Did your parents used to sing you songs?

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Melissa's mother used to sing Bali Hai to her before she went to sleep.

My dad used to sing us lots of songs. Right now the only one I can remember is the one that ends 'and here comes a chopper to chop off your HEAD'. We used to love that.

My mum is not such a keen singer but I do know that she used to do 'Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep' quite a lot. "Where's your mama gone / (where's your mama gone)?" ..in retrospect, maybe my parents were horrible.

What songs make you curl up in a ball and weep for your lost childhood?

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:15 (twenty-three years ago)

My mom used to sing me christmas carols and Beatles songs on her acoustic guitar. I still covet her 12 string Yamaka!

― donut bitch (donut), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:17 (twenty-three years ago)

"Here comes a chopper to chop you off your head!" = Oranges and lemons, said the bells of St. Clements'"

My mum used to sing Bright Eyes to me after we've seen that seminal sobathon Watership Down and of course there was lots of nursery rhymes.

I remember having to do lots of carol singing in my childhood and being pressed into joining the primary school choir ('cos I was a boy soprano). Absolutely no chance of hitting the top C during Midnight In The Oasis now though...

― Ben Mott (Ben Mott), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:24 (twenty-three years ago)

My mom sang "Danny Boy" to me as a lullaby, while dad was more likely to sing random doo-wop numbers.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:25 (twenty-three years ago)

I have suddenly had a grammatical crisis of confidence about the question I posted. "Did your parents used to"? "Use too" sounds more right but looks more wrong. Help.

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:30 (twenty-three years ago)

The easist thing to say grammar-wise would have been "Did you parents sing you songs?"

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:31 (twenty-three years ago)

I know, but I didn't.

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:32 (twenty-three years ago)

LIVERPOOL LULLABY
by Stan Kelly

Oh you are a mucky kid,
Dirty as a dustbin lid
When he finds out the things you did
You'll get a belt from your da
Oh you have your father's nose
So crimson in the dark, it glows
If you're not asleep when the boozers close
You'll get a belt from your da

You look so scruffy lying there
Strawberry jam tats in your hair
Though in the world you haven't a care
And I have got so many
It's quite a struggle everyday
Living on your father's pay
The bugger drinks it all away
And leaves me without any

Although we have no silver spoon
Better days are coming soon
Now Nellie's working at the loom
And she gets paid on Friday
Perhaps one day we'll have a splash
When Littlewoods provides the cash
We'll get a house in Knotty Ash
And buy your dad a brewery

Oh you are a mucky kid,
Dirty as a dustbin lid
When he finds out the things you did
You'll get a belt from your da
Oh you have your father's face
You're growing up a real hard case
But there's no one can take your place
Go fast asleep for Mammy

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:33 (twenty-three years ago)

no they did not!! why the hell not?

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:35 (twenty-three years ago)

They didn't believe it would influence you.

Mark, can you answer my 'used' conundrum. What the hell kind of word is 'used' anyway?

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:38 (twenty-three years ago)

My mum used to sing to me. Favourite was "Have you seen the ghost of John? Long pale bones with the skin all gone. Wouldn't it be chilly with no skin on?"
The lyrics to most lullabies are not that reassuring. "When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall, and down will come baby, cradle and all"

― Genevieve, Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:39 (twenty-three years ago)

your parents used to sing you songs
question form: used your parents to sing you songs?
your parents sang you songs
question form: did your parents sing you songs?

these are both ok, but the first is now idiomatically infrequent (my mother's mother, born in glasgow, would have said it): and by combining the logic of both question forms you can justify what you wrote, but it sounds laboured (and therefore is...)

"used to" implies not simply a past activity, but a past activity on a regular basis

nice alternative: "did your parents oft-times sing you songs?"

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:46 (twenty-three years ago)

my mum sang to me a lot, nursery rhymes with evil lyrics included. she also sang many tunes from musicals like 'paint your wagon' and 'the king and i', then took me to see them at the local picture theatre. that was pretty cool at the time.

― donna (donna), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:49 (twenty-three years ago)

The 'oft-times' one is different somehow (stressed the frequency). I like the first one best. Please retitle this thread "Used your parents to sing you songs?"

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:51 (twenty-three years ago)

"picture theatre"? donna are you secretly posting from the 1930s?

