RUNNEMEDE REMEMBERED

Growing up in a small town in Southern New Jersey


Thursday, January 17, 2008

Fishes and Fleas

Okay folks, this is really dating me and our cheers and silly songs. When I was in high school, one of the favorite cheers at a Pep rally or at a football game was:

Flee (not flea), Fly, Flow.

Here's the words which I taught my children and have started singing (?) it to my grandchildren:

FLEE! ( Echo after each stanza)Flee!Flee fly flow!
Cumala, cumala, cumala Vista.Oh, no, no, no, not the Vista
Eeny-meeny-desimeeny, Eww-wa-adda-adda-meeny
hex-i-meen-y-zalla-meeny-Eww-wa-adda-ah
Beet billy oten doten bo, bo baditen doten.Shhhhhhhh!

Then tonight I was with my grand-daughter Grace and all of a sudden I remembered another silly song. Three Little Fishes -- and they swam and they swam right over the dam. Boop Boop Diddim Daddum Waddum Choo!Boop Boop Diddim Daddum Waddum Choo!Boop Boop Diddim Daddum Waddum Choo!And they swam and they swam right over the dam!

Silly songs. Some these songs were songs we sang on buses on school trips. The three little fishes was something my dad liked to tease me with. I couldn't stand the song, and he would break out once in a while with the boop-boop, diddim, daddum, waddum choo! Perhaps my own children can't stand the "flee, fly, flow" ditty either, but I still break it out once in a while.

Another annoying song my dad like to sing at us was Doodley Doo -- Do you siblings remember that? I think maybe even my children will remember my father (their grandfather) breaking out in Doodley doo!

Please play for me that sweet melody
Called doodley doo, doodley doo.
I like the rest,
but the oneI like best
Is doodley doo, doodley doo.
It's the simplest thing
there isn't much to it

You don't have to sing you just doodley do it.
I like it so, wherever I go,
It's doodley doodley doo.


And, hey, if you want to get the words for Great Green Gobs of Greasy, Grimy Gopher Guts, just go to: www.9thhuddersfieldscouts.org.uk/Scouting/Scoutcraft/Campfire/DAC's%20Songs.pdf. I'm sure several of you remember singing that at camp or some other function where food was served that you didn't particularly like, right?

Flee fly is also on that website, and there are several versions given. And, folks, this is a UK website. I also found Flee-fly on a German website, and on a Russian website -- imagine, back in the 50s/60s we were international and didn't even know it!

Also, on that site is: Be kind to your webfooted friends. I know some of you "kids" haven't a clue what I'm talking about, but I think some of you 50s/60s high-schoolers remember these wonderful, edifying songs -- songs like no others. Dippy, stupid, silly songs that were fun (and often gross).

Worms: Nobody loves me, everybody hates, me, I think I'll go out and eat worms, etc., etc., Yes, it's on that site, also. Hey, this is a great site.

There was an old woman who swallowed a fly, etc. It's there too. Well, I give up on that site, there are 206 of these ditties. Maybe one of you has time to scroll through them all.



Just wanted you to remember, Fishes and Fleas!

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