   C    D   Eb Eb Eb Eb Eb Eb <--Eb's octave down
  Oh, Nick o dem o, oh jolly-olly-oompa-oompa-oompa
  

Although I show all of the notes as of the same duration and have some notes covering a 2-syllable word, play them and you will get a good idea how the song was sung.

EuGene

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Sarah Spunda / Sarasponda (child's song)
From: GUEST,Seonaid
Date: 30 May 16 - 03:11 PM

Decades ago, a Hungarian co-worker of mine told me it might be Hungarian. As I remember, she said something sounding like "saras bunda" meant a "good coat," and I do know a "bunda" is a distinctive Hungarian shepherd's coat. Would be fun to find out if the Dutch got scooped by the Magyars!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Sarah Spunda / Sarasponda (child's song)
From: GUEST,#
Date: 13 Dec 14 - 12:50 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarasponda

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Sarah Spunda / Sarasponda (child's song)
From: GUEST,#
Date: 13 Dec 14 - 12:46 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0-ZCVnHd6w

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Sarah Spunda / Sarasponda (child's song)
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Dec 14 - 04:58 PM

I thought I remembered it from junior high, when we learned some songs to sing at a grade school. But my weak mind has remember it differently, of course. I believe I'm wrong but I wanted to share. I love lyrics heard wrong sort of things!

Sara spun the, Sara spun the,
Sara spun the red sunset.


Sara spun the, Sara spun the,
Sara spun the red sunset.

Adoray oh adoray boom day oh
Adoray boom dey red sunset

Hosay posay oh.

:D

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Sarah Spunda / Sarasponda (child's song)
From: GUEST,soderbo
Date: 07 Jan 12 - 06:04 AM

It seems to be a latin/religious song, Dutch or not. He answers (sa responda) if you pray or something similar (adore). My guess.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Camp Song 'adoreo'/Sarasponda
From: Genie
Date: 24 Jul 11 - 05:54 PM

Aren't they (at least the "sarasponda" part) supposed to mimic the sound of the spinning wheel?

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Sarah Spunda / Sarasponda (child's song)
From: GUEST,Brianna 9year old
Date: 21 May 11 - 09:37 PM

Sarasponda sarasponda sarasponda ret-set-set
Sarasponda sarasponda sarasponda ret-set-set
Ah doray oh
ah boom day doray oh
ah boom day doray ret-set-set
ah say pah say oh

we sing this song in music class

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Sarah Spunda / Sarasponda (child's song)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 Feb 11 - 04:45 AM

Hi, M-
I have always thought that the lyrics were nonsense words, but maybe I'm wrong. The Cooperative Recreation Service songbooks say this is a "spinning song," but give no further explanation or nation of origin. I see above that somebody thinks it's Swedish, but I'd like to see documented evidence of that.
I have a school songbook titled Music Across Our Country, published by Follett in 1956. The song is on page 56, and is described as a "Dutch spinning song." The notes say, "Sarasponda may mean, 'Sara spun it'" - but that's only the guess of the editors, I think.
There's an inconclusive thread on this song at Snopes.com that partly refutes the Dutch attribution. Wikipedia says the composer is Andrew James Petsche, but there's no documentation of that. I'd say it's a popular Girl Scout song of unknown origin and meaning. All the information I've seen about its meaning and origin, is unconvincing. The earliest printed version of the song that I've found was in a pocket songbook titled Sing It Again, published in 1944 by the Cooperative Recreation Service. That predates its appearance in any of the Scout songbooks we've indexed.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Sarah Spunda / Sarasponda (child's s
From: GUEST,M
Date: 09 Feb 11 - 06:46 PM

What does sarasponda MEAN!!!!!!!!!

Subject: RE: Req: Sarah Spunda / Sarasponda(child's song)
From: LadyJean
Date: 22 Oct 10 - 12:24 AM

When I was a Girl Scout, the last verse to the One Bottle of Pop song was "Don't dump your muck in my back yard. My back yard. Don't dump your muck in my back yard. My back yard's full.

