The stories La tells....

"English is Cuh-ray-zee!" is a great song to sing or chant with kids.
It's fun and it gets them thinking about language.

"English is Cuh-ray-zee!" is a cross between a song, a poem and a rap (Pete said it not I).
The words to this song/rap/poem were written by Josh White, Jr. and Pete Seeger in 1996.
It is based on Richard Lederer's book Crazy English, a fascinating book that I got to flip through because a friend had a copy.

According to Amazon.com:

If you have ever been completely wowed by the power you can have over language, or its power over you, Richard Lederer is your patron saint. His oft-reprinted introduction to Crazy English, which was originally published in 1989, claims that English is "the most loopy and wiggy of all tongues." And then he demonstrates: "In what other language do people drive in a parkway and park in a driveway? ... Why do they call them apartments when they're all together?" And so on. Lederer's pace is frenetic. He alights on oxymorons ("pretty ugly," "computer jock"), redundancies, confusing words (are you sure you know the meaning of enormity?), phobias, contronyms, heteronyms, retroactive terms (acoustic guitar, rotary phone), and a host of other linguistic delights.

Crazy English by Richard Lederer


English is Cuh-ray-zee by Pete Seeger
(to hear a sample of this song go to Seeds - The Songs of Pete Seeger )

English is the most widely spoken language in the history of the planet.
One out of every seven human beings can speak or read it.
Half the world's books, 3/4 of the international mail are in English.
It has the largest vocabulary, perhaps two million words,
And a noble body of literature. But face it:
English is cuh-ray-zee!

Just a few examples: There's no egg in eggplant,
no pine or apple in pineapple.
Quicksand works slowly; boxing rings are square.
A writer writes, but do fingers fing?
Hammers don't ham, grocers don't groce.
Haberdashers don't haberdash.
English is cuh-ray-zee!

If the plural of tooth is teeth,
shouldn't the plural of booth be beeth?
It's one goose, two geese.
Why not one moose, two meese?
If it's one index, two indices;
why not one Kleenex,two Kleenices?
English is cuh-ray-zee!

You can comb through the annals of history,
but not just one annal.
You can make amends, but not just one amend.
If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one,
is it an odd or an end?
If the teacher taught, why isn't it true that a preacher praught?
If you wrote a letter, did you also bote your tongue?
And if a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
English is cuh-ray-zee!

Why is it that night falls but never breaks and day breaks but never falls?
In what other language do people drive on the parkway
and park on the driveway?
Ship by truck but send cargo by ship?
Recite at a play but play at a recital?
Have noses that run and feet that smell?
English is cuh-ray-zee!

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same
When a wise man and a wise guy are very different?
To overlook something and to oversee something are very different,
But quite a lot and quite a few are the same.
How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell the next?
English is cuh-ray-zee!

You have to marvel at the lunacy of a language in which
your house can burn down
While it is burning up.
You fill out a form by filling it in.
In which your alarm clock goes off by going on.
If pro is the opposite of con, what is the opposite of progress?

Well, English was invented by people, not computers
And reflects the creativity of the human race.
So that's why when the stars are out, they're visible,
But when the lights are out, they're invisible.
When I wind up my watch I start it, but when I wind up this rap,
I end it. English is cuh-ray-zee!

Seeds - The Songs of Pete Seeger

"The Rattlin' Bog" is a cumulative song (think "The Twelve Days of Christmas") and is an example of the use of song to develop good memory.
Rattlin' Bog is Irish/Celtic in origin.
There are other similar tunes.
I grew up singing "And the Green Grass Grew All Around" which sounds a lot like Rattlin' Bog.
There is also a traditional Welsh song "Y Pren ar y Bryn" (The Tree on the Hill) that is similar to "Rattlin' Bog". It starts with....

What a grand old tree, Oh fine tree.
The tree on the hill, the hill in the valley,
The valley by the sea.
Fine and fair was the hill where the old tree grew.
(second verse)
From the tree came a bough, Oh fine bough ! etc..

Rattlin' Bog is a fun upbeat tune and like any folk song, its lyrics can vary from singer to singer; country to country; etc.

The Rattlin' Bog

Chorus:
Hi-ho the rattlin' bog and the bog down in the valley-o
Hi-ho the rattlin' bog and the bog down in the valley-o!


Verse
And in that bog there was a tree
A rare tree, and a rattlin' tree
And the tree in the bog and the bog down in the valley-o

Chorus
(repeat after every verse)

Verse
And on that tree there was a limb
A rare limb, and a rattlin' limb
And the limb on the tree
And the tree in the bog
And the bog down in the valley-o!

Chorus

(additional verses)
And on that bough there was a branch...
And on that branch there was a twig...
And on that twig there was a nest...
And in that nest there was an egg...
And in that egg there was a bird...
And on that bird there was a wing...
And on that wing there was a flea...
Etc....

When I do this song with the kids, I usually use movements to represent each part of the tree, the bog, the nest, etc. I also have the children "swing their partner" during the chorus. They Love it!

I have attached a youtube player with 9, yes 9, different singers/versions of the song. Notice that this song is not just for kids! In a few of them you will see either the singer or the audience doing various movements. THose too vary from person to person. The last video is of the song "The Green Grass Grew All Around".