Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush

 "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush" (also titled "Mulberry Bush" or "This Is the Way") is an English nursery rhyme and singing game. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7882. It uses the tune which Nancy Dawson danced into fame in The Beggar's Opera in mid-1700s London. The same tune is also used for "Lazy Mary, Will You Get Up" and "Nuts in May". A variant is used for "The Wheels on the Bus". 

The rhyme was first recorded by James Orchard Halliwell as an English children's game in the mid-nineteenth century. He noted that there was a similar game with the lyrics "Here we go round the bramble bush". The bramble bush may be an earlier version, possibly changed because of the difficulty of the alliteration, since mulberries do not grow on bushes.

Halliwell said subsequent verses included: "This is the way we wash our clothes", "This is the way we dry our clothes", "This is the way we mend our shoes", "This is the way the gentlemen walk" and "This is the way the ladies walk".

The song and the associated game are traditional, and have parallels in Scandinavia and in the Netherlands (the bush is a juniper in Scandinavia).

Local historian R. S. Duncan suggests that the song originated with female prisoners at HMP Wakefield. A sprig was taken from Hatfeild Hall (Normanton Golf Club) in Stanley, Wakefield, and grew into a fully mature mulberry tree around which prisoners exercised in the moonlight. The mulberry tree died during 2017 and was cut down and removed on 19 May 2019. Cuttings were taken during the 1980s and have grown into mature trees. Further cuttings taken from these trees will be replanted at HMP Wakefield to replace the mulberry tree.

The Christmas carol, "As I Sat on a Sunny Bank", collected by Cecil Sharp in Worcestershire, has a very similar melody; as does the related "I Saw Three Ships." 

Another possible interpretation of the rhyme is that it references Britain's struggles to produce silk, mulberry trees being a key habitat for the cultivation of silkworms. As Bill Bryson explains, Britain in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries tried to emulate the success of the Chinese in silk production but the industry was held back by periodic harsh winters and mulberry trees proved too sensitive to frost to thrive. The traditional lyrics "Here we go round the mulberry bush / On a cold and frosty morning" may therefore be a joke about the problems faced by the industry.

To download the easy alphanotes sheet music, look here. Enjoy!

Lyrics:

Here we go round the mulberry bush, The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush. Here we go round the mulberry bush On a cold and frosty morning.

Illustrations from the A Book of Nursery Rhymes from 1901

This is the way we wash our face, Wash our face, wash our face. This is the way we wash our face On a cold and frosty morning.

This is the way we comb our hair, Comb our hair, comb our hair. This is the way we comb our hair On a cold and frosty morning.

This is the way we brush our teeth, Brush our teeth, brush our teeth. This is the way we brush our teeth On a cold and frosty morning.

This is the way we put on our clothes, Put on our clothes, put on our clothes. This is the way we put on our clothes On a cold and frosty morning.

Here we go round the mulberry bush, The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush. Here we go round the mulberry bush On a cold and frosty morning.

The Muffin Man

 "The Muffin Man" is a traditional nursery rhyme, children's song, or children's game of English origin. 

The rhyme was first recorded in a British manuscript circa 1820, that is preserved in the Bodleian Library with lyrics very similar to those used today:

Do you know the muffin man?
The muffin man, the muffin man.
Do you know the muffin man
Who lives in Drury Lane?

Victorian households had many of their fresh foods delivered, such as muffins, which were delivered door-to-door by a vendor known as a muffin man. The "muffin" in question was the bread item also known as an English muffin, not the typically sweeter U.S. variety of muffin. Drury Lane is a thoroughfare bordering Covent Garden in London.

The rhyme and game appear to have spread to other countries in the mid-nineteenth century, particularly the US and the Netherlands. As with many traditional songs, there are regional variations in wording; for example, another popular English version substitutes "Dorset Lane" for Drury Lane, while in the Dutch version (entitled Zeg ken jij de mosselman), mussels are substituted for muffins, and Scheveningen, the fishermans harbour near the Hague, for Drury Lane.

In Volume 5 of his contemporary account of the London Prize Ring, Boxiana, published in 1829, Pierce Egan writes of an attempted fix (or "cross") of a match scheduled for 18 October 1825, between Reuben Marten and Jonathan Bissel ("Young Gas"). Young Gas refused to take the bribe and one week later identified the person who offered him £200 to throw the fight as a "Mr. Smith, a muffin-baker in Gray's Inn Lane". Young Gas also identified the "gentlemen" who employed the muffin-baker to act as go between, but those gentlemen denied involvement claiming they did not have "the slightest knowledge of the muffin-man".

Urban legend claims that a local baker named Frederick Thomas Lynwood who lived on Drury Lane in London lured children into a dark alley by tying baked goods such as English muffins onto a string in order to murder them. There are no historical records of Lynwood. 

