April 09, 1992 | By Martin F. Kohn, Knight-Ridder Tribune.

Meet the Equinoxer. Well, not exactly, but it is spring, and there’s a big, new player on the children’s music scene-Sony Kids’ Music, which we’ll call the Equinoxer, at least this once.

Sony Kids’ has entered the picture with a batch of new releases from established artists who previously recorded for other, often much smaller, labels. These performers include Tom Chapin, Tom Paxton, Dan Crow and Kevin Roth. The latter two aren’t renowned, though you may have heard their voices without knowing it.

Consumers would no more buy a children’s recording because it’s on Sony than they’d buy a book because it’s published by Random House. What the creation of a big new children’s label means for consumers is the increased likelihood of finding its products in record stores, instead of just in mail order catalogs.

These Sony Kids’ Music releases are worth finding:

“Billy the Squid,” Tom Chapin: Nobody does children’s music better these days than Tom Chapin. With songwriting partner John Forster, Chapin concocts melodies you want to sing along with and lyrics you want to learn. Take the title tune, about an underwater outlaw who “robbed from the selfish and gave to the shellfish.” Its wordplay is laugh-out-loud funny, and its arrangement is bouncy country and western, with backup singers, electric guitars, tambourine and, for grownups, the five-note riff from the old Clint Eastwood movie “A Fistful of Dollars.”

There’s the Chapin trademark of putting words to a famous piece of classical music. (Remember “Don’t Make Me Go to School Today” set to the

“Dying Swan” theme from “Swan Lake”?) Here it’s “The Ghost of Bleak House,” a funny song about a friendly ghost, set to Gounod’s “Funeral March of a Marionette,” better known as Alfred Hitchcock’s theme music. “The Missing Parade” celebrates the delights of literally marching to a different drummer. The calypso-tinged “Great Big Words” emphasizes another kind of joy: “Give me a massive ideogram, a big word to make my point/When you can verbalize yourself, you can really rock the joint.”

“Daddysongs,” Kevin Roth: If you’ve heard the theme song of PBS’

“Shining Time Station,” you’ve heard Kevin Roth sing. Roth, who plays the dulcimer, recorded for Folkways as a teenager. For several years he has specialized in children’s music, and the four-string dulcimer can barely be heard amid all the other instruments on his recent recordings. Roth has an affecting voice and good taste: Selections on “Daddysongs” include “My Girl” (yes, Smokey Robinson’s classic), which works as a song from a father to a daughter; the lovely “Waltzing With Bears” and the definitive baseball song, “Playing Right Field.”

Roth merits a wider audience, something he’s likely to get with “Daddysongs.”

“A Friend, a Laugh, a Walk in the Woods,” Dan Crow: Another voice you may have heard is Dan Crow’s. He sang “Gonna Take a Walk Outside,” the theme song in the movie “Milo and Otis,” included on this recording.

A fine, funny cut is “Zucchini,” a song about gardening in which every other word is “zucchini,” in tribute to the prodigious vegetable.

“Walking on My Wheels” is a cheerful song about a child who uses a wheelchair to get around and who takes delight in confounding a substitute teacher: “I raised my hand/She nearly dropped her chalk./ She thought I couldn’t think/ Just because I couldn’t walk.”

Crow is another singer-songwriter due to acquire a wider following.

“Susie Is a Rocker,” Tom Paxton: Folk singer Tom Paxton needs no introduction, though not everyone realizes he has done children’s recordings on his own label, Pax Records, for years.

“Suzy Is a Rocker” (the title song is about playing soccer, not synthesizer) contains lively, whimsical tunes. “I’ve Got a Bellyache”

employs gargling and a tuba that sounds as if it’s in pain to complement lyrics about having consumed too much too fast. “S’pose My Toes Were Noses” poses several provocative questions and answers them. “Phew! I’d smell my feet” is the first answer.

An excerpt from the article “Christmas Carols and Dreidel Songs”

Chanukah at Home Dan Crow, Marcia Berman, Uncle Ruthie Buell, J.P. Nightingale, Fred Sokolow 

Like Olympic ice-skating, Chanukah music seems to consist of compulsory figures and then stuff that’s really fun. Hats off, then, to folksingers Dan Crow, Marcia Berman, Uncle Ruthie Buell, J.P. Nightingale, and Fred Sokolow. They have fun with the compulsories, first by rendering ”Chanukah, Oh Chanukah” in the klezmer style reminiscent of rollicking wedding bands, then by wreaking gentle havoc on ”The Dreydl Song” by making up funny extra verses (”I have a little dreydl, I made it out of mud. And when I tried to spin it, it fell down with a thud”). Their original material is even better: a sing-along synopsis of the Chanukah story, a sweet remembrance of childhood at the holiday table. With guitar, banjo, fiddle, mandolin, and Dobro, the performers create a joyful celebration of what is supposed to be a joyful celebration. Simply wonderful.

