I just wanted to know if your camps have banned any camp songs or not and which ones they have banned. I'm just curious and thought this would be a fun topic.

The only songs I know they have banned at my camp is this one song, I'm not sure what it's called but it talks about beating up the devil. The other one I remember is brown squirel (since shove a peanut up your nose is kinda too violent or some reason like that).

This weekend I went on my outdoor rec. trip for first year and we sang tons of songs that I'm not sure would be appropiate for kids or not, like ride the pony (but I really enjoyed the songs none the less). Perhaps I have just been working at a christian camp for too long.

I had some beef about this subject summer '02.

Now let me first mention that I am NOT anti-feminism nor anti-women. That being said we had a girl who some would say is a (and I don't like the term much for a multitude of reasons, but to let you understand her) "fem-Nazi".

I don't work on girls side of camp and I must admit I am not up to date on everything that goes on over there, however I do know that they had a campfire song dating back to the beginning of our camp in 1924. The song originally went something like this: "She gets the highest marks in class by kissing the teachers..." to "She gets the highest marks in class by not sittin' on her..."

Now I understand that things and times have changed and such and that women should not need to kiss someones rear to get ahead. But come on its a camp song dating over 75 years. Isn't camp about tradition. True it is also about advancement, but by making the argument it is setting ladies behind is questionable.

Anyway, perhaps I was more bitter because the counselor that changed it was a 1st year counselor and hesitated to learn about camp tradition. Maybe I am being picky or close-minded but nevertheless thats my opinion.

We also changed our grace at the meal from one saying "We thank thee o' lord for this our daily bread" to "We are thankful for the food we are about to eat." Again, I can understand this, but I don't know, perhaps I am too much of a traditionalist. I don't like to change things that have been at camp for nearly a century unless of course they are detremental to a childs or staff members health (mental or physical).

What do you all think.

Djramey, I agree that maybe banning the song was a little extreme. I guess it depends. Was the song traditionally sung by both genders? Did anyone else have a problem w/ it? Like I said, I think banning a song that is so old and represented a long standing tradition is extreme (especially if she was the only one opposed to it). However, times have changed and I can see her point (being that I am female).

I don't know of any camp songs that are banned at my camp.

We always sing "Put a nut between your toes, crinkle up your little nose"...

LOL, we sing the same in words in the other order as GS, my guess is "shove a peanut up your nose" is a line created by the campers somewhere back that noone could get them to change. Like the jingle bells, batman smells song we used to sing in school. Anyhow, I've seen several songs banned. Ravioli, because the counselors were using to describe inappropriate behaviors from thier weekend (yea for maturity- ugh) Father Abraham, and silly willy because they may poke fun at the disabled. gotta run, more later. -Neb

lets see...at one point we banned the buffalo song... but now we can sing it again. I think there were more, but I can't think of them at the moment.

we did have to change the words in some of the graces we sing. First we were supposed to change them to words other than god, to keep it from being religous or something. But then, because words like 'lord' and 'father' apply only to the christian god, so the next year we were supposed to change all the words to god (becaue the word god is non-denominational?), so some of our graces have...changed over time. we're a girl scout camp, btw.

Does the Buffalo song talk about his dead brother? We have that song at our camp, its not banned but its not really popular either. We had a song named Little Willy banned cause it was sung in the manner of a child with a stutter and i guess kinda was a mockery of it. We did have children at camp that stuttered so I didnt have a problem with its banning. Thats all I can think of.

Nebit, that stinks...Ravioli is fun!!

yeah, the buffalo and his dead brother. And apparently the word 'amen' we sing at the end of the song, too. we rather like that song. all the more because we couldn't sing it for a while, i think

I'm trying to think of any songs we banned....
the second verse to thte little green frog song was banned from my 4-H camp YEARS back
"honk honk went the big mack truck one day, split, splat went the little green frog" that entire verse got taken out....
HOWEVER I can remember as a 4-H camper and even as a counselor every night we had rec time which was a big red-neck square/line dance LOL, and we definitely played and did the line dance to "I'm Too Sexy"
One camp I went to was pretty liberal, LOL, even though it was a Y camp. Somehow one of the immature JC's got it in her head that she could teach the traditional campers (the 8-12yr olds!) the first part of "Killing Me Softly" that pop song!!! AND NONE of the other traditional counsleors would say anythign b/c this girl had been comming to the camp forever or somethig... that girl... if I never see her again LOL
I think that's it though...
Jiff

