Monday, June 6, 2011

Fruit tree ID please

Three years ago, Bea Marshall planted the pip of a fruit she had never had before. It grew, and has survived Sheffield's winters, but she doesn't know what it is.

click to enlarge

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

"A little man bought him a big bass drum..."

I came looking for an answer I had received and it wasn't here (so it will be now). I found it on the lyrics game, when the word was "drum": http://lyricsgame.blogspot.com/2010/02/drum.html



MamaDonna said....
He got all his children little snare drums-Boom-tidera-da-boom!
And they'd practice as soon as they'd finished their sums.
Boom-tidera-da-boom. (Second verse from song/rhyme entitled A Family Drum Corps by Malcolm Douglas) p.s. The 1st verse is the song your Papaw used to sing. I found it on Google Book search [I linked to the very page. —Sandra].

February 23, 2010 11:35 AM
Sandra Dodd said...
THANK YOU!!! I had searched for it years ago but hadn't thought to do it again. Thank you, thank you!



April 2016:
I was looking for a reference on this song & came across your blog.

Here's what we sang in 1st grade in 1937:
A little man bought him a big bass drum;
Boom, boom, boom!
"Who knows", said he, "when the war will come?"
Boom, boom, boom!
"I'm not at all frightened, you understand."
"But if I'm called on to fight for my land,
I want to be ready to play in the band!"
Boom, boom, boom!

Our teacher played records of several children's songs
and this was one of 'em, sung by a woman with a voice that I'd call mezzo.

I have no idea as to the source of the records!

Best wishes.

+ F. Eugene (Gene) Dunnam PhD +
+ Professor of Physics, Emeritus +
+ University of Florida +

And this was added in subsequent correpondence:
you can tell that those words came from 'between wars'; nowadays somebody would censor it as being draft-dodging, unpatriotic, etc., etc.!!!



The book MamaDonna found was published in 1891. It's called "Werner's Reading and Recitations, and the poem is "A Family Drum Corps," by Malcolm Douglas. It has several verses, and a cumulative addition each time as more instruments are added.

If anyone comes across this who knows a source for a tune (the recording Dr. Dunnam described, or something in a book) please leave a note!