Click here to view Dan Crow’s “Chanukah at Home” Album page

July 18, 1991 | CORINNE FLOCKEN | Corinne Flocken is a free-lance writer who regularly covers Kid Stuff for The Times Orange County Edition.

Ever talk with a kid fresh off the playground?

“Didja see me? I was way up there, and then Jimmy, he . . . you shoulda seen it. . . . Let’s come back tomorrow!”

A discussion with Dan Crow is a little like that. He’s a former schoolteacher who has spent the past 15 years as a professional children’s singer/songwriter, and his conversational style is as fast, fluid and energetic as a kid on the monkey bars. Crow, a performer who combines “calculated silliness” with tuneful lessons on the English language, appears tonight at 7:30 in Anaheim’s Pearson Park Amphitheatre as part of the city’s “Just for Kids” series.

“My songs all have two reasons to exist: entertainment and instruction,” he explained during a phone interview from his Redondo Beach home. “Every song is, hopefully, entertaining, but there’s also some learning taking place, whether it’s how to be a better communicator, or just how to have fun with words. It all stimulates reading and literacy.”

Crow began composing original songs to teach language skills as an elementary school and special education teacher in the late 1960s and early ’70s. Using those songs as a basis, he took the plunge into the children’s music business and has spent the last 15 years honing his craft before audiences in the United States, Europe and Asia. He has recorded nine albums on various independent labels and recently signed a contract with Sony Music Entertainment, which will re-release five of these titles and two concert videos later this year, and he wrote and performed “Walk Outside,” the title song in Columbia Pictures’ “The Adventures of Milo and Otis.”

Although he is spending more and more time in the spotlight, education continues to be Crow’s priority. In addition to his family concerts, he presents music workshops for teachers and appears in school performances designed for preschoolers to high school students. Through an ongoing relationship with the Walt Disney Co., he has produced seven educational videos and has written more than 50 songs for children’s programs aired on the Disney Channel.

Crow says his tunes appeal to two basic age groups: 3 to 7 and 8 to 13, but older students and adults have been known to hum along as well. For the younger ones, there’s “The Ballad of Reuben Rooster” and “Jack the Giant,” sing-alongable lessons in the letter sounds R, J and G. For the older ones, the repertoire includes “Puns” (“I’m going to start my own line of spaghetti sauce / I realize it’s not an oregano idea / But it has pasta-bilities.) and “Madame, I’m Adam,” an explanation of palindromes, words and phrases that spell the same thing backward or forward.

To make the lessons even more appealing, Crow interjects plenty of humor and storytelling into his performances.

“It’s all in the way you present it,” he said. “I never talk down to (children). It should be silly and funny, but you also have to respect the listeners’ intelligence.”

In concert, Crow strings together his tunes with storytelling, spinning homey little yarns about common childhood experiences that segue into tunes such as “American Gum.”

“Before the song, I talk about the first time my sister and I went to the movies by ourselves,” Crow explained. “We go in and I find gum stuck under my seat, then after the movie, I step on some gum, then I buy some gum and blow this monstrous bubble. Well, somebody bumps me and–yuck–now the gum’s stuck in my hair and mom has to get it out with peanut butter.”

Of course, you can hardly hold still when he’s telling such lively tales, so in between strums of the guitar and blasts on his Hum-a-zoo (a variation on a kazoo that’s “great for animal sounds: horses, elephants, pterodactyls . . .”), Crow throws in kid-style body language and sound effects.

“Visually, I loved Red Skelton,” he said. “People tell me my face is real rubbery. I stick my tongue out, roll my eyes. . . . That’s all part of communication, right?”

Crow writes much of his material on the road and says he looks to children themselves for many of his ideas.

“Kids are so wonderfully spontaneous,” he said. “I’m absorbing stuff from them all the time. You have to, because if you’re going to perform for children, you have to be able to tap into the child inside you.”

July 11, 2002 | LYNNE HEFFLEY | TIMES STAFF WRITER
“There’s gum on the hammer and gum on the broom/And gum on the milkman’s shoe…. ” From “American Gum,” by Dan Crow.

Singer-songwriter Dan Crow is silly. And sneaky. For more than 25 years, this former educator has been making kids laugh with wacky songs and stories that are actually language lessons in disguise.

With his crinkly grin lines, Harpo Marx-ish comic expressions and childlike exuberance–”I’m 55, but I’m really still 11,” he says–Crow turns letter sounds and grammar lessons into zany tales about joking giants; sandwich-eating witches with itches; kissable cows; and bubble-gum trouble.

