Cumulative song

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"The Twelve Days of Christmas" is a cumulative song.

A cumulative song is a song with a simple verse structure modified by progressive addition so that each verse is longer than the verse before. Cumulative songs are popular for group singing, in part because they require relatively little memorization of lyrics, and because remembering the previous verse to concatenate it to form the current verse can become a kind of game.

Structure[edit]

Typically, the lyrics take the form of a stanza of at least two lines. In each verse, the text of the first line introduces a new item, and the other line uses the words to begin a list which includes items from all the preceding verses. The item is typically a new phrase (simultaneously a group of words and a musical phrase) to a line in a previous stanza.

The two lines are often separated by refrains. Many cumulative songs also have a chorus.

Songs with two-line stanzas[edit]

One of the most well-known examples of a cumulative song is the Christmas song "The Twelve Days of Christmas", which uses a two-line stanza, where the second line is cumulative, as follows:

On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent (or "gave") to me
A partridge in a pear tree.

On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Three french hens, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree.

and so on until

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Twelve drummers drumming, eleven pipers piping, ten lords a-leaping, nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying, five gold(en) rings, four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree.

The first gift (the partridge) is always sung to a "coda melody" phrase. For the first four verses, the additional gifts are all sung to a repeated standard melodic phrase. In the fifth verse, a different melody, with a change of tempo, is introduced for the five gold(en) rings; and from this point on the first five gifts are always sung to a set of varied melodic phrases (with the partridge retaining its original coda phrase). Thence forward, the wording of each new gift is sung to the original standard melodic phrase before returning to the five gold(en) rings.

Songs with refrains[edit]

In many songs, an item is introduced in the first line of each stanza and extends the list in another line. An example is The Barley Mow (Roud 944):

Here's good luck to the pint pot,
Good luck to the barley mow
Jolly good luck to the pint pot,
Good luck to the barley mow

Oh the pint pot, half a pint, gill pot, half a gill, quarter gill, nipperkin, and a round bowl
Here's good luck, good luck, good luck to the barley mow

The second verse substitutes a larger drink measure in the first line. In the second line the new measure heads the list and is sung to the same musical phrase as pint pot.

Here's good luck to the quart pot,
Good luck to the barley mow
Jolly good luck to the quart pot,
Good luck to the barley mow

Oh the quart pot, pint pot, half a pint, gill pot, half a gill, quarter gill, nipperkin, and a round bowl
Here's good luck, good luck, good luck to the barley mow

One version of the final line and refrain is:

Oh the company, the brewer, the drayer, the slavey, the daughter, the landlady, the landlord, the barrel, the half-barrel, the gallon, the half-gallon, the quart pot, pint pot, half a pint, gill pot, half a gill, quarter gill, nipperkin, and a round bowl
Here's good luck, good luck, good luck to the barley mow

Alan Lomax recorded Jack French singing The Barley Mow at the Blaxhall Ship, a famous singing pub in Suffolk, in 1953. This recording is available online at the Cultural Equity website.[1]

Songs with a chorus[edit]

A chorus (often with its own refrain) may be added to the stanzas as in "The Rattlin' Bog" (Roud 129):

Hi ho, the rattlin' bog,
The bog down in the valley-o,
Hi ho, the rattlin' bog,
The bog down in the valley-o.

1. Now in the bog there was a tree,
A rare tree, a rattlin' tree,
The tree in the bog,
And the bog down in the valley-o.

Hi ho, the rattlin' bog,
The bog down in the valley-o,
Hi ho, the rattlin' bog,
The bog down in the valley-o.

2. And on that tree there was a branch,
A rare branch, a rattlin' branch,
The branch on the tree, and the tree in the bog,
And the bog down in the valley-o.

Hi ho, the rattlin' bog,
The bog down in the valley-o,
Hi ho, the rattlin' bog,
The bog down in the valley-o.

One version of the final line+refrain is:

The feather on the wing, and the wing on the bird, and the bird on the nest, and the nest on the twig, and the twig on the branch, and the branch on the tree, and the tree in the bog,
And the bog down in the valley-o.

Each phrase is sung to the same two-note melody.

