Another musical mystery

Googling a song from my days at Camp Ajawah, I found nothing online other than references to this very website or to Camp Ajawah songbooks.  The lyrics are:

If you want to be a Boy Scout
just come along with me 
and we'll hike by the light
by the light of the moon

If you want to be a Boy Scout
just come along with me
and we'll hike by the light of the moon.

By the light of the silvery moon
Oh, we will hike by the light of the moon
If you want to be a Boy Scout
just come along with me
and we'll hike by the light of the moon.

Oh, the Boy Scouts are coming with a choo-choo rah rah
Choo-choo rah rah
Choo-choo rah rah
Oh, the Boy Scouts are coming with a choo-choo rah rah
Choo-choo hurrah hurrah hurrah Hey! Hey! Hey!

So maybe they aren't the most sophisticated lyrics in the world, but the tune itself is rousing and well suited for group singing.  Not everyone at camp - or even most - were Boy Scouts, but we all hiked.

I searched under the title "If You want to be a Boy Scout" and also tried using various fragments of the lyrics, as it's not unusual for songs to have words altered a bit to fit a different use.  But nothing turned up.

A note: for the line "By the light of the silvery moon" the melody comes from the 1909 Broadway standard of that title, but the rest of the song has a different melody and tempo.

I'll try asking the folks who know Camp Ajawah's history the best if they know from whence came this song, but if you know anything about it, please share your info in the comments.  

It's Summer Camp Season!

And for those of you looking for a great camp, here is the link to the one where I learned all the songs I write about on this blog and on Facebook:

http://www.ajawah.org/dates%20rates.html

It's near the Twin Cities, sessions are 12 days long - two are girls only and two are boys only.  The first session (girls) starts tomorrow.  The campfire's ready for singing...

Taps turns 150

At Camp Ajawah, a bugler played taps every evening when it was time to go to sleep.  It sounded terrific drifting through the pines to our tents and then out across Linwood Lake and the stars above.

At the girls' sessions, it was also sung as part of a medley that closed every evening's campfire:

Day is done

gone the sun

from the hills

from the lake

from the sky

all is well

safely rest

God is nigh.

Here's a great article on the origins of the tune 150 years ago this summer:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2012/05/18/152939191/150-years-of-taps

When You Hear a Cannon - song #33

Making the rounds with rounds... one of the songs I mentioned in my last post is a good example of why rounds are useful for group singing: they're easy to learn. Due to the repetitive nature of these songs, you only need to learn one chorus. You sing it over and over. Three times is the norm. And the melodies are likewise generally easy to pick up.

And WYHAC takes simple lyrics to an extreme:

When you hear a cannon it goes bang bang

When you hear a cannon it goes bang bang bang bang

Bang bang bang bang bang

The percussive sound of all those "bangs" is fun to sing. And as the subgroups finish one by one, the sound gradually transforms from raucous to simple.

A funny thing happened when I googled "When you hear a Cannon" - the only references I can find online are from Camp Ajawah related posts, other than one from the Delhi Girl Scouts. Is it really that obscure? I tried searching various permutations and still found nothing.

The origins of who taught any given song and when at Ajawah can be lost to the fog of time, since the camp has been around 80+ years and has distinct girls' and boys' halves. So if anyone reading this knows the song but is not from Camp Ajawah, please let me know in the comments.

Of, if you are from Ajawah and know anything about the origins of "When You Hear A Cannon," I would love to hear from you as well.

More sloop

The Sloop John B has had a fine run in pop music, as evidenced by my previous post. But it's a traditional song - and from the Caribbean, which is less common for songs we sang at Camp Ajawah. Nassau town refers to the Bahamas, of course. My main question - was there a real Sheriff John Stone?

The song worked at camp for a number of reasons. The melody is catchy and the lyrics easy to learn. "I want to go home" resonates with the homesickness most campers feel from time to time. The captain's trunk is mentioned, and most campers brought their clothes to camp in a trunk. And who can't help but think of the camp's cook while singing "The poor cook he had fits, ate up all of my grits, then he took and he at up all of my corn." Never had grits at camp, but we did have plenty of corn.

I did find this parody online:

SLOOP JOHN A

We looked for the Sloop John A; We looked for it all day;
Round Nassau Town we did roam,
A man on the pier, Said it wasn't here;
We didn't find it, And then we went home.