Guitar in hand, he tours nearly 11 months of the year across the United States and overseas, alone or with veteran musicians Dennis O’Hanlon and Fred Sokolow; upcoming local stops include concerts Sunday at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum and July 24 at Descanso Gardens.

“I just want to get young people excited about words and language and communication,” Crow said from his Palm Springs home base.

“If you get ‘em excited about words, then they’re gonna be excited about reading, and then they’re going to be excited about writing and being creative and expressing themselves better.”

A speech therapist in the mid-1970s in Appalachian Virginia, Crow began writing songs to help his students more readily grasp language arts and vocabulary development. “It was like using a jingle to sell a hamburger,” he said. “I was selling basic skills and educational concepts.”

Influenced by the music and storytelling he heard “in the hollers” of Virginia and later in Montana, where he worked with Native American children, Crow honed his own storytelling style. An accomplished acoustic guitarist, his repertoire includes songs and poems that he wrote as an 11-year-old with his first guitar (“I could play two chords”) and a passion for words, especially funny ones.

He took his act on the road in the late 1970s. Since then, Crow, while not a household name, has made a comfortable living, unlike many children’s artists. He’s augmented concert bookings with extensive work for Disney as writer, director and producer of educational video and film-strip programs, and as staff songwriter for the preschooler TV shows “Welcome to Pooh Corner” and “Dumbo’s Circus.”

Riding the currents of an ever-changing fan base–”The children’s music biz is so peculiar; you’re essentially rediscovered every five or six years by new kids and parents”–Crow has his own label, Alls House Family Entertainment, and his Web site is busy with CD sales and bookings.

In performance, Crow’s unforced, big brother-ish joviality is key to winning new fans. Playing his guitar, he goofily serves up such sing-along signature songs as “Oops,” “Kiss a Cow” and “I Had Ham” and sparks giggles of recognition with comic tales of his own childhood misadventures.

His songs are a staple of English as a Second Language programs in Japan, Germany, Spain and South and Central America. He tours at overseas Dept. of Defense Dependent Schools on U.S. military bases, something that took on new meaning after Sept. 11. He was in Germany last December, performing for children whose parents were shipping out on active duty.

“That was the one that really got me,” he said. “The kids were so hungry to be entertained and to laugh–mainly to laugh.”

Judith Mayo, a DoDDS principal in Germany, considers Crow a find, booking him regularly.

“His ability to quickly gauge the needs of each audience and adapt his performance in such a way that he has adults and children smiling and joining in the fun,” she said, “is what makes him such an excellent teacher. The kids don’t even realize they’re learning something new. It’s a real gift.”

Dan Crow, right, and his sidekick, Dennis O’Hanlon, have been performing music for kids and kin for more than 30 years.

Dan Crow’s music taps into a universal language, sprung from the heart of a passionate songwriter and entertainer who plays to the laughter and smiles of youngsters.

“Hey, I’m only 11 years old,” said a grinning Crow. This world-renowed children’s music man and recording artist remains young at heart. “It’s fun being silly, to be singing. I just have this wonderful time connecting with them.”

Behind the wrinkles and the gradual gray is a fun-loving guy at ease in a bright shirt, beige shorts and Chuck Taylor black high-top shoes, strumming ballads for captivated boys and girls on his acoustic guitar and banjo.

Crow is in step with the beat of kids throughout the world. The former elementary school speech pathologist has been bringing his catchy and stimulating mix of classic and original songs, comedic and anecdotal tales to young audiences for 33 years.

Crow, along with longtime bassist and sidekick Dennis O’Hanlon, performed in front of a large crowd at the Auburn Public Library this week, part of his July concert tour of the King County Library System and Western Washington.

The Crow and Co. traveling show will visit parts of California later this month, then it’s off to New Mexico. September will find him in Germany, performing in front of military families.

But Crow is much more than a songwriter and entertainer. As an educator, he presents more than 200 “reading, writing and rhythm” school assemblies a year. His 5,000-plus concerts – many of them performed solo – have taken him throughout the United States and to Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada and home again.

It is a physical but rewarded grind – a profession of perpetual travel and long weeks spent away from his wife and Palm Springs, Calif., home.

Crow is the star of the Emmy Award-winning “Just For Fun,” a three-time Gold Parents’ Choice winner, and a CableAce-nominated songwriter for his work on the Disney Channel. He is seen and heard regularly on Nickelodeon and The Learning Channel. He has composed more than a hundred songs for his pals, Winnie the Pooh and Dumbo, and performed the title song for the family classic film, “The Adventures of Milo and Otis.”

