Sing Limericks with Emily (“There Was an Old Man with a Beard”)

Posted by: Sing Books with Emily on: February 21, 2012

• In: Art of Singing a Song | Case for Singable Books | Heartfelt Musings | Lyrics | Nursery Rhymes and Mother Goose | Poetry | SBWE in Person | SBWE Sing-Along Program for Classrooms and Families | Sing Along Tracks | Singable Book Title | Singable Poem | Singable Poetry | Song History
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Over time, I’ve run across a number of limerick poems in illustrated compilations of children’s poetry, especially as hilariously written by Edward Lear.

For example:

THERE WAS AN OLD MAN WITH A BEARD
Limerick by Edward Lear
Traditional Tune
Illustrated by
Sing along with Emily:
http://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/limerick-tune-there-was-an-old

There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, “It is just as I feared!
Two owls and a hen,
Four larks and a wren
Have all built their nests in my beard!”

The illustration above is from:

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Eleven and Three are Poetry
Poems and Music by Various Artists
Compiled by Sally Nohelty
Illustrated by Kelly Oechsli

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Another Old Man with a Beard!  This one is drawn by Lois Ehlert:

There Was an Old Man with a Beard
Limerick by Edward Lear
Illustrated by Lois Ehlert
Published in her book, “Limericks by Lear” (World Press, 1965) 

The above illustration is from:
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Limericks by Lear
Verses by Edward Lear
Sing to a Traditional Tune
Illustrated by Lois Ehlert
Published in 1965 by World Publishing Company
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 65-22152
Sing along using this tune which works for every limerick:
http://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/limerick-tune-there-was-an-old

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I’ve found a couple of tunes (all similar) to will make any limerick singable:

Sesame Street’s got a good limerick tune, you can hear here:
http://www.amazon.com/Limerick-Song-Come-Sing-Along/dp/B0041XOO18/ref=sr_1_31?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1329688229&sr=1-31

Hear Oscar Brand sing the tune on one of his sing-along albums:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0050N8KCM/ref=dm_dp_trk10?ie=UTF8&qid=1329687452&sr=1-5

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Sing Limericks with Emily

I sang the tune into my little recorder and you can hear it here:
http://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/limerick-tune-there-was-an-old

I also made up a limerick and sang it for my friend Bill B’s Birthday (March 2012)
http://soundcloud.com/singbookswithemily/bill-b-bday-limerick-by-eleg

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I read somewhere that limericks can be sung to the tune of “The Gay Caballero” and the tune for this song sounds a lot like all the other limerick tunes I found.

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What is a limerick?

Click these links and find out:

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http://volweb.utk.edu/school/bedford/harrisms/limerick.htm

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http://www.limericks.org/pentatette/whatis.htm

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limerick_%28poetry%29

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Related Posts

POETRY SINGABLE POETRY
An ever-expanding list of  singable poems from compilations or singable poems creating individual Singable Picture Books
http://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/2011/04/17/singable-poetry-a-list-of-poems-that-can-be-sung-from-illustrated-compilations-of-poetry-and-singable-picture-books/

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EDWARD LEAR
A list of books with musical settings of, and illustrating Singable Picture Book versions of, Edward Lear’s poems:
http://singbookswithemily.wordpress.com/2011/02/03/singable-picture-book-spotlight-1302011-edward-lear-and-william-mathias-learsongs/

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MAKING UP LIMERICKS FOR FRIENDS

Tags: Illustrated Song, Limerick, Sing Limericks, Singable Picture Book, Tune for LImericks