Where can the John A be? Maybe the A's at sea;
We had a good look round, Then we went home.
Then we went home, We had to go home.
We didn't find it And then we went home.

The first mate was not there, Maybe he was elsewhere;
Maybe he was on board the Sloop John A;
Wherever he was, We didn't meet him because
We didn't find it, And then we went home.

Where can the John A be? Maybe the A's at sea;
We had a good look round, Then we went home,
Then we went home, We had to go home.
We didn't find it, And then we went home.

The day was a non-event, It seemed the A had went;
Then they told us that there's another called B.
B was OK; I had my heart set on A;
We didn't find it, And then we went home.

Where can the John A be? Maybe the A's at sea;
We had a good look round, Then we went home
Then we went home, We had to go home. I wanna go home.
We didn't find it, And then we went home.

Lyrics: Les Barker, published in 'Sitting With My Dog On Display'.
Recorded by David Knutsen on Tubular Dogs (catalogue no: Dog013)"

Back to the actual song, Carl Sandberg wrote that he was told the "weathered ribs of the historic craft lie imbedded in the sand at Governor's Harbor" in Nassau. Already by 1927 "Time and usage have given this song almost the dignity of a national anthem around Nassau."

Another interesting tidbit: "I've heard from one knowledgeable source that the bad things that happen on that sloop are all the result of naming the boat "John B." In Afro-Caribbean culture, nobody with a surname beginning with "B" (supposedly) will name a son "John," because the result ("John B." sounds too much like "jumby" -- a west African (Wolof/Bambera) term referring to this undead thing we've anglicized to "zombie" -- apparently it won't do to mention these creatures; "speak of the devil," and all that."

The lyrics in versions in the first part of the 20th Century are fairly close to the Beach Boys' version, with slight variations here and there. The Weavers had a hit with the song in the early 1950s. Some versions say "Mr. Johnstone" rather than "Sheriff Johnstone," so it seems unlikely there was really a lawman of that name.

Bob Marley's "I Shot The Sheriff" seems distantly related - both songs are from the Caribbean, feature someone's travails, and have a sheriff. Loose thread, I know...

I've Been Working on the Railroad - Song #30

IBWOTR is one of those songs that everyone, even if they have never gone to summer camp or been a member of a youth group, etc. seems to know at least in part. Maybe they learned it in elementary school or heard it in old cartoons. But it's a song everyone seems to sing exactly the same, unlike many songs I've blogged about.

Train songs have a rich tradition and we sang a number of them at Camp Ajawah - at least the boys did.

I've been working on the railroad
All the livelong day
I've been working on the railroad
Just to pass the time away

Can't you hear the whistle blowing
Rise up so early in the morn
Can't you hear the captain shouting
Dinah, blow your horn

Dinah, won't you blow
Dinah, won't you blow
Dinah, won't you blow your horn
Dinah, won't you blow
Dinah, won't you blow
Dinah, won't you blow your horn

Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah
Someone's in the kitchen I know
Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah
Strumming on the old banjo, and singing

Fie, fi, fiddly i o
Fie, fi, fiddly i o
Fie, fi, fiddly i o
Strumming on the old banjo

I have two questions: who is Dinah? And is this song indeed from the 1800s? Did rail workers sing it? Is it of African American origins? Or was it a commercial composition?

Yes, that's more than two questions, but the last three are variations on the second questions. I just want to find the origins.

Dinah - there is speculation that it's "diner" with a southern accent. Dinah blowing her horn = dining car calling workers to lunch. Or maybe Dinah was the cook. Or "dinner." Maybe blowing her horn was a variation of Gabriel blowing his horn (from The Eyes of Texas are Upon You, which has the same melody as the first part of IBWOTR).

Gargoyle at mudcat.org writes:

"Dinah - short for dynamite.

Kitchen - the engineer's cab of a steam locomotive

Banjo - short handled shovel"

Origins - First appeared in print in 1894 at Princeton, but otherwise the roots are somewhat murky, which is not unusual for folk music. It is likely two or three songs combined - a variation of "I've Been Working on the Levee" and "Dinah."

Strumming on the old banjo may mean stirring food in the frying pan.

More L'Amour

A few more words on the song from the previous post, known variously as "Viva L'Amour" or "Vive La Compagnie." When I first learned the song at age 9 - and for a few summers after - I thought the phrase was "Viva La Moore," because the Camp Director was (and still is) Dave Moore. Naturally, I thought it was an homage to him.

