I'll admit that I've cheated a bit on some of these kid's records. Most of these I never had growing up. (I still think they're pretty neat though.) However, this is one that I did have and I remember it pretty well. I was eager to put this on, but my record had a big crack in it. Fortunately I found another copy recently at Goodwill, so here it is!
This is probably the only kids record that sings about beer and cigarettes: a girl drinks a glass of beer (among other things) in "I Had But Fifty Cents", and the song "Big Rock Candy Mountain" mentions "The buzzin' of the bees and the cigarette trees". I assume that's the original words to the song, but they'd certainly change it now. (I don't indulge in beer or cigarettes, so hearing it didn't hurt me any!) Also, in the song "Cindy" when the guy sings about wishing he was an apple he sounds a little too excited wanting Cindy to take a BITE of him!
The last thing I wanted to mention here is that to my uneducated ears it sounds like Thurl Ravenscroft (of Tony the Tiger fame) is singing on some of these songs as well. See if you agree.
Here it is. Hope you like it!
Here's the track list:
- I Am a Little School Girl
- I Had But Fifty Cents
- Cindy
- The Piper Band
- There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea
- 1000 Legged Worm
- Ebenezer Fry
- Boom Boom Ain't It Great to Be Crazy
- Peanut Sat on a Railroad Track
- John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt
- Seven Sneezes
- Icka Backa Soda Cracker
- I Know an Old Lady
- Funiculi Funicula
- On Top of Spaghetti
- Ooey Gooey
- I Love You
- Be Kind to Your Web-Footed Friends
- Big Rock Candy Mountain
- Clementine
UPDATE: An album with the very same versions of several of these songs (along with many others) is now available in CD and mp3 formats from Amazon.com! You can get the CD here and the mp3 version here.
47 comments:
Nice one.....love this stuff
i see what you mean by the over eagerness of that one guy.
as for thurl.....didnt sound deep enough as he did on the grinch.
thats about all i heard of him.
it may be the same people responsible for this
http://scarstuff.blogspot.com/2006/05/wonderland-singers-and-accompaniment.html
some songs sound just about the same.
Thanx
http://napsmear.blogspot.com/
I have the Christmas Version of this LP.
Dave
Shit, I grew up listening to this on cassette tape. I've listenend to it 10,000 times. Every song is ingrained into my pathetic brain. I still have it, as well as a crappy cdr transfer I made.
I blame listening to this album for what I turned into.
Also, this post may validate my entire existence.
Thanks for posting this! I've been searching for it online for quite a while, and no luck until now. I knew the nostalgia-blog explosion wouldn't fail me!
I have this on vinyl, but I haven't had a working turntable for years. Would've burned a copy myself if I had, but now I don't have to!
Anyway, STTYFB was definitely a staple of my childhood. "Ooey Gooey" still makes me laugh, and it's thanks to this record that I still think of "The Stars and Stripes Forever" as "Be Kind to Your Web-Footed Friends."
Definitely sounds like Thurl Ravenscroft on several songs.
thank you so much for posting this! I had this on vinyl as a kid, and I remember one Thanksgiving when we played it and my aunt and uncle were in tears laughing.
Like many of the other people on here, I had this LP as a kid, and it's still one of my favorites. I hope i can find it again someday. I have a record player here collecting dust. I'll be watching ebay I guess
Thank you so much! I have been looking for this for ages. I just know my boys will love this as much as I did when I was their age. They just don't make stuff like this anymore!
Jan 12 2007. Awesome! Yes nostalgia-blogging is the best. I was amazed just now when I searched amazon for even a CD of this record/LP and none existed. Thanks for the scan of the record cover and the 34mb ZIP which I'll download at home (at work now). Used to listen to the record really often as a kid in 1980. Take care and thanks from Peter in La Jolla San Diego, CA! My gmail sn is just swtpete btw...
What can I say that hasn't been said already? I had this record as a kid in the 70's and played the heck out of it. Now I'm 40 with a five year old son and on a whim, I Googled STTYFB to see if it might be somewhere out there. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought someone else would have enjoyed this record as much as I did, still owned it AND ripped it to mp3! Just seeing the album cover brought back so many good memories for me -- a true "Rosebud" moment. Anyway, I downloaded it, burned it to cd and my son and I played it in the car all weekend. Thank you infinity!
And btw that's definitely "Bud" Ravenscroft on some of those tunes.
There is a place secured in heaven for you, for adding this page! Thank you SO much for sharing this priceless nugget of silliness! I think my husband thought I was losing it a little last night was I was crying (with childhood glee) and laughing while singing Ooey Gooey. What a joy to hear this after so many years! And now I can share with our little boy.
While still laying in bed this a.m. with our son, I heard Dad out making his morning cuppa joe: "Aaaaaaaaaaaaa peanut sat on a railroad track. . ."
