Songs for Car Rides, Campouts, and Bedtimes — Group 2: Early Togetherness
I remember learning these folk songs at ages three and four from my dad at our home, and later we also sang them while in the car and at campouts (save Hoppe Hoppe Reiter).
Please enjoy:
She’ll be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain
Found a Peanut
The Roaches and the Bedbugs
Hoppe Hoppe Reiter
She’ll Be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain
Oh, I fondly remember learning this song from Dad, sitting on his lap at the kitchen table in the house shaped like a barn in Frenchtown, New Jersey, and then getting down to act it out. This would have made me three-years-old, so it is among the first songs I learned from him.
Of course, I always wondered why she was wearing red pajamas, and of course, nobody knew. 🙂
She’ll be comin’ ‘round the mountain when she comes
She’ll be comin’ ‘round the mountain when she comes
She’ll be comin’ ‘round the mountain
She’ll be comin’ ‘round the mountain
She’ll be comin’ ‘round the mountain when she comes
She’ll be drivin’ six white horses when she comes
- Whoa back! (Pull back on reins)
She’ll be drivin’ six white horses when she comes
- Whoa back! (Pull back on reins)
She’ll be drivin’ six white horses
She’ll be driving six white horses
She’ll be drivin’ six white horses when she comes
- Whoa back! (Pull back on reins)
Oh, we’ll all go out to meet her when she comes
- Hi Babe! (Wave), Whoa back! (Pull back on reins)
Oh, we’ll all go out to meet her when she comes
- Hi Babe! (Wave), Whoa back! (Pull back on reins)
Oh, we’ll all go out to meet her
Oh, we’ll all go out to meet her
Oh, we’ll all go out to meet her when she comes
- Hi Babe! (Wave), Whoa back! (Pull back on reins)
Oh, we’ll all have chicken ‘n dumplin’s when she comes
- Yum yum! (Rub belly), Hi Babe! (Wave), Whoa back! (Pull back on reins)
Oh, we’ll all have chicken ‘n dumplin’s when she comes
- Yum yum! (Rub belly), Hi Babe! (Wave), Whoa back! (Pull back on reins)
Oh, we’ll all have chicken ‘n dumplin’s
We’ll all have chicken ‘n dumplings
Oh, we’ll all have chicken ‘n dumplin’s when she comes
Oh, we’ll all have chicken ‘n dumplin’s when she comes
- Yum yum! (Rub belly), Hi Babe! (Wave), Whoa back! (Pull back on reins)
She’ll be wearin’ red pajamas when she comes
- Woo hoo! (Raise eyebrows), Yum yum! (Rub belly), Hi Babe! (Wave), Whoa back! (Pull back on reins)
She’ll be wearin’ red pajamas when she comes
- Woo hoo! (Raise eyebrows), Yum yum! (Rub belly), Hi Babe! (Wave), Whoa back! (Pull back on reins)
She’ll be wearin’ red pajamas
She’ll be wearin’ red pajamas
She’ll be wearin’ red pajamas when she comes
- Woo hoo! (Raise eyebrows), Yum yum! (Rub belly), Hi Babe! (Wave), Whoa back! (Pull back on reins)
Found a Peanut
This was another old one Dad taught us when I was a young, young child in Frenchtown, New Jersey. I also remember my uncle singing it with us, along with the tune’s original, “Darlin’ Clementine,” around the same time as well as when I was older. (My mom’s youngest brother stayed with us in Frenchtown for a time and then often visited us over the years.) It’s another one of those long, long songs that families sang together for entertainment and that also served, I assume, to give kids something to occupy themselves with back in the day.
Found a peanut
Found a peanut
Found a peanut last night
Last night I found a peanut
Found a peanut last night
(Repeat the chorus tune with each of these lines.)
Cracked it open…
It was rotten…
Ate it anyway…
Got sick…
Went to the doctor…
Had an operation…
Died anyway…
Went to heaven…
Wouldn’t take me…
Went the other way…
Didn’t want me…
It was a dream…
Woke up…
Found a peanut…
The Roaches and the Bedbugs
Dad taught me this song when I was three years old and we lived in Frenchtown, New Jersey. We were sitting on the bottom bunk of my older brother’s and my bunk beds, and I imagined the said ball game happening on the wall next to me. I questioned Dad about the meaning of various vocabulary words and phrases, so this song also sensitized me to the conditions people might experience if they are in jail.
Six o’clock in the morning
I looked upon my wall
The roaches and the bedbugs
Were havin’ a game of ball
The score was six to nothin’
The roaches were ahead
The bedbugs hit a home run
That knocked me outta bed
Seven o’clock in the morning
The keeper came around
Fed us bread and coffee
That weighed a half a pound
The bread was green and moldy
The coffee old and stale
But that’s how they feed us
In this town’s county jail
Hoppe Hoppe Reiter
The earliest song I remember learning, it was Grandpa (Dad’s dad) who sang Hoppe Hoppe Reiter to me, a song he brought to the New World from Germany. It’s a playful song for young children where the adult crosses their legs so that the little child sits on the adult’s foot that is in the air. The adult holds the child’s hands while moving their foot up and down to simulate riding a horse.
When I was an older child I asked Grandpa what the words mean. The translation he gave was much nicer than what I found recently online, which also includes additional lines about how death comes when you don’t pay attention. I suspect Grandpa gentle-fied this song and his translation on purpose.
Hoppe hoppe Reiter
wenn er fällt, dann schreit er
fällt er in den Graben
fressen ihn die Raben
fällt er in den Sumpf
dann macht der Reiter…
Plumps!
(When saying Plumph, the adult removes their foot so the child lands on the floor. Grandpa always held my hands up and let me down gently. I later played Hoppe Hoppe Reiter with my nieces, nephews, and daughter.)
Grandpa’s translation:
Huppa huppa rider
When you fall (from the horse) you yell
Fall in the garden
Make the robin mad
Fall in the ditch
Then the rider goes
Plop!