Here are the lyrics as Camp Ajawah knows them - you can see that while they differ quite a bit from the 1844 version posted earlier, one begat the other:

Let every good fellow now join in this song,

Vive la compagnie!

Success to each other and pass it along,

Vive la compagnie!

(Chorus)

Vive la, vive la, vive l'amour

Vive la, vive la, vive l'amour

Vive l'amour, vive l'amour,

Vive la compagnie!

A friend on your left and a friend on your right,

Vive la compagnie!

In love and good fellowship let us unite,

Vive la compagnie!

(Chorus)

Now wider and wider our circle expands,

Vive la compagnie!

We sing to our comrades in far away lands,

Vive la compagnie!

(Chorus)

That's it. A lively song of comradeship, easy to learn, easy to sing. I will end with an amusing clip of the song being sung:

My Castle on the Nile - Song #27

I crosschecked the lists of songs at the links below and found perhaps a dozen that were missing from my long list on the left side of this page. There are a few I did not add, as they have been added to the tradition since my last summer at Camp Ajawah, so I do not feel "qualified" to comment on them. But check out:

http://www.ajawah.org/boysongs.html

http://www.ajawah.org/girlsongs.html

You will find links there to register for summer 2010 girls' sessions and boys' sessions for kids from 8-15. Sign up soon!

I added a song that I have not thought of in years -- but was able to pluck from the depths of my gray matter. My Castle On The Nile is the title. A search for video did turn up someone singing it with hand motions similar to those used at Ajawah:

The melody is close enough for rock and roll... or camp music. The lyrics:

I'm gonna build my castle on the Nile,

So I can live in elegant style.

Inlaid diamonds on the floor

A bamboo butler at my door.

I'm gonna marry prince Alaboo,

My blood will change from red to blue,

Entertaining royalty all the while,

In my castle, castle, castle on the river Nile

....the river Nile.

Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound

Just a quick note that there is another posthumous album from Johnny Cash out as of three days ago. If you like his later years, singing old songs with just a guitar and his distinctive voice, check it out. And one of the cuts is the Camp Ajawah favorite, Tom Paxton's "I Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound." Cash sings it close to the original melody. As I pointed out in an earlier post, we always sang it to the melody of Blowing In The Wind.

Camp Ajawah Reunion - August 14-16

It's hard to believe anyone reading this blog who is an alumnus of Camp Ajawah doesn't also have a connection to the Ajawah Conservancy or the Ajawah Facebook group... but just in case, please see these links?

http://ajawahconservancyupdates.blogspot.com/2009/05/reunion-registration-is-now-open.html

http://ajawahconservancyupdates.blogspot.com/2009/02/80th-reunion-info.html

A month or two ago there were two recording sessions, one for girls' songs and one for boys' songs - I look forward to hearing the results this summer.

Mail call

Yes, it has been ages since I posted. May be ages before I post again. Still busy with my work blog among other things. But in the meantime two friends have emailed me or commented on a post.

1 - John T commented on post Song 24 - Granny's in the Cellar:
***Last year I heard the missing first verse to this song, sung by DLM (our camp director)
"I grieve my Lord,
From day to day,
I've left the straight
And narrow way..."
and, he added this thigh-slapper:
"Oh you can't get to heaven,
With our SPL,
'Cause our SPL,
Is going to ....well?"***

SPL is "senior patrol leader," a Boy Scout position, as Camp Ajawah was founded by Minneapolis Troop 33.

2 - Mack asked ***Hey Joe,
what was the biggest song 'flop' that anywone can remember? What was the earliest flop that Moore can remember?

I recall the 'biplane' flop but I'm sure there were others***

I don't have answers, really, and if anyone has some, please share. Moore (the camp director) started at Ajawah as a small boy in the 1940s, so has certainly seen many songs introduced at camp only to die a dismal death, whether due to an unsingable melody, an uninteresting lyric, the incompetence of the person teaching the song, or some combination of the above.

