UKH

I've got a big Scout family camp coming up soon and, while I can remember some of the more "traditional" songs/sketches from my time in uniform years ago, I'm looking for some ideas for new ones.

So, hit me with your favourites, please...

Ging gang gooley sung as a round. 

Campfire’s Burning always a good one.

Rattlin Bog (see how fast you can go at the end)

Oh You Canny Get to heaven (needs some improvisation)

On Ilkley moor Baht hat (although our scout version had alternative verse lyrics which might not be acceptable these days)

On top of spaghetti (the Meatball song)

We're going on a bear hunt

In terms of sketches - the magic magnifying blanket (audience volunteer throws a teaspoon over the blanket and back comes a ladle etc until the final volunteer throws over a small cup of water and gets a full bucket in return)

The grand old duke of york, but instead of singing "up", you do a "whoop" and instead of singing "down", you blow a raspberry. Do a competition who can do it the fastest.

My Bonny lies over the ocean; get them to stand up or sit down every time they sing a word starting with a B

Funny thing about 'We're Going On A Bear Hunt'. I remember that being a chant at cub camp in the late 70s/early 80s, yet the Michael Rosen children's book was published in 1989, and seems to be regarded as an original work.

National treasure though he undoubtedly is, I've often wondered whether he got away with plagiarism, or whether he'd written it years ago as a Scout / Woodcraft leader or something, and reused it.

We always enjoyed singing Bohemian Rhapsody when I was a cadet.

How about Eskimo Nell, The Good Ship Venus, Dinah Dinah maybe...

He seems to be quite open about having adapted it from an existing song:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/nov/05/how-we-made-bear-hunt

Cheers, I wasn't aware of that. A few people make the plagiarism suggestion in the comments under the article, to which Rosen makes a (somewhat curt) reply.

I think he was pretty polite in his response. It's utterly absurd to accuse him of plagiarism in the comments of an article he contributed to that's all about the fact that it's not an original creation.

Ar-de-doo-dah-doo-dah-day! and We're rate dahn in't coil hoil were staples of my scouting days.

One man went to mow…

For the older scouts/ adults you could adapt it further to "We're going on a beer hunt!" 😂

Have seen the bumble bee song done a few times. Deeply unsettling. 

Kumbaya 

We had a good camp last weekend and the best song was "Mmm mm went the little green frog one day" so far so pedestrian but the kicker was the chorus where the frogs died ever more inventive and humourous deaths "But we know frogs go pop in the microwave, pop in the microwave they dont go Mmm mm mm".  Audience suggestions for alternative endings for the frogs were well received!  It was done with good hand and face gestures too.

"Alive, Alert, Awake" with the gestures, I amused myself by failing to get it right every time : )

"Hi My Name is Joe and I work in a Button Factory" another good one for joining in and general hilarity.

Of course he jumped from 50,000 feet is a classic.

Have fun!

Yep. "We're going on a bear hunt" was in regular use in the early 60's. Don't know if Michael Rosen's version is an exact copy though. I doubt he could have devised the original early enough for it to have spread widely by the time I was introduced to it as a young scout. He's only 4 years my senior.

Martin

Be Prepared.

youtube.com/watch?v=gkrheaWuShU&

World's ugliest man sketch.  He's hidden under a blanket.  Ask for volunteers to look at him.  The first two volunteers (both stooges) take one look and faint away.  When the third volunteer (normal audience member) look at him, he faints at the sight of them.  Much hilarity.

He seems to be open about having 'adapted' it from an American campfire 'folk song/chant' - see the reply to me above, the 2012 article it links to and the comments on the same theme below it (to which he replies). Fair enough I suppose, though when I was reading it to my eldest child around 2005, the copy I had was definitely "by" Rosen/Oxenbury, not "retold". You have to wonder if the publisher got some letter from previous publishers of the 'anonymous' chant, and Rosen had to fess up.

Nothing wrong with the book and as I recall the illustrations are lovely. I'm interested in these things because I work in publishing, plagiarism does rub me up the wrong way a bit, and I think he did walk too close to the line or 'reuse without permission' here.

One perhaps could say more on this subject on this Rockfax-owned platform, but heigh ho.

You must have a better memory than most if you can be so certain about a single word on a title page twenty years on! I guess you could have got through a lot of repetitions if your kids were keen on it, but surely you mostly just skip past the title page without paying all that much attention?

Apparently the song was about as famous in America as something like Humpty Dumpty is over here, so I find it really hard to imagine anyone, whether Rosen or the publisher, ever had any intention of "getting away with" anything.

Seems a bit mean-spirited to still be accusing him of plagiarism when you've seen the evidence of him being completely open about the origins of the story.

