"and we know every inch of the way / from albany to buffalo / low bridge, everybody down"

[larryhammer]

TBD is in a phase of demanding we sing to her frequently, and I've taken to ransacking leafing through our folk song collections for something, anything, that I remember from my childhood. "The Grandfather Clock" was a nice rediscovery, as was "Erie Canal."* Aside from the problem of not having the True, Correct Version of "Froggy Went a-Courting,"** there is a significant omission from all of them -- none seem to have this favorite:

White coral bells upon a slender stalk,
Lilies-of-the-valley deck my garden walk.
Oh, don't you wish that you could hear them ring?
That will happen only when the fairies sing.

Does anyone else know this round? Or other, similar bits of loveliness?


* Original title: "Low Bridge, Everybody Down." Huh. Also, originally three verses instead of two.

** The one from an old Pete Seeger LP with the chorus "Here's to Cheshire, here's to cheese / here's to the pears and the apple trees / and here's to the lovely strawberries / ding-dang-dong went the wedding bells."

---L.

Subject quote from "Low Bridge, Everybody Down," Thomas S. Allen.

Comments

[negothick.livejournal.com]

"White Coral Bells" was a Girl Scout song for me--how well I remember those high chiming voices in rounds. I always thought the line was "lilies of the valley in my garden walk," sort of Ent-like flowers.

[larryhammer]

Googling, one finds many variations: "deck," "down," "in," "line," et cet.

Girl Scout voices could do lovely things with that! It was usually just my mother and I.

---L.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes! I'd forgotten that--it is so beautiful in round!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Did your Girl Scout companions sing the other version of it?

Lace underpants upon a laundry line
Polka-dot pajamas--oh my gosh, they're mine!
Oh don't you wish that you could wear them too?
But that will happen only when the seat wears through.

Oh, Girl Scouts.

[larryhammer]

LOL!