The value of camp songs

Subject: RE: The value of camp songs
From: GUEST,Rosie
Date: 12 Aug 10 - 01:56 AM

YES JACOB! I love the zipper songs the best too, where you make up the verses. They are soo much fun. I wish I could find a site with chords for all those kinda songs

Subject: RE: The value of camp songs
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 09 Jan 04 - 03:49 PM

If you like campfire songs, THE reference is Rise Up Singing, a compilation of campfire songs for the 70s. Not too good for folk songs, but...

Subject: RE: The value of camp songs
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 08 Jan 04 - 05:02 PM

Then there's "The Whiffenpoof Song"...

Subject: RE: The value of camp songs
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 08 Jan 04 - 10:39 AM

Dave Bryant:

I remember:

"My name is Basil,
His name is Bond
We're all queers together,
They call us Basil done Bond"...

(for cross pondians "Basildon Bond" is a classy writing paper)

Nigel

Subject: RE: The value of camp songs
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 08 Jan 04 - 06:52 AM

Now THAT's a real "camp" song...

Subject: RE: The value of camp songs
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 08 Jan 04 - 04:32 AM

I know a camp song (tune Eton Boating Song):-

My name is Cecil
I live in Leicester Square
I wear open top sandles
And a lily in my hair.

Coz we're all queer together
- Excuse us while we go upstairs
Yes we're all queer together
That's why we go round in pairs.

I went for a ride on a choo-choo
It was full so I had to stand
A little boy offered me his seat
So I felt for it with my hand.

Coz we're all queer together . . . . .


Well it's better than
Gin gan gooly, gooly, gooly, gooly, watchyer
Gin Gan Goo, Gin Gan Goo

Subject: RE: The value of camp songs
From: LadyJean
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 11:39 PM

Girls like "Today" and "Cruel War". As I remember "The Ballad of the Green Berets" enjoyed a certain popularity as a campfire song in the 60s, with the last verse sung as a solo.
At School for Scottish Arts, they taught us songs like "Bonnie Charlie" and "The Skye Boat Song". We made very unkind parodies, about Prince Charlie's fondness for alcohol and escape in women's clothes. We shouldn't have done it. But it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Subject: RE: The value of camp songs
From: Compton
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 08:16 PM

I always thought that Camp Fire songs were to take the mind off how cold it was!

Subject: RE: The value of camp songs
From: Jacob B
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 06:01 PM

I'm distressed by how many people have favorite camp songs that weren't written until long, long after I went to camp.

The best camp songs are the "zipper" songs, where you get the thrill of making up a verse you think is clever and singing it in front of everyone. I agree with Joe F: Oh You Can't Get To Heaven.

Subject: RE: The value of camp songs
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 05:53 PM

The value of Camp Songs, is that they have brought public attention to a much maligned minority. We should thank "The Village People" as one of the most popular Camp Singing groups. Their songs "YMCA" & "In The Navy" became so popular that they were nearly adopted as advertising slogans.

Robin

Subject: RE: The value of camp songs
From: Janie
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 05:45 PM

"Dem Bones Gonna Rise Again"

"Oh Mary Don't You Weep"

"Four Strong Winds"

"As the Bright Flames Ascend to Heaven"

"We Will Roll the Old Chariot Along"

Janie

Subject: RE: The value of camp songs
From: Joe_F
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 05:34 PM

Grieve My Lord No More ("Oh, you can't get to heaven...")

Subject: RE: The value of camp songs
From: Ed.
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 04:11 PM

LOL, Leadfingers! Excellent!

Subject: RE: The value of camp songs
From: Cool Beans
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 03:53 PM

There Ain't No Bugs On Me
I'm Gonna Go Eat Worms (and all variants)

Subject: RE: The value of camp songs
From: Leadfingers
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 02:21 PM

And there I was expecting a treatise on Limp Wristed Singing

Subject: RE: The value of camp songs
From: GUEST,johnfitz.com
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 08:29 AM

Nice post Joe. Yesterday I told my class of cynical 8th grade boys that they should never argue with anyone they have not tried to get to know. Maybe i should add that before an argument they should first sing a song to each other. I agree that its many a folk gathering that has been saved by the singing of a classic song from everyone's childhood. I wish I were there.

Subject: RE: The value of camp songs
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 04:45 AM

Check out the Liberace song book.
eric

Subject: RE: The value of camp songs
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Jan 04 - 03:07 AM

Hi, Johnfitz. Do a keyword search (click) of the Digital Tradition and you'll find lots of camp songs. Check under the keywords camp, scouts, and kids. I see from your Campfire CD that you like a lot of the same songs I like. I guess my favorites are "Hole In the Bottom of the Sea" and "You're Always Welcome At Our House," and a version of "Singin' In the Rain." I sang "Singin" Sunday at the closing concert at the San Francisco Folk Music club's Camp Harmony, and got an wildly enthusiastic response. Everybody in the house was swiveling hips with thumbs up, elbows in, knees bent, head up, and tongue out - while saying "toody-toddy, toody-toddy, toody-ta-ta" interspersed with choruses of "Singin in the Rain." Everybody else was singing nice, serious songs - and the audience was starting to nod off. I thought my camp song was a bit out of place, but I did it anyway. Glad I did.
I worked for 25 years as an investigator for the U.S. government. One time, a witness refused to give me information unless I sang "Charlie and the MTA" for him - he'd seen me do it at a Cub Scout gathering. That's another one of my favorite camp songs.
-Joe Offer-

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See our Girl Scout Favorites (click) group and the crosslinks above on this page for more.

Subject: RE: The value of camp songs
From: Alaska Mike
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 10:46 PM

Whenever the campfire singing bug would strike our family everyone seemed to have their favorites. Some of these are:

Sloop John B
Sixteen Tons
Angus McFergus McTavish Dundee
Michael Row the Boat Ashore
This Land is Your Land
Jimmy Crack Corn
The Bear Went Over the Mountain
Stewball
Jingle Bells (someone always wanted to sing it even in the summer)
Punky's Dilemma
The Chivalrous Shark
My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
Molly Malone
Little Beggarman
Johnny McEldoo
The Last Farewell
Kisses Sweeter Than Wine
Sweet Betsy From Pike
The Frozen Logger
Carrick Fergus
You Are My Sunshine
Blue Bayou
On Top of Spagetti


There are many more, but we can't think of them now. Wow, lots of great memories came back while listing these songs. Thanks JohnFitz for this nostalgic thread.

Mike

Subject: RE: The value of camp songs
From: Tinker
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 10:18 PM

Top Ten Campfire Songs

This thread asked for songs you could play in the dark with adults.

Joe Offer does some great campfire songs. This year at Getaway he did a great You're always Welcome at Our House

Welcome,

Tinker

Subject: RE: The value of camp songs
From: Peace
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 09:07 PM

Great Big Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts

Subject: The value of camp songs
From: GUEST,johnfitz.com
Date: 06 Jan 04 - 08:38 PM

Being new to the mudcat forums I can't seem to get enough of the wit, wisdom and passion of the "folks" who post on these message boards. I've always been a collector of different genres of folk music. Last year we released a CD entitled Campfire: The Greatest Camp Songs of All Time. I am wondering now what other people think are the greatest camp songs of all time. (I was never a camper, though I've worked for many years in camps) Mine were:

Inch by inch
All God's critters
Charlie on the mta
The unicorn song
I'm gonna' tell
Jamaica Farewell
Titanic
The cat came back
Ratlin' bog
Don't laugh at me
This Land
Kumbaya

I'll admit I stuck to songs that lend themselves to family type sing-a-longs. Thanks for any input!