Songs we sung at school.

[Jadzia]

With the hot summery weather today I began thinking back to when I was at primary school, and the afternoons in the summertime when our class would be taken out onto the grass and we'd sing songs and have stories read to us. And I'm talking primary school here

This afternoon I've idly been trying to remember some of the songs we would often sing out on the grass. Two which stand out strongly for me are:

• One finger one thumb keep moving. - I remember our teacher was particularly creative with this one and added in extra movements at the end of the song.
• Gypsy Rover - although we sung it a lot faster than in this video.

What songs did you used to sing when you were at school, in morning assembly or otherwise? and which ones did you enjoy the most? Are there any strong memories there?

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I remember we didn't sing that much of note when at nursery in London. Mostly nursery rhymes with a local twist, memorably "The Wheels On The Bus" etc.

In primary school up in Scotland, most of our songs at assembly were Church of Scotland hymns, some of which I did get excited about when they featured on Songs of Praise or Highway (with Sir Harry Secombe! ), but I digress. We also had occasional Scottish traditional songs to complement the religious content, which was nice. The famous "Skye Boat Song" was one of my favourites.

We also had this schools radio programme called "Singing Together" which was usually recorded and played for us so that each week (Fridays I think) we'd gather round the tape player and sing along. Much of that was largely forgettable, although memorably one year we got to sing the Shaikn' Stevens number "This Ole House" which was fun.

One year our school project was all about the second world war, and in music class we'd be taught various 40s wartime (and otherwise war-themed) songs, which was an interesting departure. No Spike Jones, though. For some reason we never learned "We'll Meet Again" - maybe it was because it was coming up to our final year in school...

We also had this end of year song which everyone sang during secondary school. It's too embarrassing to recall at this time - my mind must have shut out that particularly painful annual memory.

 

[RoJoHen]

I remember we didn't sing that much of note when at nursery in London. Mostly nursery rhymes with a local twist, memorably "The Wheels On The Bus" etc.

Define "local twist." I'm pretty sure "The Wheels on the Bus" is sung everywhere that has buses.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I remember we didn't sing that much of note when at nursery in London. Mostly nursery rhymes with a local twist, memorably "The Wheels On The Bus" etc.

Define "local twist." I'm pretty sure "The Wheels on the Bus" is sung everywhere that has buses.

These were London buses, you see, before Ken Livingstone was Mayor. And we all had London accents.

I don't remember the verse about "The gangster on the bus goes 'You're brown bread!'" though...

 

[Pingfah]

Our school song:

Where the iron heart of England throbs beneath its sombre robe,
Stands a school whose sons have made her great and famous round the globe,
These have plucked the bays of battle, those have won the scholar's crown;
Old Edwardians, young Edwardians, forward for the School's renown.

Chorus
Forward where the knocks are hardest, some to failure, some to fame;
Never mind the cheers or hooting, keep your head and play the game.

Here's no place for fop or idler; they who made our city great
Feared no hardship, shirked no labour, smiled at death and conquered fate;
They who gave our School its laurels laid on us a sacred trust;
Forward therefore, live your hardest, die of service, not of rust.

Forward where the scrimmage thickens; never stop to rub your shin;
Cowards count the kicks and ha'pence, only care to save their skin.
Oftentimes defeat is splendid, victory may still be shame;
Luck is good, the prize is pleasant but the glory's in the game.

 

[An Officer]

My primary school was into singing big time. We did it several times a week.

I remember "Row your boat", with people coming in on the different sections - that was my favourite.

I remember "Food glorious food."

I remember "Go down Moses (let my people go)." I remember it struck me as tragic even at the time. Our class teacher would bring out his guitar for this one.

I remember lots of African American cotton picking songs, of all things! Very interesting choices now I look back on them.

 

[Jadzia]

I remember "Row your boat", with people coming in on the different sections - that was my favourite.

I remember, we did that one too in assembly, as well as the "London's Burning" song. My head teacher also enjoyed splitting the assembly hall into 4 sections and having us start at different times.

But I can't imagine the London's burning song being permitted in schools nowadays.

 

[An Officer]

We have reached ridiculous heights of political correctness, health and safety, and blah blah blah. Did you hear about local councils banning children's sandbanks as a health and safety violation? What a sad state!

 

[TGTheodore]

I remember mostly patriotic songs. "You're a Grand Old Flag", "America the Beautiful" etc.