i don't really think there are any songs banned at my camp...
we do grey squirrel instead of brown.. lol and the verse we use is "put a nut between your toes, crinkle up your little nose"...
and the buffalo song is one of our favorites

a few summers back my last year as a camper we didn't really sing a song.. the chesse song.. because the chorus was "rolling over the billows, rolling over the seas, rolling over the billows and the deep blue seas..." but because some inapropriatness between 2 staff memebers the words were sometimes said "rolling over the pillows, rolling over the sheets, rolling over the pillows and the deep blue sheets..." and some campers kinda picked it up... but we sing it now..
a funny thing is some of the girl scout weekends at my camp we do campfires and we lead songs for the girls and help make smores.. but this one town's leader told us not to sing songs about death.. so we were like ahhh!! all of our favorite songs are about dying..

I don't think we have any banned songs, I wouldn't go putting your brand new Outkast in the CD player. Boss man, the guy that signs the paychecks is liable to remove it until the end of camp.

But back to the real sung camp songs. There are times when I have to regulate to make songs safe. One time that pops into my head is around a camp fire that a woodsie built a little two well. I can just see kids falling into it.

Another time was in the dinning hall. I don?t know how you sing Father Abraham, but in our version there is a lot of "fast walking / hopping" around the dinning hall. Throw in a bit of spilled water or bug juice, and you got a broken arm just itching to happen....

Um, well a few years ago a staff member got in trouble for teaching the "beaver song" it went a little something like this...
I'm a beaver, you're a beaver we're a beaver all!! and when we get together we do the beaver call!!!!
raaaanh raaanh rannh rahn ... etc ..
come to think of it it was more a a cheer and to a sick mind I can see how it can be miscontrued... however we just substituted our camp mascot for beaver, and all was well.

LOL Yoda, there is a song a friend of mine used to sing at football games. The Beaver Song...something like "Beaver one, Beaver all, let't all do the beaver call, Reh reh reh etc, Beaver two, Beaver three, let's all climb the beaver tree..." It goes on and on. It was completely innocent coming from here but of course some of the guys started joking around taking it another way.

hmmm... we had a song that talked about some girl going around and shooting the men who didn't please her on a date... I think it was caled ms. Effie... yeah that one definitely belongs in the no-go pile, although, it is one of my first memories of camp (singing that song) and I miss it.

other banned songs... um, I think we might have banned this one song called "city girls." only cause it got too annoying for the staff!!!!!! LOL.

I do remember another one!
"One Tin Soldier" I think this song is pretty popular with the girl scouts. And apparently, at my camp they used to sing it at chaple (YMCA) but this year the director said somethign about not singing it b/c the chorus has the line "On the bloody morning after"
anyone else had that problem?
Jiff

We banned this song called "the wee wee song" which was too bad because i loved it! It was a song about a baby who pees his pants all the time and there was this one verse that said something like

'picked me up from my wee wet spot and spanked me on my wee wee spot that just shows that when you're hot you really shouldn't drink a lot'

i can understand why they banned it but the song was classic.... and i never even thought about the violent issue...... i dont know :p

So many camp songs are out there that reinforce racial stereotypes, particularly about American Indians (or Native Americans, if you prefer) and I really do not think those should be sung at camp. Same with songs that are blatantly sexist--even if they've been a tradition for eighty years. If your camp had a tradition that girls weren't allowed to do certain things the boys were allowed to do, wouldn't you want that changed? A lot of people will say about any song that they don't see why it's offensive--whether it's a racist or sexist issue--but it always depends on where you're coming from. We want camp to be comfortable for all children and staff members.

We also don't sing songs that are considered "vulgar," which is a harder one since we all have different ideas of what constitutes unacceptable vulgarity. (I don't like songs about "bodily functions," myself.) And definitely any song that jokes about suicide (my brother learned a couple at Boy Scout camp) is OUT.

Basically, I think a good guide is to ask yourself about any questionable song, "Will their parents be pleased when they sing it at home?"

I've been more sad to stop singing and teaching certain religious songs at my non-religious camp. Many of them are really beautiful, especially the rounds, but again, I know some parents would not be happy if their daughter came home singing about Ezekiel (a Biblical figure) or the Prodigal Son. I do sometimes teach these songs to the CITs, since they're old enough to understand that we learn them for purely musical reasons.