Today, Crow continues to record music and tour, playing to his target audience – children. His mission is to inspire and encourage language arts and literacy. His 45-minute shows are built with phonics and kinetic awareness, as well as references to many books. Crow uses music and stories to foster a love and respect for nature, a sense of humor and a deep appreciation for the value of friendship and sharing in the world.

Crow’s stories capture the attention and imagination of his audience, leading them into an accompanying song. The Auburn crowd sang and danced along to the familiar vowel-turning tune, “I Like to Eat Apples and Bananas,” and the letter-driven, “Kiss A Cow.”

“Language is of great interest to me, especially speech and language skills,” Crow said. “Whether kids know it or not, they are getting bombarded with letter sounds … it’s all part of language learning and reading skills. It’s all built into the show.”

In addition, Crow works with middle-schoolers throughout the country in career development, such as songwriting and music publishing. He is a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Science.

Keeping the kid songs alive – whether they be historic folk music or the latest beat – is important to Crow.

“The music programs in the schools are being cut because of the economy. Arts and music are the ones affected first,” Crow observed. “Teachers are so busy with their testing that they don’t have time to sing the songs in the classrooms any more. And generations used to sit around and sing at the home or even in the car. But that doesn’t happen much any more because of computer games and all that kind of stuff.

“It’s sad that those songs are sort of lost or becoming lost. But I’m finding that people are starting to become aware of that, starting to bring them back.”

Crow continues to build his reach. Each show brings fresh faces to his delight. He intends to keep the show alive for as long as he can.

“The sharing of the laughter and the humor, I just love that,” he said. “The kids laughing, that’s my favorite sound in the world. That’s why I do it … to hear them giggle and laugh.”

====

To learn more about Dan Crow and his program, please visit www.dancrow.com.

Dan Crow

Sing-A-Ling
With Friends

Here is a list of Friends from Dan’s album “Sing-A-Ling With Friends”

Debi Derryberry – Debi is a very popular children’s entertainer, especially for younger audiences. She has three wonderful CDs of her music out and is always busy with her concert schedule and her acting and voice-over work (Debi is the voice of Jimmy Neutron). She is a magical live performer and I love her voice on Pop Goes the Weasel. Lucinda and I agreed this CD should start with it.

Joanie Bartels – Joanie is my long-time friend and we have shared the stage often over the years. She is the highest selling female children’s artist with over 3,000,000 units sold and over 100,000 videos sold. Joanie has toured the world wide and now lives in New Zealand where she is involved with several humanitarian causes. She is also, along with Jennifer Warnes, my favorite singer of all time.

Ian Whitcomb – Ian hit the American Top Ten charts in 1965 with his novelty record, “You Turn Me On”. He has produced a steady flow of records, books, radio shows and concerts over the years and is an internationally recognized musicologist. I met Ian through my friend, Fred Sokolow, who often accompanies him. Both of them know more about the history of popular music than anyone I have ever met. I also wanted Ian’s take on Yankee Doodle since it was originally written from the perspective of a “British Invader,” which is what he was in the 1960’s.

Tina Schwartz – Tina and her husband, Marc, have been good friends for twenty years. I first met them when they booked me for shows in Southern New Mexico. We soon discovered that they were the neighbors of my in-laws in Las Cruces. Tina is a fantastic teacher and musician. She and Marc have performed as a duo all over the southwest and I was so happy to have her on this CD.

Niall de Burca – Niall is one of Ireland’s finest traditional storytellers and my personal favorite. We met when we were both featured presenters at the Young Author’s Conferences in Germany. He and his family have become close friends. Niall has toured the world and was even invited to perform in Iran. He was a huge hit at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesboro, Tennessee last year. I wanted his Irish treatment of a railroad song, since his countrymen built much of America’s railway system.

Dave Kinnoin – Dave is one of the hardest working artists in the children’s music business. He is an exciting performer, a premier producer and brilliant songwriter. He has composed over 200 songs for Disney, Sesame Street and Children’s Television Workshop. He is also a long-time friend and makes the best chocolate chip cookies.

Chris Sanders/Steve Smith – Chris and Steve have performed as a duo for the past six years and have toured the country presenting their magnificent songs for adoring audiences. Steve is one of my two favorite mandolin players in the world and I have had the honor of having him join me on many gigs over the years. Through our friendship, I fell in love with Chris’s voice. She teaches voice at New Mexico State University and her golden singing complements Steve’s powerful tenor. We recorded three of the songs on this CD at Steve’s studio and I feel honored to have them as a part of this project.

Peter Alsop – Peter and I recorded a children’s album together in 1978 called “Silly Songs and Modern Lullabies” and I like to think we were both pioneers of this musical form. He was already a nationally famous singer-songwriter when I met him. He has nineteen audio recordings and seven DVDs that have won more awards than any five artists combined. Peter has a Ph.D in educational psychology and uses his brilliant humor and compassion to greatly improve the human condition. I feel a fraternal twinship with him.