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:52 (twenty-three years ago)

to make my grandma feel at home, maybe? (tho she wd call it a picture house)

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:53 (twenty-three years ago)

My mother sang me a variety of songs. Bali Hai, I Should've Known Better With a Girl Like You, Scarborough Fair...

― Melissa W (Melissa W), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:53 (twenty-three years ago)

Yes, she's posting from the 1930s. That's why her mum taking her to see 'The King And I' and 'Paint Your Wagon' was so cool.

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:54 (twenty-three years ago)

haha mark, yes its true, i am a renegade time-traveller.
actually that is how i remember the name of the place, its what we called it so that is how it comes to mind now.

― donna (donna), Thursday, 16 January 2003 00:54 (twenty-three years ago)

The King and I and Paint Your Wagon are postwar musicals--both debuted in 1951, in fact. But I do remember watching Footlight Parade (with Jimmy Cagney -- and everyone seemingly on crack) on TV.

My mom took me to a local theater production of Oklahoma! (in Michigan City, Indiana) and she advertised it to me as some kind of radical political theater, perhaps confusing it in her mind with The Caucasian Chalk Circle or Salt of the Earth. We were both a little shocked when instead we got "Surrey with a Fringe on Top."

Anyways, yes, my mum sang songs to me when I went to bed. Most of them were personalized versions of such hits as "Danny Boy" and "When the Saints Go Marching In." But also lots of labor songs, protest songs, etc., and that chestnut, "You Are My Sunshine," which still gets me a little verklempt whenever I hear it.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 16 January 2003 01:13 (twenty-three years ago)

My friend's dad sang "Ghost Riders in the Sky" to us when I stayed over at his house. That's just about the coolest thing a dad can do.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 16 January 2003 01:15 (twenty-three years ago)

(I think N was making a joke abt it being cool that Donna's mum took her to see musicals made two decades in the future) (Oklahoma is my dad's favourite musical, but he never sang me any of it or anything else)

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 16 January 2003 01:20 (twenty-three years ago)

yes, 'you are my sunshine'. it is so sad!!

― ron (ron), Thursday, 16 January 2003 01:30 (twenty-three years ago)

My mom switched the lyrics around so I wouldn't have to fall asleep to the "I hung my head and cried" part.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 16 January 2003 01:34 (twenty-three years ago)

No. My dad sings when he's had a bit too much to drink though.

― , Thursday, 16 January 2003 01:42 (twenty-three years ago)

Hm, not to my knowledge. Read me bedtime stories, yes!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 16 January 2003 02:23 (twenty-three years ago)

I had a folkie mom. As Tears Go By, If I Had A Hammer, I Know I'll Never Find Another You, many others. There's this new infomercial for The Folk Years CD that freaked me out cuz she used to sing me every damn song on it that wasn't by the Kingston Trio or a Calypso number.

I'd plan to sing many a pop song for my kids, but since folk is one of the few styles I don't like, I have to assume this could turn my kid away from the stuff.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 16 January 2003 02:53 (twenty-three years ago)

My dad sang to himself almost constantly when he wasn't conversing with anyone. All sorts of crazy old songs.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Thursday, 16 January 2003 02:56 (twenty-three years ago)

i got teasing songs from my parents like, "we've gotta fatty fatty kid kid! (i'm not telling the truth)

― naked as sin (naked as sin), Thursday, 16 January 2003 03:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i think mum sang me a lot of nursery rhymes at bedtime. but mostly, i used to sing at everybody. wait, i still do!

― di smith (lucylurex), Thursday, 16 January 2003 03:01 (twenty-three years ago)

My mom sang me "Tender Shepard" from Peter Pan. I also remember "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair". She would also play me the Threepenny Opera (with Lotte Lenya and BEA ARTHUR!!) and the Bye Bye Birdie soundtrack.

― rosemary (rosemary), Thursday, 16 January 2003 03:12 (twenty-three years ago)

"Have you seen the ghost of John? Long pale bones with the skin all gone. Wouldn't it be chilly with no skin on?"

This used to be in a picture book of mine; it gave me endless nightmares.

― Curtis Stephens, Thursday, 16 January 2003 03:16 (twenty-three years ago)

Countless, rather. I'm pretty sure the dream state ended at some point.

― Curtis Stephens, Thursday, 16 January 2003 03:17 (twenty-three years ago)

a song about me having legs like "pea-sticks".

