Betty, Frank, Eric, Bill, Arlene, PJ, Jack, Anne, Sally, Dawn, WendySue, Jen and Ken were here and we played CHILDREN'S SONGS & CAMPFIRE SONGS.

1. Side By Side, Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards, 1927 (Ken)

For the past several meetings we've been starting off with this one to get loose.

2. Puff the Magic Dragon, Peter Paul and Mary, 1963 (Bill)

This sweet song degenerated half way through into Muff the Tragic Wagon.

3. Skinnamarink, Sharon, Lois and Bram, 1986 (Arlene)

4. Rubber Duckie, Ernie, 1970 (Arlene)

This is a particular favorite of Ken's. We did it several times.

5. I Love Trash, Oscar, 1997 (Arlene)

A creature who lives in a garbage can sang this.

6. People in Your Neighborhood, from Sesame Street, 1969 (Arlene)

Arlene loves this. She sang it and we all played.

7. We All Sing in the Same Voice, from Sesame Street, 1981 (Arlene)

8. The Kids Are Alright, The Who, 1966 (Dan)

I know this isn't a kid's song. It went pretty well.

9. Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah, Allan Sherman, 1963

Here was a big one from my childhood. I like the line where he promises his parents that if they take him home "I will even let Aunt Bertha hug and kiss me." When my Aunt Helen and Aunt Ruthie used to come over they would try to suffocate me with all that kind of jazz ("Ooh Danny, look how big you got! Didn't he get big, Ruthie?") and I would try to squirm away.

10. Teach Your Children, Crosby Stills and Nash, 1970 (Ken)

Here's another, like the Who song, that isn't really for kids.

11. This Land Is Your Land, Woody Guthrie, 1945 (PJ)

12. Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two), Harry Dacre, 1892 (PJ)

This was my favorite melody of the evening. There was a famous scene in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey in which one of the astronauts is deactivating Hal, the talking computer, and Hal is singing this song.

13. On Top of Spaghetti, Tom Glazer, 1963 (PJ)

14. Ahi Wela (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star), Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, 2001 (Jen)

Jen, master linguist, fluent in Hawaiian, sang this and we played the chords.

15. Hush Little Baby, Carly Simon (Jen)

The song Mockingbird came from this.

16. When You Wish Upon A Star, Jiminy Cricket, 1940 (Jen)

This is a pretty slow number, but we overdid it with the slowness, sounding like a dozen post-op patients laboring under the heavy stupor of anesthesia. It's a pretty melody, though.

17. Three Blind Mice, I'm A Little Teapot, If You're Happy and You Know It (WendySue)

We jumped from one to the next of these short songs.

18. Down By the Bay, Raffi, 1976 (Bill)

Bill deserves special credit for this one. He worked in all our names into the verses. The singer sets it up so that the children can make up their own line in a particular spot.

Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow

Back to my home, I dare not go

For if I do, my mother will say

[spoken] "Did you ever see a goose, kissing a moose"

Down by the bay

The improvisation comes each time the mother says something. I bet it's great fun for the kids, but we loved it, too. Bill said he went through several "blue" drafts of the verses before he cleaned it up enough so as not to offend our delicate sensibilities.

19. Dunderbecks Sausage Meat Machine (Camp Song)

20. Waltzing Matilda

For our next session, my theme suggestion of the Rolling Stones and Jen's suggestion of the Time of Day lost to Jack's suggestion of CITIES. I wonder if "I Got a Gal in Kalamazoo" has difficult chords?

-- Dan.