Wha Saw the 42nd sheet music

As mentioned in my last post, "Wha Saw the 42nd" has attracted more interest than any other song on this blog to date.  The variation we sing at Camp Ajawah has slightly different words and melody than what I find elsewhere online.  Most of what's available is a version for bagpipes, and the other traditional versions I have found mention nothing about singing it as a round.

So I created sheet music for Ajawah's version. We sing the song three times through, with each group starting the song two beats after the prior group.  You can sing it with any number of groups.  While the audio on my last post may not be clear enough, perhaps you can hear how it starts with "wha saw... wha saw... wha saw" as each group joins in.  And as each group finishes, the song ends with "bramble briar... bramble briar... bramble briar."

If you end up singing our version, please let me know in the comments.

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)