Lyr ADD: Ging Gang Goolie (Robert Baden-Powell ??)

Subject: RE: ging gang gooly
From: Azizi
Date: 31 Oct 04 - 10:00 AM

Hey!

I've also wondered about that "Ging gang goolie" song. Have we concluded then that these are nonsense words and not from any language or languages except fun kidspeak?

And somewhat off topic,

Fee, can you share the words you sang for "You'll never get to heaven"?

I remember singing that song in the 1950s Atlantic City, New Jersey, and not as part of any organized group. As I remember it, one verse of that song went like this {I'll use my name for the insult part}:

Oh you'll never get to heaven
with ZiZi's face.
'Cause ZiZi's face
is ah disgrace.
Oh, you'll never get to heaven
with Zizi's face
'cause Zizi's face is ah disgrace.
Ain't gonna meet
my Lord no more.

I searched for "You'll never get to heaven" in the search box and found the song Johnson's Gals. I'm not sure if this children's song came from there.

Any thoughts on this?

Azizi

Subject: RE: ging gang gooly
From: Fee
Date: 31 Oct 04 - 07:10 AM

Ah, it takes me back.....When I was in the Guides we sang this in a round as described above, but I seem to recall if we were at some jamboree type thing where there were scouts AND guides, the guides sang the hayla shayala bit and the scouts didn't?.

As for a lving oral tradition, we did swap songs...We guides learnt the 'Quartermasters Stores' from the scouts and they learnt 'Kookaburra' and 'You'll never get to heaven' from us (a good one for big groups because we'd sing line 1 then they'd repeat it, etc, until the chorus which was sung all together...) I don't know why certain songs were identified with the male and some with the female side of the movement though!. But yes, a lot of them were very daft...:o)

Subject: RE: ging gang gooly
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 31 Oct 04 - 03:59 AM

Very nicey, very nivey,
we likey, we likey,
cuckoo, cuckoo!

Collected in Cheshire around 1965.

The Scout/Guide movement is a repostery of strange songs and in a very clear way a living oral tradition.

I guess I am not the only folky to discover folk from the scout end of things. As a campfire leader in the scouts at 17, folk songs where a natural step. I have searched my scout collection with the hope of finding things I could sing in Folk Clubs but most seemed too daft. Although I do remember very long rounds of 'Who's pigs are these' at Jones's Ale in Chester around 1970 and Grandfather's Clock is well known in the Scouts and Guides.

Subject: RE: ging gang gooly
From: masato sakurai
Date: 31 Oct 04 - 02:13 AM

"Ging, Gang, Gooley" [lyrics & midi] is here (scroll down).

Subject: RE: ging gang gooly
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Oct 04 - 01:24 AM

Is there some where that you can download the song from

Subject: RE: ging gang gooly
From: reggie miles
Date: 12 Feb 99 - 03:20 PM

I understood the words as this, as we sang it:

ching gan goly goly goly goly vacha,
ching gan go, ching gan go.
ching gan goly goly goly goly vacha,
ching gan go, ching gan go.

hayla, hayla shala, hayla shala hayla o-oh
hayla, hayla shala, hayla shala hayla oh

wally wally wally wally
umpa umpa umpa

Then the whole thing would repeat. The group would divide into sections and sing it as a round.

Reggie Miles

Subject: ADD: Killy Watch Watch Song (camp song)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Feb 99 - 01:39 PM

Hey, I know that one. Don't know the original, though. When I learned it, it was the song of Camp Chippecotton, the camp of the Racine County Council of the Boy Scouts in southeastern Wisconsin. I was there the last year the camp was open, about 1960, I think.

The Killy Watch Watch Song

Killy killy killy, watch watch watch watch,
Kay you killy koom ka-wa
Killy killy killy, watch watch watch watch,
Kay you killy koom ka-wa
Hail, Chippecotton, Chippecotton polly-wah!
Hail, Chippecotton, Chippecotton polly-wah!

The council closed the camp that year and opened the Robert S. Lyle Scout Reservation on the Wolf River in northern Wisconsin. Not as nice a name, but a much nicer camp in the wilderness. Now the Racine County Council is no more - absorbed by Milwaukee, I think.
Still, I've always wondered about the killy watch watch songs - are words in the message above the complete words for the original?

Apparently, Detroit's Charles Howell Scout Reservation near Brighton had the same song:

The Reservation Song

[Background singers chant "Um Pa, Um Pa, Um Pa..."]

Killy, Killy, Killy, Killy, Watch, Watch, Watch, Watch,
Kay You Killy Come Cah Wah.
Killy, Killy, Killy, Killy, Watch, Watch, Watch, Watch,
Kay You Killy Come Cah Wah.
Hail Reservation, Reservation, Polly Wah
Hail Reservation, Reservation, Polly Wah


[Those singing the words return to chanting "Um Pa", and everyone then fades out.]

-Joe Offer-

Subject: Kili kili kili kili watch watch watch watch
From:
Date: 12 Feb 99 - 07:17 AM

I know a song that is a bit like ging gang gooly.
It goes more or less like this:

Kili kili kili kili watch watch watch watch
Kay um ken kayava
Ali at chalma at chalma podey watch

I think it also has a scouting background.