Hamish Henderson recorded William Sinclair Mitchell, Agnes Mitchell and Agnes Mitchell singing The Rattling Bog in 1979. The recording is available on line on the Tobar an Dualchais – Kist o Riches website.[2]

Jim Carroll and Pat McKenzie recorded Pat McNamara singing The Bog Down in the Valley in Kilshanny, in 1975. The recording is available online on the Clare County Library website.[3]

Cumulative songs in languages other than English[edit]

Yiddish folk music contains many prominent examples of cumulative songs, including "?װאָס װעט זײַן אַז משיח װעט קומען" and "מה אספּרה," or "What Will Happen When the Messiah Comes?" and "Who Can Recall" (a Yiddish version of the Passover song "Echad Mi Yodea").[4][5]

The Passover seder contains two Hebrew cumulative songs: Echad Mi Yodea and Chad Gadya.

Song examples[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Cultural Equity Research Centre http://research.culturalequity.org/rc-b2/get-audio-detailed-recording.do?recordingId=7625 Retrieved 2017/04/18
  2. ^ Tobar an Dualchais / Kist o Riches Track ID - 83348 http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/83348?l=en Retrieved 2017/04/18
  3. ^ Clare County Library; Songs of Clare; http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/songs/cmc/bog_down_in_valley_pmcnamara.htm Retrieved 2017/04/18
  4. ^ a b Maria Wirf Naro; Martin B. Fischer, eds. (2012). Translating Fictional Dialogue for Children and Young People. Frank & Timme GmbH. p. 25. ISBN 978-3-86596-467-0.
  5. ^ a b "Had Gadya – Illustrated by Seymour Chwast; Afterword by Rabbi Michael Strassfeld". Macmillan Publishing. Archived from the original on 2012-06-17. Retrieved 2014-07-07.
  6. ^ Robert B. Waltz; David Engle (eds.). "Barley Mow, The". The Ballad Index. Retrieved 2014-07-07.
  7. ^ Reid, Rob (1995). Children's Jukebox: A Subject Guide to Musical Recordings and Programming Ideas for Songsters Ages One to Twelve. American Library Association. p. 61. ISBN 9780838906507.
  8. ^ a b Reid, Robert (2007). Something Musical Happened at the Library: Adding Song and Dance to Children's Story Programs. American Library Association. p. 70. ISBN 9780838909423.
  9. ^ "Guerres de clocher | Song".
  10. ^ "Jouer dehors by Passe-Partout | Song".
  11. ^ "Moshpit à St-Dilon | Song".
  12. ^ Roger deV. Renwick (17 December 2001). Recentering Anglo/American Folksong: Sea Crabs and Wicked Youths. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 89. ISBN 978-1-57806-393-2.
  13. ^ Cusic, Don (2003). It's the Cowboy Way!: The Amazing True Adventures of Riders in the Sky. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 166–167. ISBN 978-0-8131-2882-5.
  14. ^ Malloy, Dave. "Prologue". Genius. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  15. ^ "Horseshoes & Hand Grenades serve up refreshing jolt of Wisco-grass". 2 July 2017.
  16. ^ "The Celtic Jewish Connection". 5 August 2009.
  17. ^ "Le reel alcalinisant".
  18. ^ Osera, Peter-Michael. "Functional Decomposition". ESAP Computer Science. University of Pennsylvania.
  19. ^ Kutner, Jon (February 10, 2013). "Star Trekkin' (The Firm)".
  20. ^ "A Hole in the Bottom of the Sea". Publishers Weekly (published June 2013). 2013-04-29. Retrieved 2014-07-07.
  21. ^ "Today is Monday by Eric Carle". Teachers – Scholastic. Scholastic. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
  22. ^ Nelsen, Marjorie R.; Nelsen-Parish, Jan (2002). Peak with Books: An Early Childhood Resource for Balanced Literacy. Cengage Learning. p. 242. ISBN 9780766859487. A catchy, cumulative song featuring a different food for each day of the week.
  23. ^ "Oh Sir Jasper!!". Hymns and Arias. Archived from the original on 1 March 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  24. ^ "Noddy Song: The Camping Song". Hymns and Arias. Archived from the original on 2000-12-17. Retrieved 2018-10-08.
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