Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me

 Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me or Shew! fly, don't bother me is a minstrel show song from the 1860s that has remained popular since that time. It was sung by soldiers during the Spanish–American War of 1898, when flies and the yellow fever mosquito were a serious enemy. Bing Crosby included the song in a medley on his album Join Bing and Sing Along (1959). Today, it is commonly sung by children, and has been recorded on many children's records, including Disney Children's Favorite Songs 3, performed by Larry Groce and the Disneyland Children's Sing-Along Chorus. 

The song became popular on the minstrel stage in 1869, and several claims have been made for its composition. An anonymously written 1895 New York Herald article on the history of minstrel show dancing gave this history:

'Shoo-Fly' is said to have come originally from the Isthmus of Panama, where the black people sang 'Shoo Fly' and 'Don't Bodder Me' antiphonally while at their work. A black person from there, Helen Johnson, took it first to California and taught the song to 'Billy' Birch [a performer with the San Francisco Minstrels troupe]. ‘Dick’ Carroll and others also had versions of it which they performed. Delehanty and Hengler had theirs, too, and used to sing it as an encore with Bryant’s Minstrels, slipping on old dresses over their heads in the interim of the score. It was from hearing them that ‘Dave’ [Reed] and ‘Dan’ [Bryant] fancied the song. ‘Dave’ fixed it up with a dance, and original version thereof. It was rehearsed secretly, and when the time came they ‘sprang it’ on ‘the boys’ of the company one evening in public, with ‘Come and Kiss Me’ as an encore. It was a howling success from the start, and ‘Dan’ Bryant had printed the next day at the Herald office twenty thousand notices, which he gave to the company and others to scatter about the town wherever they went. Horse shoes with a fly on them were put in odd and conspicuous places, even on the telegraph wires, and in no time the public was crazy over the act and 'business was great.' E.M. Hall has a version with a more elaborate and an excellent chorus, ending 'Shoo Fly, &c., "Go 'way, fly, I'll cut your wing.”' 

 Theater historian Eugene Cropsey also credited Dan Bryant with introducing the song to the public in October, 1869. The version sung by Bryant's Minstrels served, in 1869, as the title number in Dan Bryant’s Shoo Fly Songster.

"Shoo Fly" is among the songs ("John Brown's Body" is another) claimed as compositions by T. Brigham Bishop. According to Bishop's account, he wrote "Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me" during the Civil War while assigned to command a company of black soldiers. One of the soldiers, dismissing some remarks of his fellow soldiers, exclaimed "Shoo fly, don't bother me," which inspired Bishop to write the song, including in the lyrics the unit's designation, "Company G". Bishop claimed that the song was "pirated" from him, and that he made little money from it. Bishop published a sheet music version of the song in 1869 (White, Smith & Perry). That version includes the caption, "Original Copy and Only Authorized Edition."

Other sources have credited Billy Reeves (lyrics) and Frank Campbell, or Rollin Howard, with the song. An early publication appeared as "Shew! Fly, Don't Bother Me. Comic Song and Dance or Walk Round. Sung by Cool Burgess and Rollin Howard, melody by Frank Campbell, words by Billy Reeves, arr. by Rollin Howard." 

During a dinner table scene in the 1992 teen comedy Encino Man, Stoney Brown (Pauly Shore) quietly sings "Shoo Fly" while Link (Brendan Fraser) tracks a fly around the room.

It has been used in Tuneland with a flying shoe.

The song was sing as one of the songs in Walter Lantz’ Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon, “Alaska”.

It is featured in the 1935 Betty Boop cartoon Swat the Fly.

It was frequently employed as background music in classic Looney Tunes, as well as modern-day Warner Bros. series such as Animaniacs, Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries, and Pinky, Elmyra and The Brain.

In the 1994 movie "Maverick", starring Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster the song is being played by the brass band on the Lauren Belle riverboat prior to the big card game. (1hr 19mins into the movie).

The song was included in one of the jukebox songs in the edutainment PC game, Jumpstart 2nd Grade.