Dennis O’Hanlon – Dennis (with his wife Bonnie who provides the heavenly harmony on this recording) is one of my very best friends. We have played music together for 30 years. Started when we were five. He is one of the greatest guitar players on the planet and has been my main arranger on practically all my recordings over the years. We played in country- rock bands together and he has toured with me extensively as my bass player. He has also been the on-call back-up for numerous performers including Katherine Dines, Justin Roberts, Dave Kinnoin and on and on. This CD would not be complete without his participation. Thank you partner!

Fred Sokolow – It is difficult to believe, but I have known Fred even longer than Dennis. He is truly a legendary musician and has produced over a hundred instructional songbooks for guitar, banjo, dobro, mandolin, lap steel and ukelele that reinforce that fact. Fred has recorded several seminal albums and has performed with a variety of artists including Bobbi Gentry, Paul Stookey, The Limelighters, Tom Paxton and, least of all, me. There is not any style of music he cannot play and that is why I have had him on all my CDs, including this one. He is a wonderful friend.

Stephen Michael Schwartz – One third of the world-renowned family entertainment group, PARACHUTE EXPRESS, Michael is multi-award winning singer-songwriter and long-time friend. His songs have been used in numerous film and TV projects, including Grumpy Old Men, thirtysomething, Amazing Stories, Revenge of the Nerds, and he wrote and performed the title song for Jay Jay the Jet Plane for PBS. He is a consumate performer and recording artist and just a great guy to hang out with.

Bonnie Phipps – There are just a few select performers for children that really seem to convey the wonder of chldhood and Bonnie is one of that group, if not the queen of it. Her live shows are works of art and musicianship. She is a former National Champion Autoharpist and is without peer as a recording artist. Bonnie has received numerous national awards and published two music books. She is also a respected educator and a dear friend. Bonnie and her Elastic Band can be seen all over the country.

Scott Kelly Galbreath – My pride doth burst forth when I write of Scott. He is a dear, loving, kind, and multi-talented man who just happens to be our nephew. My sister, Tana, did the whole family proud having this gem of a human being. Scott is a fantastic actor, both in person and as a voice performer. He has appeared in numerous TV shows, including Will and Grace, Beyond Belief, Flash Forward, and starred in the feature film, Able Edwards, for which he was reviewed as “handsomer-than-life.” Thank you, Scott, for being one of our family of pirates.

John Wood – This CD could not have happened without John. He and Denny have been my co-conspirators for many many years. John is truly my brother from another mother. He and Pam have done over 5,000 concerts and are recipients of the PASA (Professional Artists In Schools) lifetime achievement award. It was from our podcast radio show, Just Kiddin’, that the idea for this CD was hatched. He is also one of the three funniest people who ever lived.

Pam Wood – Pam Wood is one of my dearest friends and a fabulous actress and musical performer. She has spent the past few years as a studio teacher and recently toured the world as a private tutor to The Jonas Brothers. She is our cabin boy on Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Denny Bouchard – This CD is Denny’s as much as mine, so you can blame us both equally. I have coproduced with him for over twenty years on all our Rounder, Disney and Sony projects. Denny is my recording guru. You are in the presence of greatness when you are in the studio with this guy. A fantastic keyboardist and composer. He even wrote the famous “Carpeteria” jingle, which every southwesterner knows. He has toured the world with many performers including Noel Paul Stookey and Mary Rice Hopkins. This final product was only achieved through his creativity and guiding patience. Thank you my friend, for making this dream come true.

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Dan Crow

Sing-A-Ling
With Friends

Download this page (pdf)

Order this album

Here is a list of featured songs on Dan Crow’s Album, “Sing-A-Ling With Friends”

Pop Goes the Weasel – Originally written as a dance that was popular in England in the 1850’s. In the US it became an expression, much like saying “Just Like That” and was thus used in advertisements at that time. There is also a theory that suggests weasel refers to a weaver’s shuttle that makes a popping sound when in use. Oh, Susanna –Written by Stephen Foster in 1848, it is popularly associated with the California Gold Rush. It was influenced by Rose Of Alabama”(1846), a minstrel song of the time often performed by the original Christy Minstrels. The song was adopted during the Polka Fad of the 1850’s.

Yankee Doodle –A popular patriotic song and the state anthem of Connecticut. It was written before the American Revolutionary War and was based on the tune of a British nursery rhyme, Lucy Locket. The British lyrics were intended to mock the colonial “Yankees”. A “doodle” means a simpleton and “macaroni” a wig that was fashionable in the 1770’s.

