Muddled Moments

Funny story from our recent trip to the GSCNC Encampment.  Although this was a Cadette/Senior event, one of the girls I took is still a Junior (age 10).  When we shared our campfire Saturday night with two troops from Dale City, Virginia, Aubrey learned that some Girl Scouts sing "An Austrian Went Yodeling . . ." to the song we know as "Song Without Words."

On the way home, we were singing in the car when Aubrey suggested that we try the new words to this song.  So she started, "Oh, an ostrich went yodeling . . . "

My troop seems to have a history of misunderstanding song words.  Last fall we went to a council event where adults who were Girl Scouts in the 1930's to
1970's shared their memories with current Girl Scouts.  One of the things my girls learned was a singing game involving passing an object around a circle. The song words are:

"The wonder ball goes round and round.
Pass it quickly you are bound,
Hold it not!
If you're the one to hold it last
Then for you the game is past.
You are out!"

While playing the game, my girls (bridging Cadettes last year) kept looking at one another and giggling.  I could not figure out what was so funny until
we were driving home from the event, still singing, and I realized that the girls were singing, "The Wonder Bra goes round and round  . . . "

Contributed by:
Jane Schuler
Cadette Leader, Knoxville, TN, USA

My Mom has a tape of my sister, who was about five at the time, singing that beloved tune "Girl Scouts Together".  (She hates that tape.)  In her young wisdom, she had interpreted the words to what she knew of my experiences in Scouts.

"Girl Scouts together
That is our song
Winding the old trail
Rotten and wrong.
Learning our motto
Playing in the creek.
Girl Scouts Together
Wherever we wee-wee."

Contributed by:
Sarah Hinkle
Berea, KY, USA
Wilderness Road Girl Scout Council

I often do songs and games training in our council, and one of the basic rules is "Always explain the words to the song if they're in a foreign language." My favorite example of a leader NOT doing this is one who taught her girls Rosen Fra Fyen (Roses from Fyen, Hans Christian Andersen's birthplace). The lyrics consist of Rosen Fra Fyen, sung 4 times in a lovely round. She was sure the kids had it down, until she listened closely and heard, "Frozen Raccoon...Frozen Raccoon...Frozen Raccooooooon...Frozen Raccoon!"

Contributed by:
Mary Jo Brechtl
Waunakee, WI (Girl Scouts of Black Hawk Council), USA

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This page last updated July 8th, 1999