Anecdote and poll!

[conuly]

Today, Ana was sitting in my lap with the baby. (And hugging the baby too tightly, then declaring "MY BABY!" when I forced her to stop, but that's another story.) She requested that I sing "The Wheels on the Bus" (or, as she calls it, "wown an wown"), so I start to sing, only to be stopped. No, she wants me to go directly to the part where the babies on the bus go waa waa waa. So I do... and she leans over to her sister and goes "Eva! Say 'waa waa waa'!" Not very cute, but it got me thinking....

This song has a lot of potential verses. I know we used to drag it out forever in kindegarten if we could (though it was far from our favorite - that was a version of this song. "I went to the city, I went to the fair, to see a senorita, with flowers in her hair (dancing vaguely in the middle of a circle). Oh, shake it shake it shake it, shake it all you can, shake it like a milkshake, and do the best you can (shaking?). Rumble to the bottom (stoop), rumble to the top (stand and stretch), turn around and turn around until you make a stop (spin wildly) S. T. O. P spelllllls STOP! (turn slowly, eyes closed, pointing, and whoever's pointed at at stop goes in the middle and you go out.) But I digress.)

Recently, I've heard all new (to me) verses to that song! It's amazing. And yet, not wholly unpredictable. So, just a quick poll...

[Poll #654526]

Thanks for playing!

Comments

[wodhaund.livejournal.com]

I put "other" because the money on my bus went "ching ching ching" not "jingle jingle jingle".

[conuly]

Fair enough. *makes a note of this*

[ladytalon.livejournal.com]

Old McD also had a donkey. THE MOST FUN NOISE EVER. I also used to add a lot of things, like a car (vroom) and a helicopter (chopchopchop) and anything I happened to see lying around at the time. I loved that song far too much.

[conuly]

I never liked it, so instead I'm teaching Ana "I had a cat" (aka "Bought me a cat" or "Yonder tree").

Iiiiiiii... Had a cat, and the cat pleased me, I fed my cat by yonder tree. Cat goes fiddly-I-fee.

Iiiiiiii... had a hen, and the hen pleased me, I fed my hen by yonder tree. Hen goes chimmny-chuck, chimny-chuck, cat goes fiddly-I-fee.

Iiiiii... had a duck, and the duck pleased me, I fed my duck by yonder tree. Duck goes quack, quack, hen goes chimny-chuck, chimny-chuch, cat goes fiddly-I-fee.

Goose goes swishy, swishy.
Dog goes bow-wow, bow-wow.
Pig goes grinash, grinash.
Sheep goes baa, baa.
Baby goes waaaaah!
Motorcycle (again, thank you, Ana!) goes vroooom.

And so it goes.

[ladytalon.livejournal.com]

oooh! I loved that one, too!

[ladytalon.livejournal.com]

And I never understood "grinash" but I sang that part anyway. What is it, chewing?

[peebs1701.livejournal.com]

Old Mac Donald has anything I can think of on his farm, getting weirder, more obscure, and less farmlike the longer I need to keep it going.

[conuly]

Grunting, I imagine. *laughs*

I was always told the French joke. Why is a pig smarter than a bird? Because a pig goes neuf, neuf, neuf, but a bird goes huit, huit, huit. Which completely destroyed the "oink oink" idea for me.

[conuly]

Well, yeah, but what do you *start* with? What's canon?

[leora.livejournal.com]

I never knew wheels on the bus very well; we didn't really do it. So, I put the verses I could recall, but I'm a bad datapoint.

Old McDonald didn't have any set animals - it had a set pattern, but what you filled in was up to you. It didn't even have a set animal to start with.

You may be interested in this old post and the comments from my journal:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/leora/154381.html

One of the things I found was a regional difference between "Miss Lucy" and "Miss Suzie".

[ganas-de-ti.livejournal.com]

LOLL "shake it like a milkshake"?!? I guess we know where Kelis gets her inspiration!!

[conuly]

Every time I post one of these, I think I should demand people tell me where they're from. Then I realize how lazy I am, and decide against it.

[velasco.livejournal.com]

I don't believe the question is 'who had the baby and put him in the bathtub' and so on, it's how many years she got for reckless endangerment and child cruelty. In any case, I've never heard that one before.

[chem-nerd.livejournal.com]

We always sang "shake it like a milkshake, and drink it if you can" Ana's motorcycle is just too cute. Our Old MacDonald always had quite the menagerie. I tried to give him a giraffe once, and then realized that giraffes don't say anything.

[conuly]

Actually, we think they do, just not at a range humans can hear.

[conuly]

No?

Heeee... ate up all the bubbles, he ate up all the soap, he something something something, something something something!

Missss... mary called the doctor, Miss Mary called the nurse. Miss Mary called the lady with the alligator purse!

In came the doctor, in came the nurse, in came the lady with the alligator purse. (and on and on)

[conuly]

Maybe :)

I only remembered that line this week. I had mostly forgotten that song until I just spontaneously started singing it while Ana shook a rattle for her sister.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Oh! I recognize that. That's Miss Lucy for me.

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

Daddies said something, but I forget what. "Sit on down," I think.

No idea what you mean about the "a animal/some animals" thing. Old McDonald had a farm (EIEIO) and on that farm he had a cow (EIEIO), with a moo, moo here and a moo, moo there ... the word "animal" doesn't figure into it.

Can't remember who had the baby called Tiny Tim. Miss Lucy had a steamboat, the steamboat had a bell. (Miss Lucy went to Heaven and the steamboat went to—hello Operator, please give me number five...) Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack all dressed in black, black, black. Nope, neither of those.

Miss Sue, Miss Sue, Miss Sue from Alabama, her name is Susy-anna ... I think that's the Tiny Tim one, isn't it?

[rho]

The wheels on the bus I'm fairly sure I never encountered first hand, but only know of through seeing it in television or films, or reading of it on LJ, or whatever. Old MacDonald I do know, but I certainly can't remember any set animals. The other one, I'm fairly sure I've never heard of at all.

[conuly]

You never sang wheels on the bus? I like it, because it's one of the few children's songs that specifically isn't in a rural area.

[conuly]

1. Okay.

2. Well, did he have *a* cow, or did he have *some* cows?

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

I think he had a cow, but some pigs; a horse, but some chickens ... not sure. I'll go edit my answer now that I understand the question though!

[conuly]

I hadn't been sure of a good way to put the question, is the problem.

[rho]

Nope, I never sang it. Or rather, if I ever did then I don't remember it.