Aww, One Tin Soldier and the Beaver Song are two of my all-time favorites... sad that they're banned, especially because they seem innocent to me. The Beaver Song is just about the ANIMAL, if you teach it to a bunch of kids they're not gonna think anything of it. And One Tin Soldier... well... I just use it as a bedtime song, don't pay too much attention to the words - it's just pretty. And isn't it about Judgement Day?

"So go ahead and hate your neighbors,
Go ahead and cheat a friend.
Do it in the name of heaven,
You can justify it in the end.
Won't be any trumpets blowing
Come the JUDGEMENT DAY...
On the bloody morning after...
One tin soldier rides away."

Danni, some people in my youth group used to sing a song similar to that only it went like this: "When I was a little tot they put me on my wee wee pot to see if I could wee or not, wee wee, wee wee
And when they saw that I could not, they took me off my wee wee pot and then I gave it all I got, wee wee, wee wee
Wee wee, wee wee, wee wee wee wee wee wee, wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee wee!" Hehe, yeah excessive amounts of wees but I copied pasted. We sang "Baby Shark" a lot too. That was a fun song.

Wilderness mama" oh my goodness...i am so thrilled about the banning of City Girls! it was fun in the beginning, yes, but around the 300th time...ugh!
anyway, some of the songs that we have modified (they are not banned) are Daisy on My Toe: we had to change the part where it says "it's just a tattoo of a flower" to "It's just a PICTURE of a flower". also, in the hippo song we can't sing the second verse because it says "cake and candy that will make him fat"...apparently b/c it says fat. some of the reasoning is kinda ridiculous.

my counselor taught us "baby shark"! funny song that we ended up singing for the rest of our days as campers, haha! we also learned a new one this summer that someone learned from BBYO and taught it to her bunk- "D-I-S-C-O, don't you wanna disco" that one was cute. other than "baby shark" i haven't heard of any of the others you guys mentioned, and i think its a little annoying when the traditional songs are banned.

Texasmidnight, BABY SHARK, do-do-do-do-do-do...my camp picked that one up this summer and I'm in love with it also! Hmm...I don't think we've banned any of our songs...a favorite of the kids is called Three Jolly Fisherman...they get to yell "damn, damn, damn!" at the top of their lungs for one part...I think that's the most controversial one we've got. Although I have been known to "ban" the following few in my cabin... "I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves" along with "this is the song that never ends" more then once! LOL

Looking at camper's post above, it's crazy that BabyShark and D-I-S-C-O (along with Bazooka, zooka bubblegum) were the three new ones that caught on at my camp this year.

Actually, I think the bubble gum song (We sing "Badaroo Badaroo Bada Bubblegum" instead of "bazooka zooka", but I think it is the same) was kind of banned last summer. The campers are in love with it, but we didn't sing it until the last 2 weeks because it was so overdone. Baby shark is a great traditional song of ours. During swim time we always have 5 min. of counselor swim, and during that we always have a counselor cannonball contest then sing the baby shark song while we swim.

we do the baby shark song still. It's kinda like the Lit/Cit co-ordinators job to lead it. It's not that big but it's still fun.

...am surprised that you guys don't have more "banned songs." i guess my camp must be fairly unique in that department, we have a whole assortment of them. most include drinking, smoking, and drunken counselors. while the songs are officially banned, we still try to keep the knowledge of them alive when the director and older administrative staff aren't around...all in good fun!

hey on the song baby shark... here are the verses we sing at our camp, which ones of these do you guys sing too?
Baby Shark
Mama shark
daddy shard
gramma shark
grandpa shark
shark attack
lost my arm
lost my leg
swim in circles
lifeguard see
lifeguard save
That's the end
there aint no more
seriously guys

you may think we take it a bit too far, but the kids LOVE it, it's a good one to sing that takes up a lot of time before meals, plus the kids really get into it and dance around and stuff...
so we think it's fun

Our Baby Shark Verses:
Baby Shark
Mama Shark
Daddy Shark
Grandma Shark
Grandpa Shark
Going Swimming
Saw a Shark
Swimming faster
Shark Attack
Lost a leg
That's the end

our is:

baby shark
mamma shark
daddy shark
grampa shark
went swimming
shark attack
lost an arm
lost a leg
went unconscious (don't do the do-do-do's... just sit there unconscious)
call 9-1-1
try CPR
didn't make it
went to Heaven
didn't want me
came back as a ... baby shark

baby shark
mama shark
daddy shark
grandpa shark
person swimming
life gaurd watchin
see a shark
shark attack
lost a leg
life gaurd rowing
life gaurd saving
cpr
funeral (sad)
burialn (dig hole-fun)
went to heaven
maybe not (devil horns)

alternately, i've sang a version where the person lives but walks real funny

I really like this song (we sang it last weekend on our outdoor recreation trip for first year majors)

My turtle swims sideways
Your turtle swims upside down
My turtle swims sideways
cause your turtle is DEAD!

