Mairzy Doats

A few months ago my sister posted a YouTube video on Facebook that took me back to my childhood and made me think of all the great songs we used to sing as kids.  I have wonderful memories of singing with my siblings, making up dance moves and performing for anyone who would pay attention.  But just so you know, we weren't that good!

One of the songs that we were very familiar with as children was Mairzy Doats which I thought was always kind of an odd song but fun to sing and the words at first glance are sung exactly as they are written:

Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey,

A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?

Yes, Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey,

A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?

When I would sing this song as a young girl I would sing the entire song exactly as it is written above. But if you look at the music and move on to the bridge of the song, you find these words:

Now if the words sound queer and funny to your ear,

A little bit jumbled and jivey,

Sing "Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy" 

All these years I was singing this silly song wrong!  When I saw this video and read a brief description of it, I was shocked but pleasantly surprised that there was some sense to it after all.  

Since the day I viewed this video I have shared it with my sons who have both showed it to their sons and I have sung it to them over FaceTime.  It is a fun tune for little ones to dance to and has some funny words that they like to try and say so I have enjoyed singing it for them and seeing their reaction.  This version features some beautiful but blury scenery of animal life but I think it really goes with the song! The vocals are by Dodie Stevens in this video but who knew this was actually a number 1 pop song for the Merrie Macs in 1944?  Not me! 

Do you have any favorite nursery rhymes from your childhood and are there any funny stories behind them? If so, I would love to hear!