In the 1998 Disney/Pixar film A Bug's Life, Francis the Ladybug references the song's title.

The Australian children's show Play School recorded a version for the albums There's A Bear In There, sung by Noni Hazlehurst, and In The Car, sung by John Hamblin. 

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

Happy New Year song by ABBA

 "Happy New Year" is a song by Swedish group ABBA from their 1980 album Super Trouper, with lead vocals by Agnetha Fältskog. It originally had a very limited release as a single in December of that year. The song's working title was "Daddy Don't Get Drunk on Christmas Day".

The Spanish-language version of the song, "Felicidad", was released in 1980 in Spanish-speaking territories. The single reportedly charted in the top 5 in Argentina and was included on the South American versions of the Super Trouper album. It was first released on CD as part of the 1994 Polydor US compilation Más ABBA Oro, and in 1999 on the expanded re-release of ABBA Oro: Grandes Éxitos. 

In 1999, the English version of the song was re-released for the new millennium, and charted at number 27 in Sweden, number 15 in the Netherlands and number 75 in Germany. In 2008, it was released again in several countries, and charted at number 4 in Sweden, number 6 in Norway and number 25 in Denmark. It re-entered the Swedish and Norwegian charts in 2009 at number 5 in both charts and number 8 in the Netherlands in 2011. It has since gone on to regularly chart in some countries upon the turn of the new year and is regularly played at the same time such as Vietnam.

In December 2011, a silver glitter vinyl single limited to 500 copies was released, including the songs "Happy New Year" and "The Way Old Friends Do". The edition was available exclusively from the official ABBA site and the ABBA fan site. It was sold out within a day of the release being announced.

Upon the release of ABBA: The 40th Anniversary Singles Box Set on 5 May 2014, an alternate mix of "Andante, Andante" was revealed to have been used on the B-side of the single in the box set instead of the original album version. In 2022, it was the 32nd top best selling vinyl single in the UK behind Open the Floodgates by the Smile. 

The song was covered by the A-Teens, and released as a single in 1999. The single was released to celebrate the arrival of the new millennium: thus, the last line in the song's third verse is altered to "in the end of ninety-nine", as opposed to the original's "in the end of eighty-nine". It reached number 4 on the Swedish charts, becoming the band's fourth consecutive top ten in the country and earning a Gold certification weeks after its release. The single was only released in selected countries, including Chile, after their visit there in February 2000. A music video was made to support the single's release. 

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

Lyrics:

No more champagne
And the fireworks are through
Here we are, me and you
Feeling lost and feeling blue
It's the end of the party
And the morning seems so grey
So unlike yesterday
Now's the time for us to say...

Happy new year
Happy new year
May we all have a vision now and then
Of a world where every neighbour is a friend
Happy new year
Happy new year
May we all have our hopes, our will to try
If we don't we might as well lay down and die
You and I

Sometimes I see
How the brave new world arrives
And I see how it thrives
In the ashes of our lives
Oh yes, man is a fool
And he thinks he'll be okay
Dragging on, feet of clay
Never knowing he's astray
Keeps on going anyway...

Happy new year
Happy new year
May we all have a vision now and then
Of a world where every neighbour is a friend
Happy new year
Happy new year
May we all have our hopes, our will to try
If we don't we might as well lay down and die
You and I

Seems to me now
That the dreams we had before
Are all dead, nothing more
Than confetti on the floor
It's the end of a decade
In another ten years time
Who can say what we'll find
What lies waiting down the line
In the end of eighty-nine...

Happy new year
Happy new year
May we all have a vision now and then
Of a world where every neighbour is a friend
Happy new year
Happy new year
May we all have our hopes, our will to try
If we don't we might as well lay down and die
You and I.

She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain

 She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain" (sometimes referred to as "Coming 'Round the Mountain") is a traditional folk song often categorized as children's music. The song is derived from the Christian spiritual known as "When the Chariot Comes".