Subject: RE: Req: Sarah Spunda / Sarasponda(child's song)
From: GUEST,a visitor
Date: 21 Oct 10 - 05:24 PM

If you are actually still looking for a recording of this, just go to youtube and enter sarasponda there are dozens of versions of school groups and other singers each performing this same song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Camp Song 'adoreo'/Sarasponda
From: GUEST,....
Date: 27 Sep 10 - 06:37 PM

it is a dutch spinning song and the words are nonesense in any languahe

Subject: RE: Req: Sarah Spunda / Sarasponda(child's song)
From: Melissa
Date: 04 Feb 10 - 06:52 PM

Guest, 9 year old.

Welcome to Mudcat!

Do you split into two groups and take turns doing a 'boomda boomda boomda' part?

Subject: RE: Req: Sarah Spunda / Sarasponda(child's song)
From: GUEST,9 year old
Date: 04 Feb 10 - 06:47 PM

i am learning that song in my music class and it's spelled Sarasponda and it goes


          sarasponda, sarasponda, sarasponda ret set set, repeat one
            Adoray oh, oh adoray boomday oh, adoray boomday ret set
             set pass ay pass ay oh yo

Subject: RE: Req: Sarah Spunda / Sarasponda(child's song)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Nov 09 - 11:04 PM

MIDI from leeneia posted. Thanks, leeneia!
-Joe-

Click to play

Subject: RE: Req: Sarah Spunda / Sarasponda(child's song)
From: GUEST,Sheila
Date: 16 Nov 09 - 09:35 AM

Can you read this?

Key of C
Time: 4/4

ce gg ga gf ef gf ed c (repeat)

c c'.a g.c c'c'c' a g..e

ff dd efg. df ed c..

Sheila

Subject: RE: Req: Sarah Spunda / Sarasponda(child's song)
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 15 Nov 09 - 11:41 PM

It's been eight years, and nobody's come up with the music yet. Surely something this silly deserves to be on the web, for free, so I will send in a MIDI for posting.

I learned it at 4H Camp Shah-wa-nas-see.

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Click to play

Subject: RE: Req: Sarah Spunda / Sarasponda(child's song)
From: kendall
Date: 15 Nov 09 - 09:38 PM

I heard this in grade school but I refused to sing it. Too damn silly for me!
Sara spundit sara spundit sara spundit rat sat sat.....

Subject: RE: Req: Sarah Spunda / Sarasponda(child's song)
From: Susan of DT
Date: 15 Nov 09 - 07:36 PM

Sarah

We sang that round as well at a camp in NY state in the 1950s. This was not a Girl Scout camp and I sang the other in GS. I assume it is British, with the "dustbin" reference.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Sarah Spunda (child's song)
From: Sarah McQuaid
Date: 15 Nov 09 - 04:49 PM

I learned it as "Sarasponda" at Lakeside Farm Camp in Michigan in the late 1970s, along with lots of other great "camp songs". There was a great one that went:

One bottle of pop, two bottles of pop
Three bottles of pop, four bottles of pop
Five bottles of pop, six bottles of pop
Seven bottles of pop, stop!

Fish and chips and vinegar
Vinegar, vinegar
Fish and chips and vinegar
Pepper, pepper, pepper, pop!

Don't put your dust in my dustpan
My dustpan, my dustpan
Don't put your dust in my dustpan
My dustpan's full.

Sung as a 3-part round -- each verse has a different melody.

Ah, great days, great days ....

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Sarah Spunda (child's song)
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Nov 09 - 03:40 PM

Thank you for all of this information. I learned "Saraspunda" at Camp Talaki - at YWCA camp in Wisconsin in the 1950's. I've never forgotten the words and have sung it ever since. I do think we were told it was a spinning song.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Sarah Spunda (child's song)
From: Susan of DT
Date: 20 Dec 08 - 06:37 AM

Taris bunda, taris bunda, taris bunda, ra sa sa
Taris bunda, taris bunda, taris bunda, ra sa sa
Adorayo, adoray bundayo, adoray bunda ra sa sa
Ra sa sa say sa, whee

or that's what it sounded like to me in girl scouts in the 1950s.
I think we have discussed this before, but it is hard to find something that can be spelled any which way (not necessarily "correctly").

