Do YOU remember Sweet Betsy from Pike?

A recent addition to my annual physical includes a quick memory test. I am given three words (captain, chair, picture), then later in the visit am asked to repeat them. I guess I do OK since I’ve not yet been committed to an assisted care facility. 

Memory is a funny thing. Some older relatives seem to have a better time remembering small incidents from their own childhoods than the names of the people in the same room. My sister can always remember much more from our childhoods than I ever can. I always have a tough time remembering the names of actors or authors, but given enough time, I can usually come up with them. “It’s all still there,” I say, “it just takes longer to float to the surface.”

Last week as I was hiking, I thought of the old song “Sweet Betsy from Pike” that I sang (in Boy Scouts?) as a kid. This is what I remembered of it:

Do you remember Sweet Betsy from Pike
Crossed the tall mountains with her lover, Ike.
With two yoke of oxen and an old yellow dog,
One Shanghai rooster and a big spotted hog.

I googled the song when I got home and found literally dozens of verses and alternate wordings. That’s the nature of old ballads, I guess.

Just for fun, I decided to run a little memory test and see how many songs and lyrics I could remember from my misspent youth. I did not check them for accuracy. Here they are as I remember them.

There are stanzas for ants one through ten:

The ants go marching two by two, hurrah, hurrah.
The ants go marching two by two, hurrah, hurrah.
The ants go marching two by two,
But the little on stopped to tie his shoe.
They go down, in the ground, to get out of the rain.

Individuals sang this one in Sunday school whenever we wore new shoes.

I’ve got new shoes, new shoes, new shoes.
I’ve got new shoes,.all day long.

Sing the second part to Stars and Stripes Forever.

Twas midnight on the ocean,not a trolly car in sight.
The sun was shining brightly in the middle of the night.
A barefoot boy with shoes on was sitting in a tree
And when he put his glasses on, he heard this melody:

Be kind to your web-footed friends
For a duck may be somebody’s mother.
Although they live in a swamp (or swamp)
Where it’s very cold and damp (or damp).
So you may think that this is the end - well it is.

This one we sang at Boy Scout camp, standing on a dining room table top and slowly revolving if our birthday happened to fall on a camp day. I could only remember the first two lines.

I’m a little prairie flower
Growing wilder by the hour

One of my favorites that I still sing to kids. I get stern looks from their parents.

Did you ever think as a hearse goes by
That you might be the next to die?
They wrap you up in a dirty sheet
And throw you under six feet deep.
The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out
The worms play pinochle on your snout.
Your body turns a ghastly green
And pus pours out like whipping cream.
And me without a spoon!

Another hiking song.

The bear went over the mountain.
The bear went over the mountain.
The bear went over the mountain.
To see what he could see. 
The other side of the mountain.
The other side of the mountain.
The other side of the mountain.
Was all that he could see.

Sang this one in church to piss off the Sunday school teacher:

We three kings of Orient - tar
Tried to smoke a rubber cigar.
It was loaded and it exploded.
We two kings of Orient-ar.

Sang this to my sister when her nose was out of joint.

Nobody likes me
Everybody hates me
Guess I’ll go eat worms. 
Big fat juicy worms. 
Gee, the worms like me. 

I taught this one to my elementary school classes and we would sing it when the classroom teacher was late picking them up from the library. The one verse was repeated, but after a few “a little bit louder, and a little bit worse,” the kids were pretty much bouncing off the walls.

Oh, the cow kicked Nelly in the belly in the barn.
Oh, the cow kicked Nelly in the belly in the barn.
Oh, the cow kicked Nelly in the belly in the barn.
But the farmer said didn’t do her no harm.
(Second verse, same as the first. Just a little bit louder and a little bit worse.)

I think I may have had a 45 record of this one.

Down by the river in an itty bitty pool
Lived three little fishies and a momma fishy too.
“Swim,”said the momma fishy, “swim if you can.”
So they swam and they swam right up to the dam.
Boop, boop, diddum, waddum, do.
Boop, boop, diddum, waddum, do.
And they swam and they swam right up to the dam.
“Stop” said the momma fishy, “or you will get lost.”
But the three little fishies didn’t wanna be bossed.
So they swam and they swam right over the dam.

One of my sister’s favorites and I think a version of it was in the movie Oh Brother, Where Art Thou.

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.
You make me happy when skies are gray.
You’ll never know, dear, how much I love you.
Please don’t take my sunshine away.

Another one we sang in the First Baptist Church:

Jesus loves the little children.
All little children of the world
Red and yellow, black and white,
They are precious in his sight.
Jesus loves the little children of the world.

This one, just one verse of many, may have also been a record we played:

Little green frog, swimming in the water.
Little green frog, just doing what he ought’r.
Took a bite of a lily pad, clapped his hands
And he said, “I’m glad”
I’m a little green frog swimming in the water.”

These last three are all pretty common, each accompanied by gestures or a bit of dance...

Oh the wheels on the bus 
Go round and round, round and round.
The wheels on the bus go round and round,
All through the day.

The itsy bitsy spider went up the waterspout.
Out came the rain and washed the spider out.
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain.
And the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again.

Where is Thumbkin? Where is Thumbkin?
Here I am, here I am.
How are you today, sir?
Very fine, I thank you.
Run away, run away.

I’m a little teapot, short and stout.
This is my handle, this is my spout.
When I get all steamed up, hear me shout,
“Tip me over and pour me out!”

So that’s my memory test for today. What songs do you remember singing as a kid? Add’m to the comments section.

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