Opie collection of children's games & songs
Recording of children demonstrating songs and discussing playground games with Berit Ostberg (part 1 of 2)
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Type
sound
Duration
00:31:34
Shelf mark
C898/60
Subjects
Children's games; Children's songs
Recording date
1973-01
Is part of (Collection)
Opie collection of children's games and songs
Recording locations
Leeds, Yorkshire and London, England
Interviewers
Ostberg, Berit (speaker, female)
Speakers
unidentified (children)
Abstract
Part 1 of 2. [00:00:00 - 00:31:34]. This recording was made by Berit Ostberg in October, 1973, as she recorded children in Leeds and London demonstrating children's games and songs. The recording begins with Berit explaining that the following songs and games came from Quarry Street School, Leeds. Four girls can be heard on the tape and they are aged between ten and eleven years old. The children can then be heard performing the following singing games: 'One Little Elephant' (Berit Ostberg also performs a Norwegian version of this song) [00:01:40 - 00:03:57]; 'Stands a Lady on a Mountain' [00:04:00 - 00:06:54] and [00:18:10 - 00:18:27];' The Farmer's in His Den' [00:09:02 - 00:09:59]; 'In and Out the Shady Bluebells' [00:10:00 - 00:10:34]; 'London Bridge is Falling Down' [00:10:35 - 00:11:28]; 'As I Went to Hoky, the Hoky Toky Fair' [00:11:29 - 00:12:21]; 'Orange Balls' [00:12:26 - 00:13:09]; 'The Hoky Koky' [00:13:12 - 00:13:50]; 'The Big Ship Sails' [00:13:55 - 00:14:17]; 'I'm Shirley Temple' which includes parts of the songs 'Keep the Sunny Side Up' and 'Down in the Jungle' [00:14:18 - 00:15:50]; 'O Susie Anna' [00:08:36 - 00:09:01]; 'I'm a Little Dutch Girl' [00:17:00 - 00:18:09]; 'Came a Duke a'Riding' [00:18:34 - 00:20:21]; 'I Want to Get Married' [00:21:23 - 00:22:11]; 'We Break Up, We Break Down' [00:22:52 - 00:23:02] and a parody of 'Glory, Glory, Hallelujah' [00:23:05 - 00:23:37]. Throughout the recording, the children also perform a selection of clapping songs. They sing: 'When Susie Was a Baby' [00:07:03 - 00:08:14]; 'Oh Little Playmate' [00:08:15 - 00:08:35]; 'Under the Bram Bush' [00:20:22 - 00:22:37];' My Name Is' [00:22:38 - 00:20:48]; 'I'm Popeye the Sailor Man' [00:20:49 - 00:21:22] and 'Miss Mary Mack' [00:22:12 - 00:22:40]. Alongside singing these playground songs, the children also perform two songs taken from a musical and a film. The first song comes from the musical 'Hello, Dolly' (1964) and the children sing the title song: 'Hello, Dolly!' [00:15:50 - 00:16:30]. The second is a song called 'Zippity-doo-daah' from the Disney movie 'Song of the South' (1946) [00:16:32 - 00:16:56]. There is then a short pause in the recording at [00:24:02] and Berit Ostberg explains that the following songs were performed by children from St John's Wood Terrace, London. The group of schoolgirls recorded are between seven and twelve years old. The children can then be heard singing 'In and Out the Dusty Bluebells' [00:25:09 - 00:26:53]; 'Poor Jenny is a'Weeping' [00:26:55 - 00:28:25]; 'On the Way to Spain' (a variation of 'As I Went to Hoky, the Hoky Toky Fair') [00:28:27 - 00:29:17]; 'The Big Ship Sails' [00:29:18 - 00:30:11] and 'Oranges and Lemons' [00:30:17 - 00:31:33].
Description
Item notes: Recording of children demonstrating songs and discussing playground games with Berit Ostberg. Speakers' notes: Group of Leeds and London Schoolchildren. Recording notes: Slight L/R imbalance, variable throughout. Otherwise good.
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