australian species, the kookaburra:i could not have identified this bird, but someday dylan will. i did teach her the song, which she loves:
Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree,
Merry merry king of the bush is he.
Laugh, Kookaburra, laugh, Kookaburra,
How gay your life must be!
something tells me they don't teach that one in school anymore.
you know what else they probably don't teach in public school? the johnny appleseed song that we sang as grace every day before snack in kindergarten:
Oh, the Lord's been good to me.
And so I thank the Lord
For giving me the things I need:
The sun, the rain and the appleseed;
Oh, the Lord's been good to me.
it's really a lovely little grace, and i'll probably teach it to dylan, too. my teacher was old as well as old-school; she also paddled naughty students. well, she spanked at least one misbehaved kid on several occasions, and looking back, i'm sure he had some undiagnosed developmental problems. much has deteriorated in education and culture over the years, but that is one reason to be thankful to not be sending my child to school in the eighties.
there are a few other songs i learned in school that i probably won't teach dylan:
Gonna jump down, turn around, pick a bale of cotton
jump down, turn around, pick a bale a day (2x)
Oh Lordy, pick a bale of cotton
oh Lordy, pick a bale a day (2x)
isn't there something more than a little unsettling about a classroom full of suburban white kids bouncing around singing about how fun it is to pick 500 lbs of cotton in a single day?
then there's this little creeper:
Have you seen the ghost of John?
Long white bones with the skin all gone
Oooh, O0hO0hO0hO0hO0h
Wouldn't it be chilly with no skin on?
um, yeah, i guess it would be chilly without skin, but that's only the beginning of your problems. what the heck kind of freakshows taught me music?
do you remember any crazy childhood songs they're probably not teaching anymore?
