A Few More Songs

My li'l sis Lil wanted to see some more songs. I've already posted some of those she asked about. Another one was, I think, from the music book my mother used when she was teaching school (grades 1-8).

The Robin and the Brooklet

Oh, the robin and the brooklet are singing
Such a very, very merry song.
They are telling us that summer is coming,
That the chill days of winter are gone.
Tra la la la la la la la
Tra la la la la la la la
Hear the robin and the brooklet;
Join in the robin's song.

Another old one got me into trouble on an internet message board (not really, just that the admin was still fighting the civil war, and bore an extreme hatred for "Yankees" - and he was the only one that got nasty about it). It was one my father used to sing, and I believe it was intended to be to the tune of "Wait for the Wagon," although that was not exactly how my father sang it.

Jeff Davis built a wagon
And on it put his name.
Old Beauregard was driver
Of Secession's ugly frame.
Oh, the horses, they got hungry
As most of horses do,
And they had to draw the collar tight
To keep from pulling through.

Oh, bully for your wagon!
Your new secession wagon!
Oh, Beaure, hold your nag in
And we'll all take a ride.


I think that some of the songs my father used to sing were slave songs, like "My Pretty Quadroon" and "Dearest Mae." I think we are too politically correct in this day and age to recognize that even black slaves were able to love and be loved, or else we want to pretend that people never owned other people in this country.

(Originally posted January 17, 2007)