Time can be marked by the songs that beat in my heart. And while there are oodles of Christmas songs that pass my lips throughout the year, as well as at the most obvious time and music that used to play on vinyl or cassette tape, now on CD or through a digital device, the songs that have etched themselves upon my soul, making them unforgettable, are Girl Scout songs.
The Brownie Smile Song will always remind me that “I’ve got something in my pocket” that’s a whole lot better than lint, lip balm, my cell, or a couple of coins. It’s a smile “that belongs across my face.”
Gackgoom Went the Little Green Frog (some people call it Barrump), transports me back to a camping trip with my troop in upstate New York, where we all nearly froze at night until we layered on every single piece of clothing in our packs and put two girls to a sleeping bag.
Make New Friends travelled with me, across the country to the three different troops I was lucky enough to belong to. Troop 667 was my final destination, where we went by camp names; I was Gizmo! I sang more songs than I can count with this treasured troop.
Rise Up O’ Flame, Piece of Tin, Alice the Camel, send me soaring back…standing on a wooden stage, deeply inhaling campfire smoke, singing with my Senior troop, leading the Juniors in song.
Little Bunny Fu-Fu was great at campfire and it also made for wonderful animated fun with Fishey during the lunch hour at school. It was funny how free a silly little Girl Scout song sung in school can make you feel; aware that you are completely enjoying yourselves without a care as to how ‘cool’ or ‘uncool’ you look.
It’s important to sing Perty Daisy with a real strong twang, “It’s just a tattoo of a flower, so I look neat when I’m taking a shower. It’s on the second toe of my left foot, stem and flower, but there’s no root (‘cause that wouldn’t look good)…” Perty Daisy is a favorite of both Fishey and I, though she has the tattoo to prove it. Me? I sang it till my voice was almost gone while potty training a kidlet a few years back!
Singing Girl Scout songs continued on with my kidlets from the moment they came home with us from the hospital. On My Honor, sang over and over to calm or send a kidlet off to dreamland with. And Little Birds sang with exuberance to elicit a giggle in the morning, while getting a wriggling munchkin dressed.
It didn’t matter if I was singing these songs to my son or my daughter. The songs had become a piece of me to share and give to two beautiful pieces of my heart.
The songs are my past, my present, and still friends with many from Girl Scout troop days, will hopefully continue to be my future.
The Brownie Smile Song will always remind me that “I’ve got something in my pocket” that’s a whole lot better than lint, lip balm, my cell, or a couple of coins. It’s a smile “that belongs across my face.”
Gackgoom Went the Little Green Frog (some people call it Barrump), transports me back to a camping trip with my troop in upstate New York, where we all nearly froze at night until we layered on every single piece of clothing in our packs and put two girls to a sleeping bag.
Make New Friends travelled with me, across the country to the three different troops I was lucky enough to belong to. Troop 667 was my final destination, where we went by camp names; I was Gizmo! I sang more songs than I can count with this treasured troop.
Rise Up O’ Flame, Piece of Tin, Alice the Camel, send me soaring back…standing on a wooden stage, deeply inhaling campfire smoke, singing with my Senior troop, leading the Juniors in song.
Little Bunny Fu-Fu was great at campfire and it also made for wonderful animated fun with Fishey during the lunch hour at school. It was funny how free a silly little Girl Scout song sung in school can make you feel; aware that you are completely enjoying yourselves without a care as to how ‘cool’ or ‘uncool’ you look.
It’s important to sing Perty Daisy with a real strong twang, “It’s just a tattoo of a flower, so I look neat when I’m taking a shower. It’s on the second toe of my left foot, stem and flower, but there’s no root (‘cause that wouldn’t look good)…” Perty Daisy is a favorite of both Fishey and I, though she has the tattoo to prove it. Me? I sang it till my voice was almost gone while potty training a kidlet a few years back!
Singing Girl Scout songs continued on with my kidlets from the moment they came home with us from the hospital. On My Honor, sang over and over to calm or send a kidlet off to dreamland with. And Little Birds sang with exuberance to elicit a giggle in the morning, while getting a wriggling munchkin dressed.
It didn’t matter if I was singing these songs to my son or my daughter. The songs had become a piece of me to share and give to two beautiful pieces of my heart.
The songs are my past, my present, and still friends with many from Girl Scout troop days, will hopefully continue to be my future.
The Red Dress Club prompted us to write about what we know by heart from childhood.I immediately thought of Girl Scout songs. While I tried flirting with other memories, those songs just kept singing louder and louder, until I gave in to them.
With a 500 words limit, I came in just under the wire with 499!
I remember the frog song... and heaven help me the Little Bunny Foo-foo song, complete with motions! We used to sing it over and over, replacing spoken words with motions until it was mostly silent - which may be why my parents liked the song so much, come to think of it.
ReplyDeleteKaren, I wasn't a girl scout but my daughter is and we sing these songs! It warms my heart to no end that they're in your memory folds and hope that they're there for my sweet girl as well.
ReplyDeleteAlso? Make new friends is my favorite one, hands down! :)
And the moral of this story is, Hare today, Goon tomorrow. LOL! Funny part is that the moral popped into my head a couple of weeks ago, but I couldn't figure out what it was from!! Many happy memories of singing w/ you (and many more to come, I'm sure). Love/Wove :) your Fish
ReplyDeletei'm the same, songs evoke memory for me :)
ReplyDeleteWe connect through songs in the same way we connect through stories. I, too, sang many of these songs as a Girl Scout, and, when my kids were little, sang to them as well.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is in girl scouts and she has already learned two of the songs. I didn't realize that Little Bunny Fu Fu was a girl scout song...
ReplyDeleteI like that you steer away from the obvious songs that you know by heart. Using Girl Scouts as an overall theme really pulls this together well.
Visiting from TRDC...
Awww, I wasn't in Girl Scouts but I remember a few of these from childhood and even sang some of them with Monkey when he was a baby (Gackgoom and Alice the Camel). They bring back great memories for me too!
ReplyDeleteSo Fun!! I also loved that Make new Friends song. Even though I was never actually IN Girl Scouts, my sister was and I learned that song along side her. That Perty Daisy sounds like a song I need to learn! SO many wonderful memories were made for you. I'd like to get my little lady into GS for that reason:)
ReplyDeleteI was a brownie for one year, and I learned most of those songs too.. thank you for bringing back perty daisy to mind!
ReplyDeleteVery well written.
ReplyDeleteI only was a Brownie, so I don't know many of these. :(
It's always fun to see what stories you are sharing!
I forgot about all these songs. I was humming along down memory lane. I need to teach these to my daughter!!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part is that you still have your Girl Scout friends! How wonderful to still have a group of friends with such history together!
ReplyDeleteI wasn't a Girl Scout, but the daughter did Daisies and Brownies. I remember the smile song. But the rest I don't know. It's great that you're sharing them with your kids.
ReplyDeleteoh I loved girl scout songs! sung around a campfire, dozens of giggly girls. happiness. :)
ReplyDeletethanks for your comment on my blog!
GREAT, great, great emotional and collective audio share! I recall glimpses of some of those, for sure - but I am SO convinced that MUSIC is a for sure and AMAZING real form of time travel - I LOVE IT, SO! Thanks for the terrific thoughts: you are WONDERFUL!
ReplyDeleteThis makes me smile! I'm a Girl Scout leader and my girls still sing a lot of these songs. I taught them a couple, but they learned a lot from previous troops too. I love that some classic things never change!
ReplyDelete