Photo by Sue Weaver |
My mom is writing a book about cows and she’s driving us crazy singing cattle songs! (If you’d ever heard mom sing, you’d know why.) She can find lots of cowboy songs but not so many about just plain cows. So, she asked me to ask you to help. Do you know any folksongs or other simple songs about cows?
Mom’s favorite, it pains me to say, is “The Cow Kicked Nelly in the Belly in the Barn.” Sing it to the tune of “The Turkey in the Straw”; the words go like this:
“Oh, the cow kicked Nelly in the belly in the barn,
Oh, the cow kicked Nelly in the belly in the barn,
Oh, the cow kicked Nelly in the belly in the barn,
And the doctor said it would do no harm.
Second verse, same as the first
A little bit louder and a little bit worse…”
And it’s a lot worse when Mom sings it—believe me! Especially when she sings nine or ten verses.
She also found a cow song she didn’t know, a Pennsylvania fiddle tune called “The Old Bell Cow.” Click on the link and hear it played! While you’re there, click on Bill Grogan’s Goat (that was a smart goat!) and The Big Sheep.
Mom says the tune called “The Big Sheep” is also called “The Darby Ram” and it traces back hundreds of years in Great Britain. Who’d have guessed?
Do you know more songs like these? About cows? If you do, please post them in the Comments box. Maybe Mom will like yours better and stop warbling about Nelly’s belly in the barn (oh, please please please!).
