“Read, Sing, Play ABC Sing-Along,” A Singable Book, Letters B, C, and D (tunes of 99-Bottles, Do Your Ears Hang Low, and Twinkle Little Star)

Posted by: Sing Books with Emily on: January 14, 2010

• In: Lyrics | Poetry | Singable Book Title | Singable Poem | Singable Poetry | Song History | Vocal Tracks
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Today, let’s talk about the Letters B, C, and D

Read, Sing, Play ABC Sing-Along
New words by Teddy Slater
Illustrated by Liisa Chauncy Guida

I love this book.  Each letter is given a song, written to a familiar tune.  The CD has a vocal track for each letter’s ditty, so you can sing along or get the tune enough in your head to sing it yourself!

Letter B is sung to the tune of “Ninety-nine Bottles.”

This one makes a great tongue twister
Bubba’s Best Buddy
(Words by Teddy Slater)
Bubba’s best buddy
was Bingo the Bear.
Bubba was Bingo’s best friend.
They both lived together
on Blueberry Lane,
picking big berries
in sun and in rain.

Original lyrics to
“Ninety-nine Bottles”
Ninety-nine bottles of pop on the wall
Ninety-nine bottles of pop.
Take one down, pass it around,
Ninety-eight bottles of pop on the wall
(Continue singing, counting down a number with each verse!)

Find the printed music to “Ninety-nine Bottles of Pop” in

WeeSing Book and CD Collection
Collected by Pamela Conn Beall and Susan Hagen Nipp
Illustrated by Nancy Spence Klein
(The printed music and minimal illustration for “Ninety Nine Bottles of POP” appears on page 116 of the book WeeSing Games, Rhymes and Silly Songs)

Letter C is sung to the tune of “Do Your Ears Hang Low.”

Can You Bake a Cake
(Words by Teddy Slater)
Can you bake a cake?
Can you cook a T-bone steak?
Can you make a chocolate malted?
Can you make an ice-cream shake?
Can you boil a cup of water?
Clean the dishes like you ought to?
Can you bake a cake?

Original lyrics to
Do Your Ears Hang Low
Do your ears hang low?
Do they wabble to and fro?
Can you tie them in a knot?
Can you tie them in a bow?
Can you throw them over your shoulder like a continental soldier?
Do your ears hang low?

Do you ears hang high?
Do they reach up to the sky?
Do they wrinkle when they’re wet?
Do they straighten when they’re dry?
Can you wave them at your neighbor
With an element of flavor?
Do your ears hang high?

Do Your Ears Hang Low
Traditional Words and Tune
Illustrated by Caroline Jayne Church

“Do Your Ears Hang Low” (and this parady) is a perfect song to sing a capella, if you need help remembering this tune, you can hear it on the CD that comes with “ABC Sing-Along” or you can hear a version by Peter Moses’s album “90 Nifty Songs,” Track 22, by clicking here:
http://www.amazon.com/Do-Your-Ears-Hang-Low/dp/B00129DL36/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310467193&sr=8-1

Letter D is sung to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”

Donkey, Dragon, Dungeon, Drip
(Words by Teddy Slater)
Donkey, dragon, dungeon, drip
doodle, dumplings, double-dip,
dandelion, dungarees…
all these words begin with D.
Doll and doughnut, dinosaur…
Can you name a dozen more?

Original lyrics to
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
(From a poem by Jane Taylor, source of these lyrics: The Golden Book of Poetry (1947), the exact wording of the poem varies slightly depending on the source.)

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Then the traveler in the dark
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
How could he see where to go,
If you did not twinkle so?

In the dark blue sky you keep,
Often through my curtains peep
For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky.

As your bright and tiny spark
Lights the traveler in the dark,
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (and other favorite bedtime rhymes)
Illustrated by Sanja Rescek

If you  need help remembering the tune, you can find it on the CD which accompanies “ABC Sing-Along” or by clicking this i-tunes link to ”60 Kid’s Songs All Time Favorite Children’s Music”: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/60-kids-songs-old-macdonald-brahms/id286934722
The tune is Track 2 “Alphabet Song (ABC),” which uses the same tune as “Twinkle Star.”

For more information about “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” click the following link:
http://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/abc-twinkle-star-baa-blacksheep-singable-books-and-all-the-fix-ins-and-a-youre-adorable-too/

Tags: Caroline Jayne Church, Jane Taylor, Liisa Chauncy Guida, Nancy Spence Klein, Pamela Conn Beall, Sanja Rescek, Susan Hagen Nipp, Teddy Slater