"The Muffin Man" is referenced several times in the Shrek series. First mentioned in Shrek (2001), a variant of the lyrics are used in a scene where the villain Lord Farquaad tortures and interrogates Gingy the Gingerbread Man. This scene was recreated in Shrek the Musical (2008–2018) and the fan film Shrek Retold (2018), and was shared on social media in 2022 to mock Amber Heard and her lawyers for a fifteen-minute discussion about muffins during the court case Depp v. Heard.

The Muffin Man appears as a character in the 2004 sequel Shrek 2 and the 2010 Halloween television special Scared Shrekless. He is revealed to be Gingy's "father", being the creator of Gingy; Mungo in Shrek 2; and Sugar in "The Bride of Gingy", the latter of which is a short spoofing Bride of Frankenstein (1935) with the Muffin Man analogous to Dr. Frankenstein.

To download the easy alphanotes sheet music, look here. Enjoy!

Lyrics:

Ohhhhhhhh…
Do you know the muffin man,
the muffin man, the muffin man?
Do you know the muffin man,
who lives on Drury Lane?

Yes, I know the muffin man,
the muffin man, the muffin man.
Yes, I know the muffin man,
who lives on Drury Lane.

The ice cream man is coming!

Ohhhhhhhhh…
Do you know the ice cream man,
the ice cream man, the ice cream man?
Do you know the ice cream man,
who lives on Drury Lane?

Yes, I know the ice cream man,
the ice cream man, the ice cream man.
Yes, I know the ice cream man,
who lives on Drury Lane.

Ohhhhhhhhhh…

Do you know the fruit stand man,
the fruit stand man, the fruit stand man?
Do you know the fruit stand man,
who lives on Drury Lane?

Yes, I know the fruit stand man,
the fruit stand man, the fruit stand man.
Yes, I know the fruit stand man,
who lives on Drury Lane.

Ohhhhhhhhhh….
Do you know the muffin man,
the muffin man, the muffin man?
Do you know the muffin man,
who lives on Drury Lane?

Yes, I know the muffin man,
the muffin man, the muffin man.
Yes, I know the muffin man,
who lives on Drury Lane.

Marine's Hymn

 The "Marines' Hymn" is the official hymn of the United States Marine Corps, introduced by the first director of the USMC Band, Francesco Maria Scala. Its music originates from an 1867 work by Jacques Offenbach with the lyrics added by an anonymous author at an unknown time in the following years. Authorized by the Commandant of the Marine Corps in 1929, it is the oldest official song in the United States Armed Forces. The "Marines' Hymn" is typically sung at the position of attention as a gesture of respect, akin to a national anthem. However, the third verse is also used as a toast during formal events, such as the birthday ball and other ceremonies. 

Some lyrics were popular phrases before the song was written. The line "To the shores of Tripoli" refers to the First Barbary War, and specifically the Battle of Derna in 1805. After Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon and his Marines hoisted the American flag over the Old World for the first time, the phrase was added to the flag of the United States Marine Corps. "The Halls of Montezuma" refers to the Battle of Chapultepec on 12/13 September 1847 during the Mexican–American War, where a force of Marines stormed Chapultepec Castle. Strictly, the usage "Halls of Montezuma" is poetic license, as the building which the Marines stormed had been erected by the Spanish rulers of Mexico, more than two centuries after the Aztec Emperor Montezuma was overthrown. At the time of the assault, the fort was actually the newly founded Mexican Military Academy. Prior to Mexican independence one of the Spanish viceroys had built a personal residence on the hill (1786). However, in Aztec times Chapultepec Hill and its hot springs were a royal spa.

Marine Corps tradition maintains that the red stripe worn on the dress-blues trousers of officers and noncommissioned officers, and commonly known as the blood stripe commemorates the high number of Marine NCOs and officers killed storming the castle of Chapultepec in September 1847. As noted,

While the lyrics are said to date from the 19th century, no pre-20th century text is known. The author of the lyrics is likewise unknown. Legend has it that a Marine on duty in Mexico penned the hymn. The unknown author transposed the phrases in the motto on the Colors so that the first two lines of the Hymn would read: "From the Halls of Montezuma, to the Shores of Tripoli", favoring euphony over chronology.

The Marine Corps Hymn being performed at the TCF Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, 2011.

The music is from the "Gendarmes' Duet" (or the "bold gendarmes") from the revision in 1867 of the Jacques Offenbach opera Geneviève de Brabant, which debuted in Paris in 1859. Correspondence between Colonel Albert S. McLemore and Walter F. Smith (the second leader of the United States Marine Band) traces the tune:

Major Richard Wallach, USMC, says that in 1878, when he was in Paris, France, the aria to which the Marines' Hymn is now sung was a very popular one.

The name of the opera and a part of the chorus was secured from Wallach and forwarded to Smith, who replied:

Major Wallach is to be congratulated upon a wonderfully accurate musical memory, for the aria of the Marine Hymn is certainly to be found in the opera Genevieve de Brabant... The melody is not in the exact form of the Marine Hymn, but is undoubtedly the aria from which it was taken. I am informed, however, by one of the members of the band, who has a Spanish wife, that the aria was one familiar to her childhood and it may, therefore, be a Spanish folk song.