I also remember in gym, we would exercise to such fitness hits as "Chicken Fat" by Robert Preston. And we'd square dance and sing to such classics as "Oh, Johnny, Oh" and "Bingo".

We did have "music time" in kindergarten where we played such intricate musical instruments as the triangle and sticks to such current recorded instrumental hits as "Calcutta" by the Lawrence Welk Orchestra.

And of course when I was in choir for a few years, we also prepared for Christmas and Spring concerts with fairly typical fare.

--Ted

 

[Spot's Meow]

I remember when we would have music classes in elementary school. We would have to practice songs to sing at the Christmas show and the end-of-the-year assembly for our parents.

The song I most remember singing, probably because of my love of Disney, was "A Whole New World" from Aladdin. The boys and girls were seperated and us girls had to do Jasmine's part.

I know we sang a lot of other songs in that class but I am having a hard time remembering them right now.

 

[Mallory]

I don't remember any singing going on in school once I got to be 7 or 8 years old.

 

[RJDiogenes]

When I was in Kindergarten, we had a piano and the teacher used to play while we sang; I don't remember any of the songs, though. There was no more music after that until I moved to Weymouth in 4th Grade; then we had a music teacher once a week, I think. I remember singing "This Land Is Your Land," "Ezekial Saw The Wheel," "The Caisson Song" and "Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream." There were others, but I can't quite dredge them up right now....

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

Our school song:

Where the iron heart of England throbs beneath its sombre robe,
Stands a school whose sons have made her great and famous round the globe,
These have plucked the bays of battle, those have won the scholar's crown;
Old Edwardians, young Edwardians, forward for the School's renown.

Chorus
Forward where the knocks are hardest, some to failure, some to fame;
Never mind the cheers or hooting, keep your head and play the game.

Here's no place for fop or idler; they who made our city great
Feared no hardship, shirked no labour, smiled at death and conquered fate;
They who gave our School its laurels laid on us a sacred trust;
Forward therefore, live your hardest, die of service, not of rust.

Forward where the scrimmage thickens; never stop to rub your shin;
Cowards count the kicks and ha'pence, only care to save their skin.
Oftentimes defeat is splendid, victory may still be shame;
Luck is good, the prize is pleasant but the glory's in the game.

Jeez how old were you when they made you sing that? No offense but it's songs like that that make people think the Brittish are a little pompous.

 

[RobertVA]

Hmm, elementary school seems so long ago I'm beginning to doubt they had invented wheels to go round and round.

Seriously, I remember singing things like My country Tis of Thee and America the Beautiful and maybe The Star Spangled Banner (which has a tough to sing passage). Those Wheels on the Bus and Itsy Bitsy Spider songs must be more recent, as I don't recall hearing them until I was an adult. In late elementary school (would be middle/jr high level now) I remember being quite amused about the alligator passage of The War of 1812!

 

[Pingfah]

Jeez how old were you when they made you sing that? No offense but it's songs like that that make people think the Brittish are a little pompous.

11 - 18 years old.

And you are an American yes? My school was around 250 years before your country even existed. Get back to me when you've got 500 years of history and achievements to sing about and tell me how pompous you are feeling then.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Eh, just beating you guys in the Revolution is enough to make me feel pompous.

 

[the Dagman]

At my school we had a music teacher who was very much into folk music in the mid-70s. I remember our class singing songs like "King Of The Road", "Here Comes The Sun", "House Of The Rising Sun" and "Hey Jude" among many others with her playing along on her acoustic guitar. Good times.

 

[Pingfah]

Eh, just beating you guys in the Revolution is enough to make me feel pompous.

Our mistake was sending the British Army. Had we sent Old Edwardians, you wouldn't have stood a chance.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Are you kidding? A bunch of farmers armed with muskets and dressed in rags can beat anybody.

 

[jamestyler]

In primary school up in Scotland, most of our songs at assembly were Church of Scotland hymns, some of which I did get excited about when they featured on Songs of Praise or Highway

I had assumed we'd got rid of that now as there were a lot of complaints from non-Christian families in my school...

Unfortunately my girlfriends son could only get into a Catholic school. I only say unfortunately as we both feel our kids should learn their own path and he comes home every day with a new story about Jesus being awesome. Which bugs me as the school is more ethnically mixed than my small villiage was back in Fife.

The only non religious one I remember was the wheels on the bus song... which was spoiled by a friend telling me about humming the tune in the middle of a sexual act