Here is a song that virtually all Americans know, even if they've never been within a hundred miles of a summer camp. It's sung in preschools, families, on children's CDs, etc. The twist at Camp Ajawah is how we sung it. After singing it once through, we would sing is again but leave off the final word, "stream." Sing again, leave off the last two words, "the stream." And thus we would continue, leaving off one more word each time. We would end with the chant-like "row, row, row... row, row... row."
It's a fun variation on a familiar tune, one which require concentration. There is always someone who forgets (or pretends to) to stop and sings out a word or two solo, leading to laughter and gentle embarrassment.
It can also be sung as a round, but we never went that route.
Wikipedia has an excellent entry on this old English song: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Row%2C_Row%2C_Row_Your_Boat
Good trivia section!
Finally, this simplest of children's songs is distinctive for being so subtly complex philosophical - one could write an entire blog contemplating the line "life is but a dream."
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