2.17.08

Category: dribblings

i am reading a book and the book mentions a popular song of old called “John Brown’s Body”. it’s some kind of U.S. Civil War song or something. i don’t know much about Am.His., yo. but the whole john brown thing sounded vaguely familiar.

i remember having to sing a song in grade school about john brown but the lyrics were different than the ones in the book. the song i had to learn was about john brown’s baby who had a “cold upon his chest”. and i remember it was to the tune of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”. and there were hand motions and you would leave out some of the words and do the motions instead. so of course now i’m really curious… are the songs about the same john brown?

i’m not sure. here’s the wiki entry on the john brown song. it looks like the whole thing is kinda iffy. the lyrics for the “kid friendly” version of the song (the one i learned) go a little sumpin’ like this:

John Brown’s baby had a cold upon his chest
John Brown’s baby had a cold upon his chest
John Brown’s baby had a cold upon his chest
And they rubbed it with camphorated oil.

yeah i know. but i always felt bad for the baby cos when we were sick as kids my ma used to rub muster oil on our chests, and if camphorated oil is anything like it, well, poor john brown’s baby is all i’m saying. (that muster oil was some evil shite. and it’s interesting to me that i can’t find a single thing about that stuff on the internet, now i KNOW that my mom wasn’t the only one who used that evil glop as a poultice for coughs, right? seriously, i can’t find it. how is that possible? it was this opaquey-clear goop that came out of a green tube. SOMEBODY PLEASE FIND THIS.)

anyway, this all seems really weird now. i think i’ll ask some of the ladies at work about it tomorrow because two-thirds of the chicas i work with are retired elementary school teachers. maybe they’ll remember the song.

i know we had to learn other songs, not just ones about sick babies. there was “Oh When the Saints Go Marching In”, “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”, the “Grand Ol’ Flag” song, “Dixie” of course, and “Clementine” which, was/is one of the most depressing songs you can teach a kid. i mean, she drowns for crying outs. what’s worse is the part i remember goes: ruby lips above the water/blowing bubbles soft and fine/but, alas, i was no swimmer/so i lost clementine.
i know.

for real though, i could have something useful in my brain, but no, instead i’ve got lyrics to psycho kid songs. what songs do you remember from school? hit the forum!

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