I’ve Been Workin’ On The Railroad – An American folk song first published in 1894. Someone’s In The Kitchen With Dinah is actually an older song that was absorbed into the Railroad song and dates back to the 1830’s. The University Of Texas alma mater The Eyes Of Texas uses the same tune, and it is the largest university in America.

The Old Chisholm Trail – An American cowboy song of unknown origin. There are literally thousand of verses and it is sung by every cowpuncher from Canada to Mexico. The Trail was used to move herds of cattle from Texas to the railheads in Kansas from 1866-1874 and the song was, no doubt, sung on those “drives”.

The Crawdad Song – Is a Southern folk song. It was a tune written to accompany a “play party.” During the first hundred years of United States history, many communities allowed play parties as an acceptable form of social interaction.

This Old Man– This American folk song for children dates from the 1870’s. It was published in a school songbook in 1906 and later in 1948 by Pete Seeger. A “paddywack” was described as an angry person in the late nineteenth century.

Buffalo Gals – A traditional American minstrel song first published in 1844 and widely popular throughout the country. The lyrics were often changed to suit the audience as in “New York Gals” or “Boston Gals,” but the best-known version is about Buffalo, New York.

Mama Don’t ‘Low – Difficult to pin down the initial source for this song. It was considered a standard by 1934, because Gene Autry and Smiley Burnett performed it in a movie In Old Santa Fe. In fact, Smiley claimed to be the composer. However, the lyrics have been ever changing and many have registered it under their own name including the famed songsmith, Sammy Cahn. A version of the song was used by WH Handy when he ran for mayor in 1909, so it may even go back further. Best to consider it just another old-time folk song.

She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain – Believed to have been written in the late 1800’s and based on the old spiritual titled When The Chariot Comes. During the nineteenth century it spread through Appalachia where the lyrics were changed to the current form. The song was later sung by railroad work gangs in the Midwest in the 1890’s.

Skip To My Lou – This is another early American “play-party” song. Since the fiddle and dancing were not accepted by the church in those days, young people would sing and clap this song without instruments. “Skip To My Lou” is a simple game of stealing partners so people could all get acquainted. “Lou” or “loo” is the Scottish word for love.

Polly Wolly Doodle – First published in a Harvard student songbook in 1880 and may have been written by Dan Emmett. It appears in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s manuscript, These Happy Golden Days.

Old Macdonald Had A Farm – Traditional song first published in 1917 in the form of a nursery rhyme. There is an Egyptian Arabic version, Geddo Ali or Grandpa Ali, an Italian version, Nella vecchia fattoria, a Danish version, Jens Hansen har en bondegard and so on. It has been recorded by everyone from Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers to Frank Sinatra.

The Wheel On The Bus –A classic children’s song. I wish I knew the origin. Years ago I can remember both Woody Guthrie and Burl Ives doing splendid versions of this song.

Talk Like A Pirate Day – International Talk Like A Pirate Day is a holiday created in 1995 by John Baur and Mark Summers from Albany, Oregon who proclaimed September 19 each year as the day when everyone in the world should talk like a pirate. Syndicated humorist, Dave Barry, wrote an article about it in 2002, because his wife’s birthday is on that day. So is mine, and I celebrate it in this song

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Disk 1 

I like to eat
eat eat eat
I like to eat
Apples and Bananas
repeatI like to ate
ate ate ate
I like to ate
Aypples and banaynays
repeatI like to eat
eat eat eat
I like to eat
Eepples and baneenees

repeat

I like to ite
ite ite ite
I like to ite
Ipples and baninis
repeatI like to ote
ote ote ote
I like to ote
opples and banonos
repeatI like to ute
ute ute ute
I like to ute
upples and banus

repeat

Refrain

Oops! Oops! Oops! I’m always spilling
Oops! Oops! Oops! I’m always dropping
Oops! Oops! Oops! Do I have to pick it up?
I don’t want to pick it up!
I dropped a can of pop And then I popped the top
The pop it sprayed into my face
The pop I had to drop. And I said

Refrain

I had a piece of pie. A piece of pumpkin pie.
I stood up straight and tipped the plate
And then I had no pie. And I said

Refrain

I had some paint to pour for Sis to paint the door
I tipped the can, it slipped my hand.
The paint fell on the floor. And I said

Refrain

Dogs do dig, but dogs don’t dance
I wonder why dogs don’t wear pants?
Dogs don’t doo doo where they should
Dogs do not know bad from good
Dogs, Dogs
I want to be a dog
I’d like to be a dog
I’d love to be a dog
I think I’ll be a dog

Dogs like mud and dogs like sand
And some dogs like to lick your hand
Dogs get cold and dogs grow old
Any dogs don’t always do as told.