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Sarah Spunda (child's song)
From: Genie
Date: 20 Dec 08 - 02:08 AM

That's the way I remember Sarasponda from grade school too. I thought it was Dutch or Swiss and that the "nonsense" words and syllables were meant to mimic the sound of a spinning wheel.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Sarah Spunda (child's song)
From: open mike
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 09:29 PM

yes,,,it is a spinning song...Dutch origins, i believe...Holland, the Netherlands....(not Swedish) words are non-sense...alliterations...
like the sounds of spinning...i remember it from Girl Scouts.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Sarah Spunda (child's song)
From: Anne Lister
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 01:30 PM

I'd heard that Sarasponda (the spelling I've always used) was a song to go with a spinning wheel - I've used it for years in voice workshops, using the boomda- boomda part to set the speed, swapping sides and seeing just how fast we can go.

FWIW, I learnt it in the Girl Guides, so you might find the tune in a Guide songbook, if nowhere else.

Anne

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Sarah Spunda (child's song)
From: GUEST,Captain Fairfax
Date: 19 Dec 08 - 01:23 AM

I seem to remember that was a Swedish song, that was supposed to sound like a spinning wheel. Anyone know if that is right?

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Sarah Spunda (child's song)
From: GUEST,also sang it in car & camping, different wor
Date: 28 May 08 - 07:04 PM

Qui quah molly-molly-molly-molly garshnick
Un quah qui, Un quah quo,
Qui quah molly-molly-molly-molly garshnick
Un quah qui, Un quah quo,

O Nicodemo, O olly-olly-amo!
O Nicodemo, O olly-olly-oompa-oompa-oompa...!

Happy to sing it my daughter Molly, but had no clue of it's meaning or origin...just always a part of my family history. With four brothers and three sisters, when the oompa--oompa--oompa round part of it got going, it was great fun till the final oompah-pah!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Sarasponda (child's song)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 03:11 AM

Here are the lyrics I know, as printed in the Rise Up Singing Songbook. You'll find a Sesame Street recording of the song available for purchase here (click). Oh, and there are versions with sound clips here (click) and here (click).
-Joe Offer-

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Sarasponda

women: Sarasponda, Sarasponda, Sarasponda retsetset
men: Boomda, boomda....

together: Ahdoray-oh! Ahdoray-boomday-oh!
Ahdoray-boomday-retsetset, awsay-pawsay-oh!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Sarah Spunda (child's song)
From: Haruo
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 03:09 AM

I forgot to put the footnote in (I put an asterisk by Ret-set-set* but then didn't follow up on it):

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*The t's in "ret-set-set" are, it seems to me, really just glottal stops (like the consonant in the middle of a cockney "bottle" or the hyphen in "oh-oh"). This is a sound that doesn't have a generally agreed upon spelling in English, and I chose to err on the T side when I could just as easily have erred on the other side by writing "Reh-seh-seh". The sound is made by briefly constricting the airway in the throat (at the glottis, or voicebox).

And I should also mention that "qui que quo quum" are "kwee kway kwoh kwum", as in Latin (except for the very English um), not as in French or Spanish.

Liland

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Sarah Spunda (child's song)
From: Haruo
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 02:48 AM

I've always thought of it as "Seresponda, seresponda", something like this:

Seresponda, seresponda, seresponda, ret-set-set*,
Seresponda, seresponda, seresponda, ret-set-set*,
Adóreo, ah do re boom-day oh,
Adóré boom-day ret-set-set,
Hossay possay oh!

We always sang it (in my family as a kid; it was a roadtrip song, in the late fifties and sixties) as a medley with

Qui que money-money-money-money dusty
Qui que quo, qui que quum
Qui que money-money-money-money dusty
Qui que quo, qui que quum
O Nicodemo, O jolly-olly-umbo!
O Nicodemo, O jolly-olly-oompa-oompa-oompa!

Shades of Macnamara's Band and Bill Grogan's goat! ;-)

Liland

PS I'll try to whip up a MIDI in the next few days of the melody line as I recall it, but in the meantime try that spelling... And my best wishes for the little girl.

Subject: Sarah Spunda (child's song)
From: GUEST,Jenna
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 02:29 AM

I've been searching everywhere for a recording of the children's song Sarah Spunda. I don't know if that's how it's spelled, but the lyrics go "Sarah Spunda (2x), Sara Spunda Ret Set Set...etc. It used to be sung in my first grade music class in public school in the US. Does anyone have any info that would help me locate an audio of this song? I've even tried Napster, etc., and I'm wondering if maybe I don't have the spelling right or something. This song MUST be out there somewhere!!! It's for a very special little girl I know who has been abused and her name is Sarah. I want to make a CD of pictures to music just for her.