JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: When you read the title of this post, did a song immediately pop into your head? Maybe two? Whether you call them novelty songs or children's songs or camp songs, there's a whole universe of them out there, living long past their expected sell-by dates. Why? I don't know, nor can I tell you how they're transmitted from one generation to the next, but they are.
Let's take the first name mentioned - Charlie. Charlie, who will ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston. I won't ask you to raise your hands (since I can't see you) but I'm going to guess a LOT of you can start humming or singing at least part of the Kingston Trio's hit "MTA Song." I certainly can. Here's the thing: it was released almost three years before I was born. I know my mom's extensive record collection didn't include anything by the Kingston Trio. I'm pretty sure it wasn't in regular rotation by the time I started paying attention to the radio in the early seventies. And of all the places we lived, New England was not on the list. I didn't visit Boston until my best friend was a Smith College.
So how is it I know this song?
There is a sizable portion of this genre, if we want to call it that, coming from a long, long tradition of American children's songs and games. "Guess I'll Go Eat Worms," "Miss Mary Mack," and "Chewin' Gum" can all be dated back to the mid-1800s. I remember my grandmother teaching me the hand-slapping game and I thought it was about her, because she had been Miss Mary MacEachron!
My mom would sing "Nobody loves me, everybody hates me," when I was sulky, and I, in turn, did the same to my kids. So we can see how it's passed on, between children and to children. But again, how many mid-nineteenth century songs do you know all the lyrics to?
Then there's the classic (?) "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah," which my own children encountered at summer camp. I have no idea how I picked it up, since I didn't go to camp. (It has a whole different connotation to Army brats anyway.) Written in 1963 by Allen Sherman, it was a huge success and won a Grammy the next year for best comedy performance. He also had a huge hit with the parody, "The Twelve Gifts of Christmas" (it starts with the receipt of a Japanese transistor radio, so you know how old it is.)
How many of you can sing Sherman's second hit, as compared to the first?
It is indeed a great mystery how some of these silly songs seep into the cultural consciousness and stay there, playing over and over as the decades go by. What are the silly songs you remember, dear readers, and can you identify when and where you learned them?
I have no idea where I learned any of those silly songs [or why I remember them] . . . remember ooh eeh ooh aah aah ting tang walla walla bingbang . . . . ????
ReplyDeleteWas that from Purple People Eaters, Joan? I can hear the tune of it - no, it's from "Witch Doctor!"
DeleteRaising my hand for all of it live and in the moment except The Twelve Gifts of Christmas (had to go listen and watch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCHMnEjEseo - hilarious!). I still know all the words to Charlie and the MTA, but they didn't really mean anything until I moved to Boston in the early 80s. As a kid I thought, "Why didn't his wife just put the nickel in the sandwich?!" My sisters and I, and our parents too, were at the cusp of the Great Folk Music Scare of the Sixties.
ReplyDeleteMy sisters and I went to girl scout camp every summer, and singing in the dining hall was a big deal, many times in rounds and harmonies. Dona Nobis Pacem, Down Yonder Green Valley, Barges, Rose Rose Rose, and more, plus canoeing songs like My Paddles Keen and Bright (which I just THIS moment learn is Keen, not Clean...), and cowboys songs like Been Ridin'. None of these are silly, per se, but when you learn a song as a child, it sticks.
Then there are songs like "London Bridge is Falling Down" which have roots in the Black Plaque. Ooh, and what about commercial jingles? "Brusha brusha brush, brusha with Ipana, ... toooooth-paste," "I wish I was an Oscar Meyer weiner," and the fractured version of "Chiquita Banana" that veers into, "Peel a banana and put it on the floor, and watch your teacher go sailing out the door."
Fond memories, Julia. Thanks!
Oh dear god. Not the Chipmunks! anything but the Chipmunks.. I will go you an "itsy bitsy teeny tiny yellow polka dot bikini" (snap snap) to get the Chipmunks outta my head. I am a generation before most of you -- "It was a mash, a monster mash" -- I never did like or wear short shorts.. and darn it my ears didn't hang low. But ya shoulda seen me hand jive. kids it was a blast.
ReplyDeleteAll of those!
DeleteI loved the novelty songs that were popular when I was growing up. I am sure that I saw Allan Sherman perform the camp song. It was very clever!
ReplyDeleteNovelty songs were really big in the 1950's and early 1960's. I knew the words (or what I thought were the words) to most of them. I will mention just one of my favorites and then everyone else can chime in with more. I love "Love Potion Number 9." These songs were not before my time, they were in my time.
My grandmother, who was born in the 1800's, taught us several songs and children's rhymes. I can still hear her singing "East side, west side, all around the town..."
I have never heard of Charlie or Miss Mary Mack or Chewin' gum.
ReplyDeleteMaybe because I'm Canadian? Or since I never went to camp??
Out of curiosity, I searched for CANADIAN novelty songs from my childhood in the 1960s & 1970s but did not find any I recognize. Hmmm.
Not familiar with any of these songs either.
ReplyDeleteCamp songs! I remember them all and taught them to my kids. Miss Mary Mack, Day is done, gone the sun, Do your ears hang low. We sang "Daisy Daisy give me your answer do" with Grandma while we did the dishes. My childhood was a blend of Broadway show songs and opera, which I continued with my kids.
ReplyDelete