The first appearance of "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain" in print was in Carl Sandburg's The American Songbag in 1927. Sandburg reports that the Negro spiritual "When the Chariot Comes", which was sung to the same melody, was adapted by railroad workers in the Midwestern United States during the 1890s. It is often heard today with responses that add on to the previous verse.

The original song was published in Old Plantation Hymns in 1899. It ostensibly refers to the Second Coming of Christ and subsequent Rapture, with the she referring to the chariot that the returning Christ is depicted as driving. Like many spirituals that originated in the African-American community, this was probably a coded anthem for the Underground Railroad. It was also used in labor circles to refer to Mother Jones, who frequently visited far-flung communities with labor issues.

The secularized version that developed among railroad work gangs in the late 19th century has become a standard over the years, appearing in printed collections of children's music while also being performed by both children and adults in sing-alongs, particularly as a campfire song. Since the mid-1920s, "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain" has been recorded by numerous musicians, ranging from Tommy Tucker and Bing Crosby to Pete Seeger and Neil Young. 

• The earliest known recordings of the song were by Henry Whitter on Okeh Records (OKeh 40063) in 1924 and Vernon Dalhart & Co. on Edison Records (Edison 51608) in 1925.
• In the Reader's Digest Children's Songbook, published in 1985, the song is adapted with new words by Dan Fox and his son, Paul. The lyrics tell of the things "she" will do in increasing number up to ten, for example, "She'll be ridin' on a camel", "She'll be tuggin' on two turtles", and "She'll be carvin' three thick thistles".
• Some sports fans at the University of Cambridge use this tune to sing "we would rather be at Oxford than St John's".
• The English sing a song in Soccer called Ten German Bombers whenever England plays Germany. In reference to World War II. By saying "There were ten German Bombers in the air" or "And the RAF From England shot them down" depending on the line.
• The well-known Scottish children's song "Ye cannae shove yer granny aff a bus" is a version of this song. 

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

Lyrics:

She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes (yee-haw)

She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes (yee-haw)

She'll be coming 'round the mountain

She'll be coming 'round the mountain

She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes (yee-haw)

 

She'll be ridin' six white horses when she comes (whoa back)

She'll be ridin' six white horses when she comes (whoa back)

She'll be ridin' six white horses

She'll be ridin' six white horses

She'll be ridin' six white horses when she comes

(Whoa back)

(Yee-haw)

 

And we'll all go out to greet her when she comes (yo, what's up?)

Yeah, we'll all go out to greet her when she comes (yo, what's up?)

Oh, we'll all go out to greet her

Yeah, we'll all go out to greet her

We'll all go out to greet her when she comes

(Yo, what's up?)

(Whoa back)

(Yee-haw)

 

Then we'll all eat purple pizza when she comes (ew, yucky)

We'll all eat purple pizza when she comes (ew, yucky)

Then we'll all eat purple pizza

Oh, we'll all eat purple pizza

We'll all eat purple pizza when she comes

(Ew, yucky)

(Yo, what's up?)

(Whoa back)

(Yee-haw)

 

And we'll all read books together when she comes

(Once upon a time in a far off land)

Oh, we'll all read books together when she comes

(Once upon a time in a far off land)

Yes, we'll all read books together

Oh, we'll all read books together

We'll all read books together when she comes

(Once upon a time in a far off land)

(Ew, yucky)

(Yo, what's up?)

(Whoa back)

(Yee-haw)

 

And she'll get to sleep with grandma when she comes (move over)

Oh, she'll get to sleep with grandma when she comes (move over)

Yeah, she'll get to sleep with grandma

Oh, she'll get to sleep with grandma

She'll get to sleep with grandma when she comes

(Move over)

(Once upon a time in a far off land)

(Eww, yucky)

(Yo, what's up?)

(Whoa, my back)

(Yee-haw)

 

One last time

She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes (yee-haw)

She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes (yee-haw)

She'll be coming 'round the mountain

She'll be coming 'round the mountain

She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes

(Move over)

(Once upon a time in a far off land)

(Eww, yucky)

(Yo, what's up?)

(Whoa back)

(Yee-haw)