-- The biplane flop he refers to dates to the late 1970s when Jim P tried to teach a song that, as I recall, had a chorus of "Bye bye biplane, once upon a sky plane." It as somewhat catchy and boys like planes, but it didn't last the summer. Interestingly, Jim has gone on to a long, fruitful career with the YMCA camps.
-- I tried to teach The Hobo's Lullaby, but couldn't carry the tune very well. I believe Bob F later was able to get it going a bit - he is the guy who to my amazement got Rule Brittania to become a popular song, despite it's extremely long syllables.
-- A few guys from Golden Valley tried to get "Son of a Son of a Sailor," a Jimmy Buffet tune, going, but it seemed not very melodic.
-- My brother and my roommate Tom once got up to lead "Black Water," the Doobie Brothers song - the idea that half of the mess hall could sing the "I'd like to hear some dixie music, pretty mama, come and take me by the hand" and the other half could sing the response: "by the hand, take me by the hand pretty mama, come and dance with your daddy all night long." Fun try...

I'm back...

Been a few months. Between doing a blog for work and the holidays, I have let When We Sing rest a bit. But I will try to get back to semi-regular posts.

I will start with a link sent to me by my buddy Mack; it's to a site where you can hear a woman's version of my favorite Camp Ajawah song, The Ash Grove. Nice voice, simple backing, works well.

She does split the two verses we sing at camp by interposing a verse that is an alternate version often sung by Girl Scouts, among others. I don't like that verse as much, but it's not bad.

http://www.chivalry.com/cantaria/lyrics/ashgrove.html

Lisa Loeb's new album

Just saw on iTunes' new releases that Lisa Loeb, who had a big alternative hit with "Stay" a few years back, has just put out "Camp Lisa." Listened to two excerpts of songs from Camp Ajawah which couldn't be more different:

Granny's in the Cellar - a rarely sung humorously gross song from Boys' Camp.

Linger - A sweet song that was part of the closing medley at all Girls' Camp evening campfires.

Check them out; I will try to get a link up soon...

Take Me Out to the Ballgame - song #21

In honor of yesterday's All Star Game, I turn my attention now to the unofficial baseball anthem, Take Me Out to the Ballgame. At camp we would sing it occasionally. For many years there was a traditional game of softball one of the last days of each session, pitting the staff versus the "all stars" campers from the softball league that played games during morning swims.

I believe that all may have transitioned to soccer - don't get me started on that - but back in the day we sang TMOTTB, which perhaps many already knew from the 7th inning stretch at Twins' games.

So, here are three sites about the song:

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_Me_Out_to_the_Ball_Game
Now we know that this is the 100th anniversary of the song's debut as a pop music hit. And that it is the third most commonly sung song in America.

2 http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1556376&vid=141873
A Minnesota indie band (now based in Brooklyn) covers the song for the Twins (do they now play this at the Metrodome??)

3 http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/notebook?page=bbtn/takemeout
Nine popular acts record versions for an ESPN battle of the bands.

More "Wha Saw"

Here is a link with a few of the traditional versions of the lyrics as well as the sheet music. As you can see, it's from a bagpipe site. Whenever I think of what a bagpiper usually plays, it's something along the lines of "Wha Saw."

http://usahpd.com/tunes/whasaw42.htm

When sung as a round, starting a new group every two beats, it makes for a fun ending as the droning, steady rhythm gives way to an increasingly clear "bramble briar... bramble briar... bramble briar."

Here is a link to a midi file of the bagpipe version - chose the third medley down:

http://www.electricscotland.com/music/medleys.htm

Not really finding any sung version on iTunes, etc. Anyone?

Warsaw/Wausau/Wha Saw? - Song #20

Mack reminded me of another song I can't believe I forgot, as most of the ones falling into that category are ones I never particularly liked. But "Wausau the 42nd" (as I recall it) was an old workhorse of a round, a dependable, lively and easily sung tune.

As I sang it, the words were:

Wausau the 42nd
Wausau gone to war
Wausau the 42nd
Marching through the bramble briar

Zoom diddy boom diddy
boots and stockings
Zoom diddy boom diddy
Lay et twa
Zoom diddy boom diddy
boots and stockings
matching through the bramble briar

I was never sure if it was supposed to be "Warsaw" or "Wausau" or some other place; what war; and the second verse doesn't make any sense - is "lay et twa" French? Or did I have the words wrong? Etc.

So my first look into this turns up not a lot, but it did turn up these Scottish lyrics:

Wha saw the forty-second,/ Wha saw them gang awa',/ Wha saw the forty-second,/ Mairchin' doon the Broomielaw. / Some o' them had buits an' stockins,/ some o' them had nane at a',/ Some o' them had umberellas [4 syllables!]/ Mairchin' doon the Broomielaw

I like that; makes a litle more sense and evokes a vivid picture. And who doesn't like a Scottish brogue?