Can your day start with anymore fun than that? PC, or no they do NOT make 'em like this anymore. Sharing and tolerence are indeed important things to teach our kids, but so are silliness, mirth and imagination.
Thanks again!
I, too, have rediscovered the album since my parents unearthed it from their basement. Many a day and night my siblings and I listened to this album in the '70s. Just today while listening w/my husband and 19 month old daughter (who, by the way, asks for Seven Sneezes by pointing to the record player and saying "achoo") I thought "On Top Of Spaghetti" could be the voice of Regis Philbin. Does anyone know? Thanks!
Tony,
Thank-you so much! I've been trying to sing 'Icka Back Soda Cracker' to my now 4-year-old son since he was only a few days old, but didn't know most of the words or the actuial tune. Now, thanx to you, I can sing and play it for him. I'm not sure who'll be happier - him or me. The rest of the songs are a major bonus!
BPV
dude ... you rock!
I have been trying to find CDs of my vinyl favorites to play for my daughter and now I don't need to look any further than here. These songs are more for me than her! Especially "I Love You". Short and sweet kid-love.
Any chance you might find my Christmas favorite by Disney: Merry Christmas Carols? It was sung by Larry Groce and the Disney Children's Chorus. I loved "The Christmas Song" by Chip and Dale...
I bought the new CD version and it's not the same.
Anyway- thanks. You are doing a great service for us who grew up on these album classics by keeping them alive.
Thanks for the good work.
Most appreciated!
I had this album when I was a kid and I loved it. I loved it so much that my parents got me a second album done by this group. Its nice to know someone else liked it too.
I know this is a little late to the party, but some of the instrumental tracks are the same as from that Dennis The Menace album from Golden Records. I had both this and the Dennis album as a child and was really struck by the sameness of it.
Thanks to my sister c.a. for sending this link to her 5 sibs and family today! Yaaaaaay!!! This album was passed accross the country years ago to encourage our other sister and share the joyous silliness w/ her 4 young kids. Could this be what made me want to be an elem. music teacher? I'm soooo glad others appreciate the songs my boyfriend rolls his eyes at when I sing. Btw, can't forget 'gambling' lyrics either--"A horse and a flea and three blind mice....."
i love this. I had this album when i was about 5. It was the only lp my sister and i had. We played it so many times that i have the whole album memorized. Thanks for posting this.
I must agree that this vinyl probably made the person I am today. I still have it and have been contimplating giving it away. I have many nostalgic items that are taking up a lot of room. thanks for the post. I didn't know others knew this existed
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for making this available! Like many others here, I was absolutely obsessed with this album and have tried in vain to locate it until now! I've sung portions of these songs to my 4 kids for years and can now listen to them ALL, thanks to you!!
Wow this is great, thanks for allowing the download. I'm 40 right now with twins and I had this LP back int he 70's and loved. Still know every song by heart. I'm happy to now share it with my baby girls. Thanks again!!!!
I'm listening to it on vinyl right now!
Thanks so much!
My wife has been looking for this and was ultimately shocked to still find it.
Dude! You can't imagine the joy you've brought my family. My sister and I played this album DAILY in the 70s. I still have the LP but haven't had a turntable since the 80s.
Thank you for providing us the ability to sing these awesome songs with our kids!! It is true, it's the simple things in life that can make us so happy.
I'm a HUGE nostalgia geek, and I especially love children's music. That's probably the reason that They Might Be Giants is my favorite band, because their music often reminds me of kid songs! It's probably no coincidence that they've done some children's albums now.
When I was in 2nd grade at Brandon Elementary in Columbus, MS, we had a record player and some albums that we could listen to whenever we had recess inside. I have always had pieces of these songs in my head, particularly Icka Backa Soda Cracker. I had googled this song a few years ago and found the lyrics in a folk music database, but could find no recording of it. I also attempted to find the specific recording of Big Rock Candy Mountain that I remembered from those indoor recess days, to no avail. I didn't realize that these two songs were on the same album, along with my other favorites from this wonderful collection! So this morning, I had Icka Backa stuck in my head again, and I googled it. Then I saw something new that I hadn't seen when I looked it up a few years ago: the artist! After some more googling I found this blog entry, and nearly soiled myself when I listed to the album again! This has really made my day!
Just as a sidenote, I remember from watching reruns of the Rocky and Bullwinkle show at 5 AM on Saturday mornings, a really catchy song. This is the show that had title duo as well as Dudley Do-right, Peabody and Sherman, etc. There were occasionally short musical numbers accompanied by animation. I remember a particular song that was animated as a family skating on a frozen lake. All I remember is the end of one of the verses and the chorus. There is absolutely NO reference to this song on the entire internet (according to Google), so here is the first:
...Mama was nice and trim.
She skated a perfect circle,
and fell in for a swim.