― rainy (rainy), Thursday, 16 January 2003 03:27 (twenty-three years ago)

Lots of Carpenters, and also "You are my Sunshine". Even then I thought it a crushingly sad song.

― Nicole (Nicole), Thursday, 16 January 2003 03:35 (twenty-three years ago)

I asked a similar question on I Love Music awhile ago.

Are pop songs harder to sing these days, acapella-wise? It seems like that to me.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 16 January 2003 04:46 (twenty-three years ago)

another one for "you are my sunshine" i also got "my favorite things" from the sound of music.

― boxcubed (boxcubed), Thursday, 16 January 2003 06:39 (twenty-three years ago)

My mum used to sing that Drifters one that goes "rockin' rollin' riding'/ out along the bay."

I have always sung along to the car radio with my dad. Still do.

Actually I still dance around the kitchen with my mother. Last time I was home we played Fleetwood Mac (hers, but I like it) and Basement Jaxx (mine, but I thought she'd like it too). My grandmother and aunts dance in the kitchen a lot too.

― Anna (Anna), Thursday, 16 January 2003 09:10 (twenty-three years ago)

Lots of songs. "D'ye ken John Peel", one about "ganning along the Scotswood Road to see the Blaydon races", "PollyWollyDoodle all the day", one about betting your "money on a bobtail nag, and somebody bet on de bay", and some absurd ones of my grandad's, like:

MY HIGHLAND GOAT
My highland goat, was feeling fine
Ate six red shirts, from off the line
My brother Jack, gave him a whack
And tied him to, the railway track
The whistle blew, the train drew nigh
My highland goat was doomed to die
He gave a moan, of awful pain
Coughed up those shirts, and flagged the train

― Sam (chirombo), Thursday, 16 January 2003 09:28 (twenty-three years ago)

Also my grandad sang one which went (allegro):
There was an old farmer had an old sow
(snort) ow, (snort) ow, (raspberry) eidully dow
And he was a funniful man.

― Sam (chirombo), Thursday, 16 January 2003 09:30 (twenty-three years ago)

German and Italian art songs. I used to cry whenever she'd sing Bach.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Thursday, 16 January 2003 09:51 (twenty-three years ago)

No. My dad would put on Stockhausen or Berio at bedtime and then wake me up for breakfast with Ayler or Ascension.

― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 16 January 2003 09:52 (twenty-three years ago)

Also, You Are My Sunshine. I thought it was about R2D2 running down a hill, sort of out of control but really having abandoned the will to control himself. It was so sad.

― madeleine c, Thursday, 16 January 2003 09:52 (twenty-three years ago)

My mum used to sing 'I'm gonna wash that man right out of my hair' when she was washing my hair when I was little.

― Emma, Thursday, 16 January 2003 10:31 (twenty-three years ago)

THE BIG SHIPS SAILS ON THE ALLEY, ALLEY O

1. The big ship sails on the alley, alley O,

The alley, alley O, the alley, alley O.

The big ship sails on the alley, alley O,

On the last day of September.

2. The captain said:'It will never, never do, etc.

3. The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea, etc.

4. We all dip our heads in the deep, blue sea,

The deep, blue sea, the deep, blue sea, We all dip our heads in the deep, blue sea,

On the last day of September

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 16 January 2003 10:38 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah I got that one too. I still don't know what it's meant to be about. I thought it was all one word 'alleyalleyo' until reading the above...

― Archel (Archel), Thursday, 16 January 2003 10:46 (twenty-three years ago)

According to my sources, the "alley-o" is either a scouse word for the Manchester Ship Canal derived from a slang Irish word for the sea.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 16 January 2003 10:48 (twenty-three years ago)

Loads of things. You are my Sunshine was definitely one of them (and I never realised until now that it is actually quite sad. Bastards.) and also random things like "I was born under a Wandering Star", "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" and some dreadful old shit by Val Doonican called "Delaney's Donkey".

― SittingPretty (sittingpretty), Thursday, 16 January 2003 10:50 (twenty-three years ago)

I used to get The Big Ship Sails and the one about 'you bet your money on the bob tailed mare'.

My grandmother used to sing one line of a song "Nelly Blye caught a fly/ put it in the teapot". She didn't know the rest, but for some reason this song haunts our family. Every time someone picks up a baby they start bouncing it on their hip singing "Nelly Blye caught a fly..."