(PS - I have added a post with a recording of "Wha Saw" that I made at a summer camp; you can see it here)

Boy(s) Meet Girl(s)?

I was doing some research on a round sung at the girls' sessions at Camp Ajawah titled "Rose, Rose." A slow, haunting tune seemingly about a medieval young woman's betrothal plans, but it turns out no one has been able to trace it back any further than the 1900s.

But I learned a lot of camps and groups sing it along with a song we sing at the boys' sessions, "Hey Ho, Nobody Home," which indeed has a similar melody. We always sung it as if we were hiking.

So maybe at Ajawah this summer they should try the combo platter - here is one version I found, along with another verse or two thrown in from elsewhere:

rose, rose, rose, rose,
will I ever see thee wed?
I shall marry at my will,
sire, at my will.

ding, dong, ding, dong,
wedding bells on an April morning,
carve thy name on a moss-covered stone,
on a moss-covered stone.

Hey ho, nobody's home,
meat nor drink nor money have I none,
still I will be very merry,
hey ho, nobody's home.

Mother, Father, dig my grave,
dig it with a golden spade,
bring some friends and a morning dove,
to show my die for love.

Au poor bird,
take thy flight,
high above the sorrows,
of this cruel dark night.

Should make the campers all cheerful for bedtime, eh? And a note: many of the versions of Rose have the line as "at thy will" instead of "at my will." I seem to remember our version being "as I will" which sounds better, I think (as well as being more feminist than "at thy will").

The Austrian Song: Song #19

I got an email from Mack asking me about the Austrian Song, along with some lyrics he'd remembered. It didn't ring a bell immediately but then started coming back to me, especially as I did a little research on it. What threw me off, I think, is that I only recall it as a Girls Camp song and Mack only went to Boys Camp.

Looking for an audio file to jog my memory, I stumbled across something interesting or perhaps a little bizarre: a "virtual karaoke" site where people can post their Sims version of songs. There are a few for the Austrian Song. Check this one out - it also links to others:

http://thesimsonstage.ea.com/playPerformance.html?performanceId=Cpsh6W12poM%3D&play=Y

John Brown's Body - Song #18

A few posts ago I wrote about a song used to dismiss campers from the Mess Hall after meals (Tramp, Tramp, Tramp). Another one was suggested to me by my friend Mack:

John Brown's Body lies a'molding in the grave
Down with McGinty to the bottom of the sea
She's my Nellie
I'm her Joe
So listen to my tail of... woe

Any ice today ladies?

More about these seemingly random lyrics in my next post.

More Mr. Moon

1 - At Girls' Camp we also sang the same tune with altered lyrics: Mr. Sun (not at campfire, of course, but during the day).

Oh Mister Sun, Sun, great big shining sun
won't you please shine down on me
Oh Mister Sun, Sun, great big shining sun
won't you come from behind that tree

There stands (insert name of current Beach Director) with a whistle in hand
Ready for to blow it if you warm the sand
So Sun, Sun, great big shining sun
won't you please shine down on, talk about your shining
won't you please shine down on me

2 - Bob Coltman at mudcat.org did some fine detective work and found the original version - here is the first part:

MISTER MOON: KINDLY COME OUT AND SHINE
Smith & Bowman
Boston: Walter Jacobs, 1903.

VERSE 1. Ole Parson Jones was coming home this morn twixt one and two,
When lots of boys that hangs around has nothing else to do
But interfere with people ev'ry evening when it's dark.
Last night they saw the parson coming. One made this remark:
Says, “Yonder comes the parson. Now, let's try to make him run.
He thinks he's brave. We’ll test his nerve. I'll fiah off this gun.”
And when the parson heard the shot, 'twas then he got right scared
And started running up the road and this the way he prayed:

CHORUS 1: Oh, Mister Moon, Moon, silvery moon, kindly come out and shine.
Do Mister Moon, Moon, come out soon. My home I wants to find.
I'm brave, 'tis true, was never known to run,
But the boys behind me with a Gatling gun.
Oh, Mister Moon, Moon, silvery moon, kindly come out and shine.

Read his full post at http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=44759#659308