for children's chorus a cappella
composed by Vern Pat Nelson, 1993.

Listen....any second now you should hear a MIDI file playing of this whole suite....
that is, just synthesized "doo-doo-doos", not real voices, but you can follow along and imagine the piece...
If it doesn't come on automatically, click here.


1. Sing/Strum
Sing, sing, sing, what shall we sing?
A song to delight your ear.
Sing, sing, sing, how shall we sing?
With a sound that is loud and clear.
Strum, strum, strum, when shall we strum?
As we carry our fine guitars.
Strum, strum, strum, where shall we strum?
Close by your window and under the stars!
Sing, sing, sing, what shall we sing?
A song to delight your ear.
Sing, sing, sing, how shall we sing?
With a sound that is loud and clear!!!!!


2. My London Bridge
(dn-dn-dn-dn-dn-dn-dn-dn...)
My London Bridge has just one task: It has to stand, that's all I ask.
It has to stand, and that is all. It may not bend or break or fall.
My London Bridge has just one task: It has to stand, that's all I ask.
It has to stand, and nothing more, to let me cross from shore to shore.
My London Bridge has just one task: It has to stand, that's all I ask.
It has to stand, and not forget to keep my shoes from getting wet.
My London Bridge has just one task: It has to stand, that's all I ask.
(dn-dn-dn-dn-dn-dn-dn-dn.....)


3. Boom!
(with big foot-stomps)
Boom! Boom! Boom! My feet are large.
Each shoe is like a garbage barge.
Boom! Boom! Boom! My poor head aches!
Wherever I step, the sidewalk breaks.
(...it... breaks....)


4. Mending Song
(my favorite)
(dn-dn-dn-dn-dn-dn-dadadadadn-dn-dn....)
There was an old woman of long ago who went about her mending;
She sewed the wind against the clouds to stop the trees from bending;
She stitched the sun to the highest hill, to hold the day from ending.
(to hold the day from ending, to hold the day from ending,
she stitched the sun to the highest hill, to hold the day from ending.
dn-dn-dn-dn-dn-dn-dadadadadadadn-dn-dn-...)
Her thimbles and threads were close at hand for needlework and quilting,
For sewing gardens to the sky to keep the blooms from wilting,
For lacing the land to the crescent moon, to save the world from tilting.
(to save the world from tilting, to save the world from tilting,
she laced the land to the crescent moon, to save the world from tilting.
dn-dn-dn-dn-dn-dn-dadadadadadadn-dn-dn....)


---poems copyright 1985, from Whiskers and Rhymes by Arnold Lobel,
used by permission of Greenwillow Books, a division of William Morrow, New York.

This suite is now published by PAVANE PUBLISHING,
and can be purchased by e-mailing Pavane President Allan Petker here!

This suite was commissioned by (and has been performed many times by)
The AUSTIN GIRLS' CHOIR (director, Sarah Burden McClure.)

The late Mr. Lobel was known mainly as a children's book illustrator. Thanks also to Steve Linam and his family for turning me on to these charming understatedly weird poems.


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