― Anna (Anna), Thursday, 16 January 2003 11:22 (twenty-three years ago)

''No. My dad would put on Stockhausen or Berio at bedtime and then wake me up for breakfast with Ayler or Ascension.''

must have been an education, eh?

anyway, I can't remember them singing any songs when i was younger but my dad does whistle the odd tune from time to time.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 16 January 2003 11:27 (twenty-three years ago)

Anna, I think your grandmother made up this song but got stuck after one line. There was a Nelly Bly, though, and a song about her.

I have had a brainwave. This thread should be called 'Would your parents sing you songs?'.

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 16 January 2003 11:30 (twenty-three years ago)

I've searched for it before (found out cousin's wife was pregnant, urged to search by non-net mother who said it was driving her mad).

She seems to be some character who crops up in folk songs and music hall stuff. That fits with what my grandmother said, that is her father used to sing it, could only remember one line, but said it was an old music hall thing his mother sang.

By birth of cousin's baby, this will be SEVEN generations of Nelly Blye madness and intrigue.

― Anna (Anna), Thursday, 16 January 2003 16:40 (twenty-three years ago)

Have you got the urrge to search?

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 16 January 2003 16:44 (twenty-three years ago)

Yes. See future 'Urrrge to 'Urbal' ads with me and various other members of family dancing round a kitchen with babies on hips.

― Anna (Anna), Thursday, 16 January 2003 16:46 (twenty-three years ago)

Didn't get sung songs that I can remember, but Tolkien and Malory's 'Morte d'Arthur' were fine bedtime story material.

― Liz :x (Liz :x), Thursday, 16 January 2003 16:47 (twenty-three years ago)

i too got chirpy chirpy cheep cheep. it was in the charts i think when my sister was born. not a song sung as such, but one that was regularly brought up as a "joke" was When A Child is Born, because of the line about "a rosy hue" and my middle name is "Huw". oh the laffs.

― Alan (Alan), Thursday, 16 January 2003 16:54 (twenty-three years ago)

No, never. Got lots of Saint Etienne, Paris Angels, Beth Orton, Theaudience etc rammed into my head on long car journeys though.

― Graham (graham), Thursday, 16 January 2003 16:59 (twenty-three years ago)

Never, as I've said about a thousand times the time my dad tapped his fingers to breath by the prodigy and turned it up was the pinnacle of my relationship with my parents.

― Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 16 January 2003 17:01 (twenty-three years ago)

graham and ronan know how to make me feel v old

― Alan (Alan), Thursday, 16 January 2003 17:02 (twenty-three years ago)

I think my brother and sister sang songs to me if that makes you feel any younger.

― Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 16 January 2003 17:04 (twenty-three years ago)

My mom had a church hymnal she would sing from to help me fall asleep. It was very soothing. No wonder I fell asleep in church alot.

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Thursday, 16 January 2003 17:06 (twenty-three years ago)

As my mum is tone deaf as well as, well, deaf, I grew up not knowing the proper tunes to anything.

― Archel (Archel), Thursday, 16 January 2003 17:07 (twenty-three years ago)

I am trying to conjure up memories of being sung even a nursery rhyme or two, but I'm not convinced I can recall this ever happening. Probably down to my mother disliking me from the start, really.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 16 January 2003 20:36 (twenty-three years ago)

I only got one lullaby, in Amharic. I'm beginning to think it's the only lullaby in Amharic, because most of it goes "shoo-roo roo [child's name]" and while in Ethiopia I heard the following joke:

A woman is auditioning for a job as a performer.
GUY DOING HIRING: Can you sing Amhara songs?
WOMAN: Sure. [Amhara style] Shoo-roo, shoo-roo.
GUY DOING HIRING: Can you sing Tigrenya songs?
WOMAN: Sure. [after that fashion] Shoo-roo-roo, shoo-roo.
GUY DOING HIRING: Can you sing Gurage songs?
WOMAN: Sure. [Gurage style] Shoo-roo shoo-roo-roo-roo.
GUY: Tell me, where did you work before this?
WOMAN: At the nursery.

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 17 January 2003 00:17 (twenty-three years ago)

i'm sure my mom sang to me, but i don't remember anything specifically.

― sand.y, Friday, 17 January 2003 00:55 (twenty-three years ago)

I want to hear this Shooroo song.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 17 January 2003 02:18 (twenty-three years ago)

There's a cover of it on the new Bobby Short CD.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 17 January 2003 06:54 (twenty-three years ago)

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