While strolling one night, thru New York City's gay throng
I met a poor boy who was singing a song
Although he was singing he wanted for bread
And though he was smiling, he wished himself dead
Cold blew the blast and down came the snow
He had no place to shelter him, nowhere to go
No Mother to guide him, in the grave she lay low
Cast on the cold street was poor little Joe
A carriage passed by with a lady inside
I looked on poor Joe's face and saw that he cried
He followed the carriage, she not even smiled
But fondly caressed her own darling child
I looked on this waif and I thought it was odd
Is this poor, ragged urchin forgotten by God
Then I saw by the lamplight that shone on the snow
The pale deadly features of, poor little Joe.
Or the song "Two little boys:"
Two little boys had two little toys
Each had a wooden horse
Gaily they played each summer's day
Warriors both of course
One little chap then had a mishap
Broke off his horse's head
Wept for his toy then cried with joy
As his young playmate said
Did you think I would leave you crying
When there's room on my horse for two
Climb up here Jack and don't be crying
I can go just as fast with two
When we grow up we'll both be soldiers
And our horses will not be toys
And I wonder if we'll remember
When we were two little boys
Long years had passed, war came so fast
Bravely they marched away
Cannon roared loud, and in the mad crowd
Wounded and dying lay
Up goes a shout, a horse dashes out
Out from the ranks so blue
Gallops away to where Joe lay
Then came a voice he knew
Did you think I would leave you dying
When there's room on my horse for two
Climb up here Joe, we'll soon be flying
I can go just as fast with two
Did you say Joe I'm all a-tremble
Perhaps it's the battle's noise
But I think it's that I remember
When we were two little boys
There's room on my horse for two
Climb up here Joe, we'll soon by flying
Back to the ranks so blue
Can you feel Joe I'm all a tremble
Perhaps it's the battle's noise
But I think it's that I remember
When we were two little boys
And they both have these lilting, woeful melodies. It's like, (insert goblin-like voice here) "nighty-night, children, sweet dreams!!!" *cruel chuckle*
And the thing I don't get is that our kids BEG for these songs every night. Just like James begged his Mom when he was a kid. Why??? Do they enjoy feeling their hearts swell with grief? Maybe.
But the point is, something good did come out of all this, and it was a little moment of laughter for me, when Josh came up to me on his stick pony a few days ago, and was quite for just a moment as he looked pensively at his pony. And then,
"Mom?"
"Yeah buddy?"
"When I gwow up, wiw my hoassie stiww be a toy?" (when I grow up, will my horsie still be a toy?)
(Refer to this part of the song:
When we grow up we'll both be soldiers
And our horses will not be toys
And I wonder if we'll remember
When we were two little boys)
Priceless.
5 comments:
Yeah, I don't get it. I asked Zach to stop singing this song ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLY0HNds_tE ) to Quinn. It's down right scary. I think he stopped singing it. He also enjoys singing the Johnny Cash song "Long Black Veil" which is about a guy on trial for murder, but can't tell his alabi because he was having an affair with his best friend's wife at the time of the murder. Husbands are weird.
Ah, Blaine's family (his grandma) sings the second I haven't heard of the first. Though it does remind me of how Blaine's grandma (same one!) commented that Ivy was such a sweet little waif one time. And then I looked up what waif meant and had a nice little laugh.
It's also the same Grandma that called me the "cutest little hooker" she had ever seen. That's right!
And why, oh why, did David and I beg mother to read Blue Beard over and over? (Sharon could not stand it.)
Carolyn H.
Ang! I want to learn these songs, and I have one to add:
O don't you remember
A long time ago
Two poor little babes,
Their names I don't know,
They strayed far away,
On a bright summer's day.
These two little babes
Got lost on their way.
Refrain
Poor babes in the wood!
Poor babes in the wood!
Oh! Don't you remember
Those babes in the wood?
Among the trees high,
Beneath the blue sky,
They plucked the bright flowers
And watched the birds fly;
Then on blackberries fed,
And strawberries red,
And when they were weary
'We'll go home,' they said.
Refrain
And when it was night,
So sad was their plight,
The sun it went down,
And the moon gave no light!
They sobbed and they sighed
And they bitterly cried
And long before morning,
They lay down and died.
Refrain
And when they were dead,
The robins so red,
Brought strawberry leaves
And over them spread
And all the day long,
On the branches did throng,
They mournfully whistled,
And this was their song:
Refrain
I remember listening to a Michael Ballam tape once in which he recounted a time when, as a three-year-old, he was sleeping over at his grandma's and got scared. To comfort him she sang this song. It worked! Years later with his insight into music and life in general, he shared two reasons why children love these kinds of songs. I can't remember both, but one was that it takes scary themes like death and sings about them in an accepting way that makes them seem okay and not so scary. Those fears of the unkown that are so scary as children can just dissolve when they are laid out in such a beautiful, plain way. So I really want to learn those songs.
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