Refrain

Refrain
American gum, a hum, a hum
You find it everywhere.
American gum, a hum, a hum.
It’s matted in my hair.
There’s gum on the hammer and gum on the broom
And gum on the milkman’s shoe.
Gum on the chipmunk and gum on the monkey
And non of this gum you can chew.

Refrain

There’s gum on the meat and gum on the mouse
And gum in the milk we drink.
Gum on the drum and gum on my thumb
And gum on my arm I think.

Refrain

There’s probably more than a ton of fum
Sticking around in my room.
And maybe it might be there may be some gum
That man might have left on the moon.

Refrain

I came home last night to eat.
I had hoped to have a treat.
I washed my hands and took my seat.
And here is what I had to eat.

Refrain

I had ham. I had ham.
I had ham, again.I ate my ham, and then I hit the hay.
Then hopped out of bed the next day.
I brushed my hair and hoped to last
To hurry down to my breafast.

Refrain

Perhaps in school I have a hunch.
I’ll hae hotdogs for my lunch.
Or maybe I’ll have bready with jam.
But behold it’s bread with ham!

Refrain

Now ham’s okay maybe once a day.
Or how about once a week.
But to have that ham as much as I am
No hog’s that good to eat!

Refrain

A large and jolly giant
who liked to joke and play
would jump around the countryside
as joyfully he’d say
“I am Jack the Giant and I am very kind
so I shall gently laugh and sing and
hope you do not mind
for though I am so very large,
you must not make a fuss,
and be it strange, I’ll never change
for I’m not dangerous”.

Well the people in the village
were very fond of Jack,
but often in his jumping ’round
he’d step upon a shack.
A cottage now and then would fall
and many times a bridge
and once he squashed a cabbage patch,
by leaping off a ridge.
Then the carriage of the mayor
was toppled to the ground
and dragons in the sky above
could feel his every bound.

Now all his friends were angry
but Jack did not know why,
so he sat out on the edge of town
and there he began to cry.
“Can it be I am so huge
That people are afraid,
or maybe it’s just the way I look
or something that I’ve said?”
Twas then a magic message
appeared before his eyes
and then a pidgeon gliding down
a princess in disguise.”

Jack you must not jump about”
he heard the stranger talk
“and do not run nor even hop,
for gentle giants walk”
So Jack returned a happy guy,
rejoicing as he go
and when he felt the urge to jump,
he’d stomp upon his toe

I’m lying in a bubble tub
Bubbling a bath
Bubbling and tickling
Bubbles make me laugh

The trouble with each bubble
Is that something lives inside
Like in every floating bubble
There lives something that’s alive

There’s a lion in that bubble
Roaring very loud
R-O-A-R-R-R pop! There goes a bubble
That lion did roar too loud

There’s a lamb in that bubble
Baa-ing very loud.
B-A-A-A-H-H pop! There goes a bubble
The lamb did baa too loud

I dove in the river and found a glove
Sing it over….
I dove in the river and found a glove
Sing it over….
I dove in the river and found a glove
Sing it over….
Over, no, I’ve sung it enough
And I never will sing it again

I dove in the river and found one more glove
Sing it over….
I dove in the river and found one more glove
Sing it over….
I dove in the river and found one more glove
Sing it over….
Over, no, I’ve sung it enough
And I never will sing it again

Disk TWO

Chorus:
I love a circus, I love a circus clown
I love a big parade
The day the circus comes to town
I love the colors, they set the circus mood
I love the music and I even love the circus foodOoo I love a, yes I love a
Ooo I love a, yes I love a
Ooo I love a circus I do

I love the walkers on the highwire
And the elephants dancing on their knees
And the big cats jumping through a ring of fire
And the people flying on the high trapeze

Chorus

I see a seal with a beach ball
And a pretty lady standing on a horse
And a person who pretends to be a cannonball
And the ringmaster’s very good of course

Chorus

@ 1985 Wall Disney Music Company (ASCAP) All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

Hey I’m hot when I’ve got that happy feeling
Hey I’m hot when I have that hope to say hey hey
Hey I’m hot when my hurtin’ begins healing
Hey I’m hot as a hot hot summer day

Hey I’m hot behold I’m hot
I’m hot somehow I’m hot
I’m hot perhaps your not
If you’re not then stop
And get hot from your head on top
Get hot let your heels hop
Get hot now clap your hands a lot…get hot

Shim Sham I sure am
I’m sure ready to go
I’m sure ready to go and shout
At the Fish’s rodeo…Yahoo!
Rush down to the seashore
Rush down to the sea
Rush down to the ocean
Go and you shall see
There’s little shrimpy shoulders
The hotshot of the show
She’ll ride that bucking seahorse at the fish’s rodeo

Refrain

The shellfish runs the food shop
She dishes out some pies
She sets up in the sunshine
Sellin’ shakes and fries
The finish is the fish race
Right before your eyes
The shark she is a sure shot
To capture every prize

Refrain

Which witch ate a sandwich?
Which witch ate a soufflé?
Which witch lives in a ditch
Which witch is doin’ okay?

