Marching. Ants.

[mrissa]

I was singing a song to timprov, and now we are having a discussion. Please help us settle it.

In the song, "The ants go marching one by one," the ants' destination is:

[Poll #739435]

I was going to ask you something else, but the ants drove it right out of my head.

Comments

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

But not the _bad_ kind of dangerous lunatics.

(Unless you're all about the gray-duck, in which case: bad!)

[columbina.livejournal.com]

The Jules Verne question needs a choice for "Not nearly often enough."

[(Anonymous)]

You missed the answer "Both" under Duck, duck. As you probably remember, this was a very important discussion in college, but I had grown up using both and didn't think either was that odd. :)

For the ants bit, I'm curious how the "To the center of the earth" would fit with the melody. We always sang "To get out of the rain".

As far as author's featuring prominently in children's songs, I don't know. I am the worst person for associating a name with an object, story, etc. and so these things don't occur to me. I think I frustrate my adviser a little bit when he says "So have you read through 's papers?" and I give him the answer "I'm not sure. I never remember names." Sad, but true.

Heathah

[songwind.livejournal.com]

I resent not being able to pick "lunatics" in addition to other answers.

[columbina.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear. In our house, we have conversations like this all the time, AND we cannot rule out the possibility that we are dangerous lunatics.

I have never heard this ant song. I picked "to get out of the rain" because that seemed like as good a reason for going underground as any.

Get out of my brain!

[allochthon.livejournal.com]

How odd. This weekend I was thinking about "the ants go marching..." for the first time in *years.* Whazzup? Did I hear it on the radio?

[orbitalmechanic.livejournal.com]

I believe technically that's "to get out of the rain boom boom boom." You can't just cut off the line like that.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Use eighth notes instead of a quarter note for "center" vs. "out." There ya go.

Re: Get out of my brain!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I certainly didn't; you might have.

[scottjames.livejournal.com]

But isn't that too many syllables?

I voted for "something else": "And they all go marching down, to the ground, ba-da-ba, boom boom boom"

I don't recall the exact "ba-da-ba".

[elsue.livejournal.com]

We had two versions: and they all go marching...

...down to the ground to get out of the rain boom boom boom

or

...down to the center of the earth to get out of the rain

(with no booms so that it would come out right). Approximately half the class would do one and half the other.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

May I just say that I totally admire the word "goosoisie"? Thank you.

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

That's funny...the lyrics we sang were completely different.

...down, around, the town, boom boom boom.

Which RHYMES, may I point out. I don't know how anyone managed to put "rain" in that last line, it totally stands out. But when I look around on the internet, the "out of the rain" lyric seems to be gospel, so what can I say.

[zwol.livejournal.com]

I wanted to mark "not as often as he should" in response to the Jules Verne question.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Offhand, I can't think of any children's songs that reference Jules Verne (OR HG Wells OR Orson Welles). The closest data point seems to be in There Is A Ta-Verne In The Town.

[ksumnersmith.livejournal.com]

Those are the lyrics I sang, too! (And here I thought I was the only one.) I can't imagine how either "to get out of the rain" OR "to the centre of the earth" would fit with the song as I know it.

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

Actually, now that i think of it, I think we sing it "for protection from the rain"

Also, I resent the idea that I can't both have discussions like this and be a dangerous lunatic.

Vote No! for Radio Buttons.
Vote Yes! Maybe! Whee! and Clicky! for Clicky boxes!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Well, if you want them named, you're going to have more trouble, but the Black Death isn't named, either.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but they all fall down. I don't recall any children's songs where they're a French fantast.

[ivyblossom.livejournal.com]

*bonds*

I had an argument with a friend of mine over that very thing this afternoon! I really can't see how the centre of the earth one could possibly fit in the song. People have no sense of poetry, obviously. Unlike us.

[dreadmouse.livejournal.com]

In my house the song goes "the ants go marching down around the town (boom boom boom). I've never heard any other version. Vive la difference!

[anne-mommy.livejournal.com]

All right, you crazy Minnesotans, it's DUCK DUCK GOOSE!

Duck, duck, grey-duck is just, well it's loony, that's what!
=P

[pameladean]

Loons are black and white.

P.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

You neglected to ask the important and age-old question: Does the monkey chase the weasel all around the cobbler's bench, or all around the mulberry bush?

K.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

..."DOWN into the GROUND to get OUT of the rain CRASH! BOOM! BANG!"

K.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I am agnostic on this one, actually, but now I know how to distract Gusties if the traditional Gustie duck/goose debate gets too acrimonious.

[sam-t.livejournal.com]

Hello! I found your journal through ... er ... about five or six mutual friends at once, I think. Mind if I join in?

I don't know whether I'm singing a different song (which is now stuck in my head, thanks), but I think it should be "and they all went marching down to the ark, to get out of the rain", although why the ark would be 'down' unless Noah built a very deep dry dock, I don't know. The music goes on for a couple of beats without the words, to make up the line length. Or have I missed a point somewhere?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Of course, join right in!

Maybe the ark was, unwisely, at the bottom of a hill? So that it would float before the hilltops were totally covered? I'm stumped about the ark here.

Duck, duck...

[mamapduck.livejournal.com]

Rum!

Also, I'd like to file a complaint about "Not nearly often enough" not being an answer for the Jules Verne question.

The monkey and us

[eileenlufkin.livejournal.com]

The monkey chases the weasel all around the cobbler's bench. The cobbler is the one singing about price of the spool of thread and needle in the second verse. We go around the mulberry bush so early in the morning; probably to loosen up before we do the appropriate chore for the day of the week.