Subject: RE: ging gang gooly
From: Wolfgang
Date: 12 Feb 99 - 06:54 AM

I was singing that too in the German boy scouts. Wolfgang

Subject: RE: ging gang gooly
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Feb 99 - 02:01 AM

Hi, Wotcha - well, the song is on a retrievable database right now. Dick and Susan of the Digital Tradition monitor all the messages - it the song makes the cut, it ends up as a permanent part of the renwoned Digital Tradition folk song database.
Ya think Dick & Suasn will buy that gooleegoolee stuff? Heck, Dick put "Strip Polka" in when the Folk Police weren't watching.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: ging gang gooly
From: Wotcha
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 10:40 PM

Thanks fellas. Now, how do you place this in the retrievable database? Sounds like it has some interesting history. I learned this one at prep school in London: I only heard it once but somehow the words have stuck for 30 years. The overlapping verses reminds me of another classic: London's Burning! Ta very much.

Subject: RE: ging gang gooly
From: Bob Landry
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 06:38 PM

In our Scout region, we were told that the words were no written in any particular language and had no particular meaing. The purpose was, as Bert notes, so that everyone could sing it at international gatherings.

Bob

Subject: ADD Version: Ging Gong Gooly
From: o'hanrahan
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 05:22 PM

After consulting my son Patrick we remembered it as follows:

GING GONG GOOLY

Ging gong gooly gooly gooly gooly rush rush;
Ging gong goo, ging gong goo;
Ging gong gooly gooly gooly gooly rush rush;
Ging gong goo, ging gong goo;

A-la, A-la A-la, A-la A-la, A-la mon;
A-la, A-la A-la, A-la A-la, A-la mon;

Sha-lee Wa-lee, Sha-lee Wa-lee;
Sha-lee Wa-lee, Sha-lee Wa-lee;

Oompah, oompah, oompah, oompah...

One group, sings the song completely through, while the does 'Oompah' completely throug. Then when the first group finishes, they reverse roles. At the end, oompahs continue in unison, at first loudly, but then gradually fading to a soft whisper.

Subject: RE: ging gang gooly
From: o'hanrahan
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 03:22 PM

When I first learned it i was told it was a World War I song soldiers could sing with other troops of a differing languages. I learned it Ging gong gooley gooley gooley gooley rush rush, ging gong goo, ging gong goo....etc. After singing it through twice (each side taking the lead once) you then oompa numerous times fading. It is a great dining hall song that I have shared with many students over the years.

Subject: RE: ging gang gooly
From: Bobby Bob, Ellan Vannin
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 02:03 PM

And the late Karl Denver recorded a version of it on an album released by Decca. I think they eventually put it out on the cheap Ace of Clubs label.

I was never in uniform myself.

Shoh slaynt,

Bobby Bob

Subject: RE: ging gang gooly
From: Bert
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 11:12 AM

Back in the Fifties I remember my sister bringing this one home from Girl Guides (English Girl Scouts). She said that it was written in 'no particular language' so that everyone could sing it at International gatherings.

Bert.

Subject: RE: ging gang gooly
From: AndyG
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 08:07 AM

Here we go again,
back down Memory Lane.

I never was a member of the Scout movement, so what follows is hearsay. I learned the song at that wonderful British institution, School Camp and later, when singing it in the presence of a Scout I got a outraged mouthful from him because I was singing the "Guide's" part.
Is this true ? Is (or was) the tune divided into harmonies on a Boys/Girls basis which only they could sing ? Any ex-scouts know the answer ?

Andy(Still singing the same harmony)G

Subject: Lyr Add: Ging Gang Goolie
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 03:13 AM

I found this here (click).
-Joe Offer-

GING GANG GOOLIE

Divide the group into two halves.
Sing the song through once. Keep
one group singing "oompah" and
start the second group singing
"ging gang goolie. When the second
group comes to "hayla" the entire
group sings together. Then switch
parts. At the last shally wally,
stop at Oom. (cut off cold)

Ging gang goolie, goolie, goolie, goolie, watcha,
Ging gang goo, ging gang goo.
Ging gang goolie, goolie, goolie, goolie, watcha,
Ging gang goo, ging gang goo.
Ohh, hayla, oh hayla shayla,
Hayla shayla, shayla,

Oh ho Hayla, oh hayla shayla,
Hayla shayla, shayla, oh.
Shally wally, Shally wally,
Shally wally, Shally wally,

Oompah, Oompah, Oompah, Oompah.

Subject: RE: ging gang gooly
From: reggie miles
Date: 10 Feb 99 - 11:03 PM

Wotcha, I used to be in the scouts and we sang that song. It was taught to us by an Iranian scout leader. Though I'm not aware of what it means in english. Reggie Miles

Subject: RE: ging gang gooly
From: Cuilionn
Date: 10 Feb 99 - 10:49 PM

I cannae help ye, tho' I ken aboot th' sang. There's a group in British Columbia ca'd "Zuben an' th' Nyets" that I haird on th' radio a few years back, an' their lead-in tae performin' th' sang wis as follows: "Some of you may be familiar with the song 'Ging-Gang Goolie', an old camp song that purports to include every possible sound available in every language of the world. We are now going to do the instrumental version."

--Cuilionn

Subject: ging gang gooly
From: Wotcha
Date: 10 Feb 99 - 10:40 PM

I am trying to get the full text of the kids' (Boy Scout??) song that begins "Ging gang gooly, gooly goooly wotcha, ging gang gool, ging gang gool ..." What are the origins of this song? Is it nonsense? Or is there some other meaning?