Sometimes witches live in ditches
Sometimes on a hill
Sometimes witches eat sandwiches
Til they have their fill
Sometimes witches get these itches
That they have to scratch
Sometimes throw these pitches
That are hard to catchrefrain

Kiss a cow kiss a cow kiss a cow kiss a cow kiss a cow
You could climb on an oak tree and try to kiss a monkey
But monkey’s are too quick to try and kiss
Or you could even maybe try to kiss a turkey
But turkey’s could get scared and you could miss

Refrain

Take a cover so it can’t see and try to kiss a donkey
But come to close behind and it could kick
If you try a thriller kiss a caterpillar
But keep your cool cause it could make you sick.

Refrain

You could try nothin’ and take a kiss of a pumpkin
But pumpkin’s are no fun to kiss at all
You could kiss a black crow but every kiss you must throw
Cause you could not come close without a call

Refrain

Well the dogs in America go arf arf
The dogs in America go bow wow
But the dogs in Iran go oh oh
The dogs in Japan go wan wan
And animal sounds are not the same the whole world wide

Well the birds in America go chirp chirp
The birds in America go tweet tweet
But the birds in Iran go jik jik
The birds in Japan go chi chi pa pa
And animal sounds are not the same the whole world wide

And it’s fun to dabble in animal babble
It’s fun to hear what the animals say
It’s fun to dabble in animal babble
As the animals babble away

Well the roosters in America cock a doodle doo
The roosters in America cock a doodle doo
But the roosters in Iran go koo kii a koo
The roosters in Japan go ko ki ko
And animal sounds are not the same the whole world wide

Refrain

Go sugar bug what’s that sound?
Go sugar bug dig that ground
Go sugar bug frog comes around
Go sugar bug gonna get found and gobbled down

Long ago a bug so slow
Was gobbled up by a frog
Which goes to show if you want to grow
You have to sometimes find a log

Refrain

Big frog told you he’s gonnna get ya
He’s gonna get you good
So you better get goin’ where the green grass’growin’
By the big log made of wood

Hello my friends I am a baby
I am five months, six months old maybe
When you talk to me talk to me truly
Don’t babble baby talk goo goo gooley
Don’t say gaa gaa gee gee or goo goo
Please use words like hi how do you do

When I grow up when I grow up
Gotta a lot a things I wanna be when I grow up
Goin’ thru it and I’ll do it
But I wanna hurry up
Gotta a lot a things I wanna be when I grow up

Maybe I could be a great magician
It would be fun to wave a magic wand
Or maybe I could be a great musician
The band would follow me and my baton

Refrain

Maybe I could learn to be a flier
And fly a plane up higher that a shout
Or maybe I could learn to fight fire
The best that ever put fire out

Refrain

Mayeb I could learn to be a doctor
And listen to the beating heat
Making medicine would make me a concotor
Taking temperatures is something of an art

Refrain

It’s time to reach for the air
So brush your hair and rinse your chair
And now if you dare and if you care
Then reach with both hands into the air
Well reach reach reach reach for the air
Reach real high now sit down in your chair
Shake….
Run….
Rest….

Will you be sleeping when the goblins come?
Late in the black of the night
Long after playing in the past day’s sun
So many hours from the lights

Last night while sleeping at halp past one
I opened my eyes in the dark
For outside my door I heard the goblins come
And I heard my old dog Sam bark

Then a tap tap tapping
Outside my door
And I bundled up in a pile
And as it slowly opened
I stared in surprise
For there stood a goblin
With a smile
“Hi I’m a goblin and I have come
to tell you that…your dog makes too much noise!”

The only submarine I like
Is the kind made out of bread
And we should replace each missle
With some mistletoe instead
And the only gun that’s any fun
Is the kind that can squirt
And the only fighting that I like
Is the kind that does not hurt

Refrain

My name is Yambo
A sweet potato named Yambo
I’m not a fighter like Rambo
That’s not my style
They call me Yambo
A sweet potato named Yambo
Everybody say Yambo
And see me smile

Now the only battleship I like
Is a Milton-Bradley game
And the only bombers that I like
Are in the Hall of Fame
And the only scary things I like
Are on the movie screen
And the only bad guys that I like
Are the kind that aren’t too mean

Refrain