Silly Poems We Can't Forget

If you are like me, and I'm not wishing that on anyone, believe me, then you have some silly poems or songs hanging about in your memory that you can't forget... no matter how hard you try.

This one I picked up from my Grandfather.

"Go to father," she said
When I asked her to wed.
But she knew that I knew
That her father was dead.
And she knew that I knew
What a life he had lead.
So she knew that I knew
What she meant when she said,
"Go to father!"

Here's one I credit to my older brother... the Card family curse.

May your pimples all be purple
May your knees go out of joint
May your nose be flat and ugly
May your head come to a point

Or how about this version of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star which I now sing to my grandchildren.

Starkle, starkle little twink
What the heck you are I think
Up the sky the world so 'bove
Like a cross-eyed turtle dove
Starkle, starkle little twink
What the heck you are I think

But I had a strange childhood. We would regularly sing songs one word off. Just skip the first word and start the normal melody on the second word and you get songs like these.

Row, row your boat gen-
Tly down the stream mer-
Rily, merrily, merrily, merrily life
Is but a dream

And yes, you end the melody without ever singing the last note. Give it a try. It drives people nuts. I'm a prime example. Here's another.

Home on the range where
The deer and the antelope play where
Seldom is heard a
Discouraging word and
The sky is not cloud-
Y all day