You Are My Sunshine

YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE                 Key E

Chorus:

                   E

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

                      A                                E

You make me happy when skies are gray,

                    A                                  E 

You’ll never know dear how much I love you

                     E          B7            E

Please don’t take my sunshine away.

1.  The other night dear as I lay sleeping

I dreamed I held you in my arms.

When I awoke dear I was mistaken

And I hung my head and cried

Row Row Row Your Boat

And if you don’t play an instrument, a-capella is always good! Let’s do this one of many “rounds.”

ROW, ROW, ROW YOUR BOAT             Key C

C

Row, row, row your boat

C

Gently down the stream

C

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,

G7               C

Life is but a dream.

This song can be sung as a “round”, a group starting line 1, then another group starting line 1 as the first group continues with line 2 – up to four groups simultaneously.  Musicians – when doing this song as a round, do not use the G7 in line 4 – just use C.

The Bear Song - call and response

If you go back hundreds of years, two things were very different: 1-Written materials were more labor intensive to produce, and the literacy rate was much lower than it is now. So “Call and Response” singing was a useful tool in sharing cultural stories. Here’s a fun one, just follow me and repeat everything I do after I do it.

THE BEAR SONG             Key C

                C

The other day (the other day)

           C

I saw a bear  (I saw a bear)

                  G7

A great big bear (a great big bear)

                C

A-way up there (a-way up there)

                C                 F

The other day I saw a bear,

                  G7                   C

A great big bear a-way up there.

2 He looked at me (he looked at me)  I looked at him (I looked at him)

He sized up me (he sized up me)   I sized up him (I sized up him)

He looked at me, I looked at him; He sized up me I sized up him.

3 He said to me      Why don’t you run?

I see you ain’t        got any gun.

He said to me why don’t you run?  I see you ain’t got any gun.

4 And so I ran     away from there.

And right behind       me was that bear

And so I ran away from there, and right behind me was that bear.

5 In front of me     there was a tree

A great big tree,    Oh glory be!

In front of me there was a tree, a great big tree Oh glory be!

6 The nearest branch    was ten feet up.

I had to jump       and trust to luck

The nearest branch was ten feet up; I had to jump and trust to luck.

7 And so I jumped      into the air.

And missed that branch      away up there

And so I jumped into the air, and missed that branch away up there.

8 Now don’t you fret       and don’t you frown

I caught that branch       on the way back down.

Now don’t you fret and don’t you frown; I caught that branch on the way back down.

9 That’s all there is . . . there ain’t no more.

Until I meet       that bear once more.

That’s all there is; there ain’t no more, until I meet that bear once more.

Home on the Range - our western heritage

How about the Kansas State Song – you all know it – may not have seen it in print:

HOME ON THE RANGE               Key E

      E                                        A

Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam

             E                                 B7

And the deer and the antelope play

           E                               A

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word

             E                  B7             E

And the skies are not cloudy all day.

E        B7                 E

Home, home on the range

                 E                                 B7

Where the deer and the antelope play

           E                               A

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word

             E                   B7            E

And the skies are not cloudy all day.

Down by the Riverside - a negro spiritual resurrected in the 60's

Not only is folk music the story of the settling of our nation, but every culture has a story that they tell through the music that they pass down through the generations. Many of the songs that we think of as “patriotic” songs would fit into the genre of “folk music.” The stories of the settling of the US, the heroes, the battles, the trials and tribulations of the people – blues, jazz, bluegrass – music coming to our ears from the bottom up – from the masses of the people – not top down from composers and music companies and being promoted for sale for profit.

In 1960’s America, we had a groundswell of folk music that resurrected songs about two struggles going on at that time – civil rights and war.

Here’s a negro spiritual that was sung around many campfires and at many rallies in the ‘60’s:

DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE           Key E

     E

I’m gonna lay down my sword and shield

E                                   B7                                  E

Down by the riverside.  Down by the riverside   Down by the riverside

                E

I’m gonna lay down my sword and shield

E

Down by the riverside

B7                       E

Down by the riverside

CHORUS1

                    A

I ain’t gonna study war no more

                    E

I ain’t gonna study war no more

                    B7                 E

I ain’t gonna study war no more

                    A

I ain’t gonna study war no more

                    E

I ain’t gonna study war no more

                    B7                 E

I ain’t gonna study war no more

2. I’m gonna walk with the Prince of Peace

Down by the riverside, etc.

3. I’m gonna shake hands around the world,

Down by the riverside, etc.

Old MacDonald Had A Farm - fun music passed along to our kids

It was interesting to me that Pete Seeger, who was a leading folk singer whose rallies protested civil rights and the Vietnam War, was out last week in his 90’s giving support to the Occupy Wall Street movement.

If the young men and women sitting in the parks has been taught to play guitars when they were younger, we’d probably be hearing protest songs again, if they knew what they were protesting or had a suggestion how to fix what they think is wrong. But music for them has become a "spectator sport" where you listen to or manipulate what someone else has produced, rather than a "participant sport" where you make music yourself with skills you've honed. The music they’ve grown up listening to has very loud electric guitars, and the lyrics are un-intelligible. So they don’t come from a tradition of singing songs in which the words tell a story, where rhyme and repetition are important, and an emotional climax or “hook” or message is delivered.

Folk songs can be very serious. But I’m not going to get into war protest songs and the like. Let’s keep it fun. Here’s one for fun:

OLD MACDONALD HAD A FARM             Key G

G                      C       G           G        D7       G

Old Macdonald had a farm,     E – I – E – I – O.

        G                      C              G            G        D7       G

And on this farm he had some chicks.    E – I – E – I – O.

            G

With a chick chick here and a chick chick there.

G

Here a chick, there a chick, everywhere a chick chick.

G                      C       G           G        D7       G

Old Macdonald had a farm,     E – I – E – I – O.

And on this farm he had a ____________________

She'll be Comin' Around the Mountain - with choreography

SHE’LL BE COMIN’ AROUND THE MOUNTAIN               Key G

                 G

1 She’ll be comin’ ‘round the mountain when she comes (toot toot)

               G                                                          D7

She’ll be comin’ ‘round the mountain when she comes (toot toot)

              G                                                         C

She’ll be comin’ ‘round the mountain, she’ll be comin’ ‘round the mountain

               D7                                                       G

She’ll be comin’ ‘round the mountain when she comes (toot toot)

2 She’ll be ridin’ six white horses when she comes (whoa back)  (X5)

3 We will all go out to meet her when she comes (hi babe) (X5)

4 We will kill the old red rooster when she comes (hack hack)    (X5)

5 Oh, we’ll all have chicken and dumplin’s when she comes (yum yum)    (X5)

6 We will get to sleep with gramma when she comes (snore)     (X5)

7 We’ll be wearing red pajamas when she comes (scratch scratch)   (X5)

8 She’ll be comin’ ‘round the mountain when she comes (toot toot)

She’ll be comin’ ‘round the mountain when she comes (toot toot)

She’ll be comin’ ‘round the mountain, she’ll be comin’ ‘round the mountain

She’ll be comin’ ‘round the mountain when she comes (toot toot scratch scratch snore yum yum hack hack hi babe whoa back toot toot)