John Philip Sousa once wrote:

The melody of the 'Halls of Montezuma' is taken from Offenbach's comic opera, 'Genevieve de Brabant' and is sung by two gendarmes.

The lyrics are also contained in the book Rhymes of the Rookies published in 1917. The author of these poems was W. E. Christian. The book is available online in several formats. It consists of a series of poems regarding military life prior to World War I.

Some websites, including the official USMC website, claim that the U.S. Marine Corps secured a copyright on the song either 19 August 1891 or 18 August 1919. U.S. Copyright Law prohibits copyrighting "any work of the United States Government", including subordinate agencies such as the Marine Corps, but allows them to hold "copyrights transferred to it by assignment, bequest, or otherwise". The Library of Congress asserts that the song was originally copyrighted in 1919 by The Leatherneck, which was started by off-duty US Marines in 1917 using a donation from the YMCA, and therefore might not be considered a "work of the United States Government". (It does not state whether Leatherneck's copyright was ever transferred to the Marine Corps.) In addition, several composers do hold copyrights on different arrangements of the song. These copyrights cover only the specific arrangements and not the song as a whole. In 1929 the commandant of the Marine Corps authorized the three verses of the Marines' Hymn as the official version, but changed the fifth through eighth lines: 

This older version can be heard in the 1951 film Halls of Montezuma. On 21 November 1942, Commandant Thomas Holcomb approved a change in the words of the first verse's fourth line from "On the land as on the sea" to "In the air, on land, and sea" to reflect the addition of aviation to the Corps' arsenal.

Western Illinois University uses the hymn prior to all football games. They are the only nonmilitary academy allowed to use the hymn. The university has had permission to use the official nickname, mascot, and hymn of the Corps since 1927. 

To download the easy alphanotes sheet music, look here. Enjoy!

Lyrics: 

From the Halls of Montezuma
To the shores of Tripoli;
We fight our country's battles
In the air, on land, and sea;
First to fight for right and freedom
And to keep our honor clean;
We are proud to claim the title
Of United States Marine.

Our flag's unfurled to every breeze
From dawn to setting sun;
We have fought in ev'ry clime and place
Where we could take a gun;
In the snow of far-off Northern lands
And in sunny tropic scenes;
You will find us always on the job
The United States Marines.

Here's health to you and to our Corps
Which we are proud to serve;
In many a strife we've fought for life
And never lost our nerve;
If the Army and the Navy
Ever look on Heaven's scenes;
They will find the streets are guarded
By United States Marines. 

Here We Go Looby Loo

Andy Pandy is a British children's television series that aired on BBC Television in 1950. Originally live, a series of 26 filmed programmes was shown until 1970, when a new series of 13 episodes was made. This series was based upon a comic strip of the same name (made in the style of children's magazines Robin and Pippin).

The series was followed by a revival with 26 episodes (52 segments) in 2002. In total, 92 episodes were produced. 

 The original version of Andy Pandy premiered on BBC TV in 1950, on either 11 July or 20 June, as part of the For the Children strand (later Watch with Mother) narrated by Maria Bird who also narrated the black & white 1950s original broadcasts of Flower Pot Men, The Woodentops and Bizzy Lizzie. Initially it was broadcast live, but it was realised that if the programmes were filmed, they could be repeated. 26 fifteen-minute episodes were filmed on 16 mm around 1952 and repeated continuously until 1969. In 1970, 13 new episodes were made in colour with Vera McKechnie as narrator.

A marionette who lived in a picnic basket, Andy was later joined by Teddy, a teddy bear, and Looby Loo, a rag doll, who came to life when Andy and Teddy were not around. Looby Loo sang "Here we go Looby Loo". All three lived in the same picnic basket. Each episode ended with a variation on the song: "Time to go home / Time to go home / Andy is waving goodbye."

It is said that the character's design was based on Paul Atterbury, the then young son of puppeteer Audrey Atterbury. A comic-strip version was published in Robin. 

To download the easy alphanotes sheet music, look here. Enjoy!

Lyrics:

Here we go looby loo. Here we go looby light.

Here we go looby loo all on a Saturday night.

I put my right hand in, I put my right hand out.

I give my hand a shake, shake, shake and turn myself about.

Here we go looby loo. Here we go looby light.

Here we go looby loo all on a Saturday night.

I put my left hand in, I put my left hand out.

I give my hand a shake, shake, shake and turn myself about.

Here we go looby loo. Here we go looby light.

Here we go looby loo all on a Saturday night.

I put my right foot in, I put my right foot out.

I give my foot a shake, shake, shake and turn myself about.

Here we go looby loo. Here we go looby light.

Here we go looby loo all on a Saturday night.

I put my left foot in, I put my left foot out.

I give my foot a shake, shake, shake and turn myself about.

Here we go looby loo. Here we go looby light.

Here we go looby loo all on a Saturday night.

We put our whole self in, We put our whole self out.

We give ourselves a shake, shake, shake and turn myself about.

Here we go looby loo. Here we go looby light.

Here we go looby loo all on a Saturday night.