Who would you even have him seek permission from?

Not sure why I'm defending him so much, but he always comes across as a thoroughly lovely fellow on the radio and other places I come across him.

I agree, he does seem a lovely and talented bloke, and I'm not really criticising him to be honest. Maybe his publisher more. I am certain that "retold by" was a change made to the book some years after the original publication "by Michael Rosen", because the lack of any credit to any previous version was something I noticed at the time, and I felt was a little remiss. That's all.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/oct/17/were-going-on-a-bar-hu...

Long post so, apologies ... What about a ghost story ... this is one I remember from 50 years ago.  15 scouts packed into a 8 person patrol tent 'midnight feast time' on last night of week long camp up the Angus Glens ... requires a storyteller and 'an accomplice' 😏

'did you see the monument at the top of the hill? (could be any distinct feature adapted to the venue) well it's there to commemorate the old monk who lived in the glen over three hundred years ago.

He was often seen wandering the glen and kept himself to himself but always gave food and shelter to any lost or wayward souls who passed his way often in the depths of cold, dark stormy nights (works even better on a stormy Scottish summers' night). Those he help[ed would sometimes return and give him money as a thank you and it was rumoured that a wealthy nobleman had given him a large blood red ruby after the monk had saved the nobleman's son.

Over the years he amassed a considerable fortune in silver, and gold coins, as well as the ruby, but never spent any of it preferring to live as a simple man and hid it all away.

Word of his deeds, and fortune, spread and on one dark and stormy night three man turned up at his door seeking shelter.  The monk welcomed them into his simple home and warmed them by the fire and fed them from his simple stores. As the settled for the night the men started asking him about his money and the ruby but the monk refused to divulge their whereabouts and was beaten so badly that he subsequently died from his injuries. As he lay dying on the floor of his abode he saw that the men had found his hoard of silver and gold but not the famed ruby.

The men ran off as the monk used his last breath to tell them that he would haunt them till they died and they would never profit from their vile deeds and passed away on the floor.

The thieves ran as fast as they could but never forgot the dying monks' words.They blundered through the tangled heather and tripped and fell into the river which was in spate after all the rain, dropping the silver and gold which was washed away downstream and never found again.

(at this point, the storyteller should start to lower their voice and draw the audience in ...)

Even to this day, people have come up to the glen and searched the river for any sign of the silver and gold. Nothing has been found but those who camped overnight while searching tell of ghostly voices and screaming with the ghost of the monk saying ...

(lower voice) ... you may have found my silver ... (pause for dramatic effect)

(lower voice) ... you may have found my gold ... 

then LOUD exclamation from outside tent, courtesy of patient accomplice ...

... BUT YOU NEVER FOUND MY RUBY!'

a wee bit corny but suitable embellishments to suit the location can be woven in and it does (did) work with some folk not sleeping too well that night! I've told this story myself a few times and had great results 🙃

Once again apologies for the long post 😏

Current SL here who regularly gets asked to lead campfires for district events.  The Penguin song and 'choochy-cha' are very similar modern songs that go down well. It's a family camp so many traditional scout songs will be deemed 'inappropriate' .

I'd do the following in roughly the order written.  I like to do song - action song - sketch - shout -  repeat to stop people getting bored. Obviously you'd need to reduce/expand your set as appropriate.  Sketches need to have been practiced, badly-performed sketches are a waste of time.

Always start with campfire's burning. Do rounds if they're capable.

Quartermaster's stores*

Bumblebee song (action)

Oh you'll never go to heaven*

Dirty Old Dave (shout)

Pizza hut (action)

On top of spaghetti

Finger-lickin' Chicken (action)

Ging gang gooly (rounds)

The cow kicked Fred in the head (shout)

40,000 feet

Remember the day you'll die

Choochy-cha (action)

Always finish with Kum -bay-yahh

Ilkley Moor seems too slow and not fun enough for the current generation, but I sing it with scouts and explorers because it's traditional. I'd also do Parlez-vous with scouts and explorers.  My lot also get Nobby Hall, but I know them and they know me.

* I allow people to volunteer to sing verses for these, but they need to be ones that are known - if they make them up on the spot they tend to be rubbish / not rhyme.

I like to do the fortune teller sketch where I tell people's fortunes by sniffing the insides of their shoes. I don't know of any 'new' sketches.

I once told a ghost story that scared a lad so much he went home!

the only scout song I can remember off by heart is 40000ft:

https://www.scoutresources.org.uk/songs/songs_001.html

Next time you tell this story, add this bit to the end, and also add ‘but he never actually arrived back home and he’s never been seen since.’  That should stop anyone else leaving camp. 

Great stuff 👻 is it suitable for sharing 😈?

