larryhammer: a wisp of smoke, label: "it comes in curlicues, spirals as it twirls" (curlicues)
[personal profile] 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.

Date: 31 January 2015 12:06 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] klwilliams.livejournal.com
I learned "Erie Canal" plus a number of similar tunes, including things like "Country Roads" by John Denver, in grade school in Idaho and Alabama.

August 2025

S M T W T F S
     12
3 456 789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31      

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated 10 August 2025 08:34 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios