The Farmer's Market

American Library Association Notable Children's Recording

Timmy Abell and Steven Heller

Get on the truck and grab your hat!
Daddy's taking us down to the railroad tracks
Got a dollar in my pocket, gonna clap my hands
Goin' to the Farmer's Market!
Look at all those apples and peaches and pears
Pineapples and plums and look....over there
It's a pumpkin truck, we'd better grab us one
Gonna make a jack-o-lantern and spook someone, Boo!

I want a watermelon
I can't get along without a ripe watermelon
Cut a great big slice, stick my face on in
When I come to the seeds, I go *** *** ding

Chorus

What about some roasted nuts
We've got chestnuts, walnuts, hickorynuts, butternuts
Peanuts, you're a nut, I'm a nut too
I'll tell you one thing, I like singing with you
I'm gonna eat some sweet strawberries
Raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, blueberries
Gooseberries, too, I'll tell you why
We're gonna take 'em all home and bake a six foot pie

Chorus

There's the boy with the baby ducks
Little chickens and rabbits and cute little pups
Someday I'm gonna get a dog of my own
Put him in the truck and take him on home

Chorus

Oh the Farmer's Market, it sure is fun
Daddy next week let's make sure to bring Mom
I'll show her that puppy with the big brown eyes
I'll give her a peach for a sweet surprise

Get on the truck, Daddy's taking us home
Got a lot of good food, now my money's all gone
But what's going on behind the fence over there
It's the Flea Market, Daddy, let's stop right here

Chorus

(© 1989, Local Honey Music, ASCAP / Butterside, BMI) 

Woody Guthrie

I'm gonna wrap myself in paper
I'm gonna daub myself with glue
Stick some stamps on the top of my head
I'm gonna mail myself to you

I'm gonna tie me up with a little red string
I'm gonna tie blue ribbons too
I'm gonna climb up in my mailbox
I'm gonna mail myself to you

***************

Now when you find me in your mailbox
Cut the string and let me out
Wash the glue right off of my tummy
Stick some bubblegum in my mouth

Take me out of my wrapping paper
Wash the stamps right off of my head
Pour me full of some ice cream sodies
Tuck me in to a nice warm bed

Repeat First Verse

(© Tro/Ludlow Music, BMI)

Shel Silverstein

A long time ago, when the earth was green
There were more kinds of animals than you've ever seen
They'd run around free, as the earth was being born
And the loveliest of all was the Unicorn.

There were green alligators and long-necked geese
Humpty-backed camels and chimpanzees
Cats and rats and elephants and sure as you're born 
The loveliest of all was the Unicorn

Well God saw some sinning, and it gave him pain
So he said "Stand back, I'm going to make it rain"
He said "Hey, brother Noah, I'll tell you what to do,
Build me a floating zoo... And take some of those.."

Chorus

Well Noah was there to answer the call
And he finished building the arc, just as the rain started falling
He marched in the animals, two by two
And called out as they went through,
"Hey, Lord, I've got your..."

Chorus

Then Noah looked out at the driving rain
And those Unicorns were laughing and just playing silly games
They were kicking and shoving as the rain was pouring
Oh those silly Unicorns, but there were....
Chorus

Then the arc started moving, drifting with the tide
And those Unicorns looked up from the rocks and they cried
The arc started moving, and sort of drifted them away......
(And that's why you've never seen a Unicorn to this very day)

Chorus

Traditional

This is a popular traditional Irish melody,
played here on English concertina (Timmy),
penny whistle (Chris Abell) and piano (Peter Barnes).

Timmy Abell

We're bound for the bathtub, we're bound to get wet
Away, Mommy, away, away!
We've got to scrubbed and then off to our beds
Mommy, we're bound away!

It's all day in the dirt and the grease and the sand
Away, Mommy, away, away!
A'sailing we'll go, it's goodbye to dry land
Mommy, we're bound away!

So haul off your clothes and hop into the tub
Away, Mommy, away, away!
Hold fast to that washcloth and give a good rub
Mommy, we're bound away!

I've got me toy boat and a squirt gun or two
Away, Mommy, away, away!
And a bottle of suds for each of the crew
Mommy, we're bound away!

The sailing is fine and the weather is clear
Away, Mommy, away, away!
Now look who comes in and starts scrubbing our hair
Mommy, please go away!

The tide it is running away down the drain
Away, Mommy, away, away!
The water's all sudsy and we are all clean
Mommy, we're bound away!

So pull down the sheets and make ready for bed
Away, Mommy, away, away!
It's anchors away now for this sleepy-head
Mommy, we're bound away!