“I like to eat eat eat apples and bananas then change the vowels ie O loke to oat oat oat opples and bononos.  Turns can be taken choosing food and vowel sound.

Pooperoonoo poozoo (pepperoni pizza) is a good one.

I saw a bird is a great song with ad libs of various ways the bird can die and be eaten

Father Abraham has great actions 

Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar is also good fun

Bungalow?

Sing a few rounds of the word bungalow. Then one nominated persons says and acts,

'My hands are high, my feet are low this is how I bungalow'.

They then do a little dance or silly moves. The rest of the group say 'their hands are high their feet are low, this is how they bungalow'. The group copy the moves.

Repeat from the top. The next person does a sillier set of moves, and so on.

I didn’t see, found a peanut in anybody’s response:

Did you give him the willies?
If so, not surprised that he went home...
 

Bungalow's great, but only works when everyone knows everyone's name, and there's not many people taking part.

PS. you forgot that the dancer says 'Hey <picks next person's name>,[audience echoes it] let me see your bungalow, [all] let me see your bungalow!" to move it onto the next person. Plus everybody sings 'bun-ga-low, bun, bun-ga-lo-ow' a couple of times for the dancer to dance to.

yes, when I have time to write it all out

We used to play a variation of this ( I would like to think that our variation must have somehow been better, because this sounds rubbish, but it was probably identical and actually enjoyable when you are participating) https://www.onlinescoutmanager.co.uk/programme.php?action=view&id=67029

Ours was called "in the boot of my father's car" but when I did a search for that text string, I found nothing!

 

Totally unrelated to the thread but I was listening to a Mireille Mathieu (French legendary chanteuse with an incredibly strong voice) compilation and an amazing song with the melody of Battle Hymn of the Republic (which 40,000 Feet is based on) came on. Enjoy. The arrangement is a masterclass in somehow working a gradual build, into a 3.5 minute song
youtube.com/watch?v=WB4aSV8fn_0&

In a Hillman Minx - Cos a Hillman minx - stinks. (probably showing my age here)

In a platex bra - cos a platex bra won't stretch that far. (are we allowed to sing about underwear these days?  somebody's bound to complain)

It's normally Akela's bra for us (Akela is female). No complaints yet

It was Playtex bra for us in the late 1980s and early 1990s

How has no one suggested The Manchester Hiker... youtube.com/watch?v=YENYMwuCG2Y&

We used to do a version of this too. It went (to a 2/2 rhythm):

Leader: "My Auntie Dear she went to Paris"

Audience: "Ooo, what did she buy?"

Leader: "A rocking chair that went like this" [add actions]

and so on (a rocking doll, apair of scissors, a one armed bandit, anything else with an action until it gets ridiculous.)

When I was a scout I used to take the lead on campfire songs (a strange role for a natural introvert, but I loved it).

We used to do the classics, but my favourites were always the ones with a spurious story attached. I used to do a version of one called "Tumba Tumba". The basic premise being that it repeats at different volumes throughout, and is call and answer. It gets quieter and quieter until you can barely hear everyone singing, then the last verse is yelled at full volume, usually making the younger, unsuspecting members jump.

We also did one called Kumala Vista. There seem to be several versions of it online, we used to mix it up with some Scat and throwing in mild swear words, again call and answer, and the audience wouldn't always know what was coming. With this one it would get faster and slower according to the whims of the leader, with the troop keeping the rhythm by clapping and banging their knees. I used to like to tell this as a story of how I met a remote rainforest tribe who used the song the paddle the river, and as we go we hit rapids, and slow sections, we get chased by animals or other tribes etc.

We use this one for older scouts and Explorers...

My father’s a lavatory cleaner

He works both by day and by night

And when he comes home in the evening

He’s covered all over in Sh...ine

Up your buttons with Brasso

It’s only three pennies a tin

You can buy it or nick it from Woolworths

But I doubt if they’ll have any in

Some say he died of a fever

Some say he died of a fit

But I know what my father died of

He died of the smell of the Sh...ine

Up your buttons with Brasso

It’s only three pennies a tin

You can buy it or nick it from Woolworths

But I doubt if they’ll have any in..

Etc - plenty more verses!

Not a scout but I came here to say that.  It was 40,000 feet for me which is a much nicer number.

Good point WT, typo should have been 40,000!

Many years since I went to a Scout camp but vague memories of a chant with everyone divided into 2 groups, or maybe just two individuals, which  included something like -

Group 1 "Our Bill's built a boat"

Group 2 "Cut his throat ?"

Group 1 "No, cut his bleeding head off"

I'm sure there was much more, anyone remember the rest ? (Bizare what you can remember from >50 years ago)