Friday, August 15, 2014

"When Papa Put the Paper on the Wall"...

There is a song that my dad has been singing to my siblings and I since before I can remember. His grandpa (my great grandpa Garbisch) sang it to him and now...I sing it to Lilly Belle.

I wanted to write about this because it was just too cute to forget.

So the lyrics to the song go...

When Papa* put the paper on the wall,
He put the parlor paper in the hall.
He papered up the chairs. He papered up the stairs.
He even put the paper on my grandma's shawl.

The ladder slipped.
And then began to fall...
He spilled all the paint - upon us all

Like birds of a feather, 
we all stuck together
when Papa* put the paper on the wall!

So before I go on, notice:
*We change Papa to everyone in our family...Mommy, Daddy, Cogsy, Papa, Nana, Grandma, Grandpa, Clare, Caitlin, Quenton, Auntie Mel....you get the point. 

Notice I underlined the words 'put the'.

So...
after I sang this song to her a few times last night while I was nursing her, she began playing the funniest game. I was exhausted and whenever I would finish singing the song I kept falling asleep. Within seconds, she would stop nursing, look up at me and say "put-the put-the put-the!" and then I would start singing again and she would go back to nursing happily. She had me sing the song at least 15 times with everyone's names until finally I was literally going to fall asleep and made the decision for both of us that it really was time for bed. She fell asleep in her bed singing "put-the put-the put-the" even after I left. 

I figured it was just an adorable fluke. I even called my Dad to tell him about it.
 So tonight when I went to rock her/nurse her, I sat down in the glider, got her all settled and started singing our usual song, "Sunshine on My Shoulders" while she started nursing and...nope. She wasn't having it. Right away, she remembered and started saying "put-the put-the put-the!" 

So...I started singing "When Papa Put the Paper on the Wall" and the game began again all over again. Every time I'd stop singing, she would remind me to start again and I would. 

Tonight I lay her down in her crib and heard her for a quite a while singing "put-the put-the put-the" to herself in her crib before she fell asleep.

...sweet girl. 
I love this age.

4 comments:

  1. Chelsea, I knew there was more to the song but couldn't find it. There was another nonsense begins.."While I was walking down the street one day, A billboard met my eye. The wind wind and rain had was it half away, and what was left upon the sign would make the billboard say:"Come smoke a Coke Cola, see Lillian Russel with a pound of oysterettes,teeth extracted without pay, price of half a dime.Bay Rum is good for horses, it is the best in town, Castoria kills the measles if you pay $5.00 down. Johnsonville will lecture on the polio..etc...If you come across , I wish you'd share it with me. let me know.Linda Henderson, Cuero, Texas

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  2. The Old Billboard Song from 1923 - my Mom used to sing it to me when I was a toddler in the 1930s - sung like a ballad, not like below
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJRx4QU37DM plays too fast and jazzy
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTLepIYBriQ too fast-different words
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-vTy3chBFk too fast, but nearer tune'
    http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/folk-song-lyrics/Billboard.htm
    http://dragon.sleepdeprived.ca/songbook/songs5/S5_102.htm
    https://www.bussongs.com/songs/the-billboard-song

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  3. Re: The Old Billboard Song - I prefer this version
    As I was walking down the street, a billboard met my eye
    The advertisements written there could make one laugh and cry
    The rain and snow had almost washed that old billboard away
    But still the advertisements there almost seemed to say...

    Smoke ...a Coca-Cola
    Eat tomato catsup...cigarettes
    See Lillian Russell...wrestle with a box of Oysterettes
    Cream of Wheat...will cure that cold
    Tears...will make you fat
    Come and pour molasses...on that old last summer's hat

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