© 1989, Local Honey Music, ASCAP

Timmy Abell

I feel like a cloud in the sky
In the evening sky
But look at me, I am on my bed
...Drifting

I feel like a seagull on the breeze,
On the gentle breeze
Spreading my wings and gliding so free
...Drifting

I feel like a bottle on the sea
On the deep blue sea
Riding the waves and floating so free
...Drifting

And in the bottle there is a note,
Something I wrote:

"Good night Mommy, and good night Daddy-o
And especially, ...good night to me"

"Good night Daddy, and good night Mommy-o
And especially, ...good night to me"

(Repeat 'til asleep)

© 1989, Local Honey Music, ASCAP

Steven Heller

If I were the ocean, as deep as forever
I'd turn all the sharks into vegetarians
If I were the ground, I would shake bullies down
And not let them up till they drank from love's cup.

If I were the sky, I'd let all children fly
And play on the clouds soft and snowy
If I were the moon, I'd shine down in your room
And light up your dreams with my silver moonbeams.

If I were the breeze, I would tickle the trees
And keep all the flowers a'dancin'
If I were the rain, I'd always come back again
Wash the world clean, keep the grass growing green.

If you were me, what would you be
Would you play on the clouds soft and snowy
If you want to try, in your mind you can fly
You can light up your dreams with your magic moonbeams.

If you just stay you, there's so much you can do
Wash the world clean, keep the grass growing green.

(©1989 Butterside Music, BMI)

Traditional

When I was young I used to wait
On master and hand him his plate
Pass him the bottle when he got dry
And brush away the blue-tail fly

Chorus

Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care
Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care
Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care
My master's gone away

When he would ride in the afternoon
I'd follow him with my hickory broom
The pony being rather shy
When bitten by the blue-tail fly

Chorus

One day he rode around the farm
Flies so numerous that they did swarm
One chanced to bite him on the thigh
The devil take the blue-tail fly

Chorus

Well the pony jumped, he start, he pitch
He threw my master in the ditch
He died and the jury wondered why
The verdict was the blue-tail fly

Chorus

Now he lies beneath the 'simmon tree
His epitaph is there to see
"Beneath this stone I'm forced to lie
The victim of the blue-tail fly"

Bill Staines

All God's critters got a place in the choir
Some sing low, and some sing higher
Some sing out loud on the telephone wire
And some just clap their hands or paws
....or anything you've got now

Listen to the bass, it's the one on the bottom
Where the bullfrog croaks and the hippopotamus
Moans and groans with a big to-do
And the old cow just goes mooo

Chorus

The dogs and cats, they take up the middle
Where the honeybee hums and the cricket fiddles
Where the donkey brays and the pony neighs
And the old coyote howls

Chorus

Listen to the top where the little birds sing
On the melody with the high notes ringin'
And the hoot owl hollers over everything
And the blue jay disagrees

Chorus

Singin' in the nighttime, singin' in the day
The little duck quacks, and he's on his way
The opossum ain't got very much to say
And the porcupine talks to himself

Chorus

It's a simple song of living sung everywhere
By the ox and the fox and the grizzly bear
By the grumpy alligator and the hawk above
The sly raccoon and the turtle dove

Chorus

(© 1978, Mineral River Music, BMI)

Timmy Abell & Steven Heller

Pockets are full, got all my things
Hi! Ho! We're rolling home
Trees fly by, the highway sings
Hi! Ho! We're rolling on home

Been to the ocean, went to the city
Over the mountains, they sure were pretty
It's a great big country, we went a long way
Now we're going back home
Missed my dog and my own bedroom
But I had a good time, and I'll be home soon
Said goodbye to a lot of good friends
Now we're going back home

Chorus

Combed the beach, watched the weather
Saw an eagle and I found his feather
Rode a bike all day, and I learned how to whistle
And I can't wait to get home
When we went to the city, we rode on a train
It went under ground, but we came up again
So many people all in one place
That's why we're going back home

Chorus

We camped on a mountain, sat by the fire
Daddy told stories 'till we got real tired
We all fell asleep, counting up the stars
Same ones we've got back home
I love to travel and see new faces
Learn everything about a lot of nice places
One special place is all my own
I'll be there when I get home

(Tag)
Daddy's slowing down, we're almost there
School in the morning, I don't care
One special place, all my own
Feels so good to be home

(© 1989 Local Honey Music, ASCAP, Butterside Music, BMI)

Timmy Abell

As the dawn is waking
It's a sweet bird song...
It's the silent message
That the world is gliding on.

And you know what it means
Because you feel it whenever
You tumble down inside yourself
And find that quiet place...
I know what it means because
I feel the same feeling for you

Love is the stuff
That makes really good friends...
Get a little from your neighbor
And you give it right back again.

Chorus

Listen to the voices
All around the world...
Joining together
In a great big chorus of
"I love you".

Chorus

(© 1989 Local Honey Music, ASCAP)