(chorus)
Ohhh,
Tra-la-la, Boom-sha-rah,
Under a sky of blue,
Tra-la-lee, Boom-sha-ree,
Skating's such fun to do
...
Then another verse, of course. If I had the time and patience, I could even write the music. I'm one of those perfect pitch people, so I can head the exact key in my head, and I remember that a banjo was prominent in the music.
The entire song was sung by a solo male voice VERY VERY similar to the solo male voice on a few songs on the STTYFB album (i.e. Peanut Sat on a Railroad Track) that many of us think may be Thurl Ravenscroft.
I really hope this rings a bell for someone out there!
John,
The song you're talking about (along with "The Picnic" and "The Fair")were the three "Sing-A-Long Family" cartoons that were part of the Underdog show, not Rocky & Bullwinkle (which may be why you couldn't find them). I couldn't find recordings of them, but you can watch all three of them on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d4sL-JTWNE
John, please let me know if you see this. I would have emailed you directly, but I didn't have your address.
Tony
Way Out Junk
Oh wow!!! I'd never see those cartoons again!
Thanks for correcting me, btw. I got all those Jay Ward toons, mixed up with the Underdog ones. The fact that it was sooo long ago and that "The World of Commander McBragg" shorts aired with both Underdog AND Rocky and Bullwinkle got me all confused.
VERY VERY cool!
Is youtube not the greatest thing EVER? Pinball Number Count, Leo the Lion, now this!!
I've been trying to track down childhood treats for awhile. Not sure if I heard this one, but i'm intrigued now. Thank you.
I am thrilled to find this! I have been singing these songs( as best I could remember) to my daughters for years, and they had a great time finally hearing the original songs! Hooray!
I'm so happy I found this!!! I've also been singing these songs to my kids for years(and to myself). I wore my cassette out! I loved the one about 'two 10s for a 5-i'm thinkin' ebenezer fry. I've not heard them since i was maybe 10 or younger but I can't wait to get this downloaded and play it for the kids!!
I had this album as a kid and played it until it was wore out! Such good memories! I really think you're grand for providing the download! Now I can share it all over again! Much appreciated!
OMG! I've been looking for this album for decades now!
Just reading the titles takes me back to when I was an 8 year old American kid living in Germany.
Thanks for the flashbacks!
I would offer you money for it, but I really don't think you should part with it for any price.
This is so rad. I was just gonna digitize this tonight, but found that my turntable's belt is broken. Thank you for doing the work for me!
Gavin
Today I found out that my friend and her brother grew up listening to this album, as did I and my sister. We loved loved LOVED this album. I vowed to come home and look it up online.
Thank you so much for these memories!
I suppose I could use the term "nostalgia geek" which somebody else used in these comments. I like that. I never owned this particular album when I was a kid in the Seventies, but I did have a record that used a song that appears here. I'm not sure of the exact title, label or performers, but Side One featured cover versions of songs from the Willie Wonka movie, which I remember going to and enjoying. The second side had songs by assorted other groups and players that were about sweets and candy, and the version of Cindy on this record was on that record. I wonder if anyone remembers the Willie Wonka record that I had. I eventually got the actual soundtrack album, which had to be specially ordered by our local drugstore, but apparently they could get it.
Can you rip this at the faster record player speed? When I was young I had a cardboard Micheal Jackson record player that only played one speed so I listened to this album thousands of times but everyone had much higher voices! LOL I would love to experience that again plus it's just silly to hear them! I hope you can do it, would love to hear it again.
Just want to say that I believe the lyrics were "peppermint trees" not "cigarette trees."
No, the modern 'politically correct' version of this song changes the lyrics. The original lyrics are "cigarette trees".
Tony you are my hero!
I have been looking for this album in random thrift stores FOREVER.
I was singing all of the lyrics as I downloaded the album.
Thanks for the trip down Amnesia Lane.
Somehow, everything was so much better when I was five.
Who sang "Clementine" on this album? Anybody know or have any guesses? The voice sounds familiar. I wonder if there are any longer versions of this one...?
Thank you for posting this! Yet another person who listened to this album endlessly as a child (on my Fisher-Price record player). I'm especially glad because I've told my wife about several of these songs, and now I can finally share them with her!
This has made my DAY!
Thank you so so very much!
My brother and I had this record in the early 80's. I've been looking for it for a long time. I sing "There Was an Old Lady" to my baby all the time.
I actually have this very vinyl right now. I am trying to get a recording on CD since I do not have a record player anymore either. One of my favorites and anxious to share it with my daughter. Maybe I shouldn't. HA, HA.
Oh man, I just reviewed this on Amazon. I got this as a 6 year old and just rolled on the floor laughing. When I got to "On top of Spaghetti," I practically passed out, I was laughing so hard. My folks were howling, not that the record, but at ME, as I tried to get air enough to say something. I couldn't-- I was just laughing too hard. Thanks so much for this.
dave
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