Sparklelicious, that song is so cute!!! is it to a tune I would recognize by any chance?

Baby shark, Brother shark, Mama shark, Daddy shark, Grandma shark, Surfer dude (pretend to be surfing, jumping from left to right), Shark attack, Lost an Arm, Lost a Leg, 911, CPR, Happy Shark, that the End.

The camps I have worked at haven't been all that big on the "traditional" camp songs I suppose- the only one I recognize, like camper, is the baby shark one and we renamed it baby jaws. We cut out anything that might have been violent- we just went from "shark attack" to "happy jaws" and left it at that. I worked at a day camp though so I can just imagine the complaints we would have gotten from some parents if we started talking about losing arms and legs to sharks.

haha we do baby, mama, daddy, grandpa, surfer, lost an arm, and then and the end we yell WIPEOUT! haha.

lol.. my camp's baby shark is really violent compared to yours...

there was a boy (dot dot do do do)
and a girl (dot dot do do do)
they went for a walk (dot dot do do do)
they took off their clothes (dot dot do do do)
they went for a swim (dot dot do do do)
and all was quiet (dot dot do do do)
and all was still (dot dot do do do)
EXCEPT FOR THR SHARKS (dot dot do do do)
the daddy sharks (dot dot do do do)
the mommy sharks (dot dot do do do)
the baby sharks(dot dot do do do)
the granny sharks (dot dot do do do)
and all was quiet (dot dot do do do)
and all was still (dot dot do do do)
they took off an arm (dot dot do do do)
the other arm (dot dot do do do)
and then a leg (dot dot do do do)
the other leg (dot dot do do do)
and then the head (dot dot do do do)
THE WATER WAS RED (dot dot do do do)
and all was quiet (dot dot do do do)
and all was still (dot dot do do do)
EXCEPT FOR THE SHARKS!!!

the girls love this song.. it was introduced summer of 2000 and it has been sung non stop since!

Turtlez, the turtle song is to the tune of Pomp and Circumstance (the graduation song), at least the way I know it.

ah, yes the shark song. Ours is baby, momma, daddy, granma, granpa, going swimming, see a shark, swim real fast, shark attack, lost a leg, go to heaven, the end. Of course, some cabins make up more about like meeting god and stuff- it's crazy.

Witchcraft was banned at our camp. Of course, most people still sing it- just not around the director. it's the last song we sing during devotion and most of the campers are asleep. And not to mention this is one of our biggest traditions singing this song.

The one we sang wasn't to any tunes that I recognized. If I get a chance I will record myself singing it an post it for you or something.

I don't remember what our verses were for Baby Shark...I think they contained a few here and there from many of yours! Another thing we did ALL the time was sing just a few lines from a Veggie Tales song "Oh where is my hairbrush! Oh wheeeeeeere is my hairbrush! Oh where oh where oh where oh where oh where oh where oh wheeeeeeere, is my hairbrush" And of course substitute in another word for whatever. Oh where is my backpack, stuff like that.
About the inappropriate songs...I was watching a camper video on a website awhile ago. The boys (about 10 years old) where doing sort of a spoof on American Idol and one of the boys was singing "Like A Virgin". Anyone else find this highly inappropriate?

hmmm. well, we have a whole handful of banned songs. "the cannibal king," "the bugler song," the "girl scout camp" song. basically anything that is pretty violent or says negative things about girl scouts... some of them i understand, some i find ridiculous. we've also had a move towards more non-denominational graces. this i really appreciate. every summer i find myself leading a lot of graces that i wouldn't even consider singing at home. i continue to sing them because, at least early in the summer, i'm one of the few staff members who really knows them. but i much prefer to sing the completely non-denomonational graces. my favorite being the simple "we love our bread, we love our butter, but most of all we love each other." short, sweet, and not at all religious.

Wow. Banning One Tin Soldier. Joan Baez would have a freak out. One Tin Soldier is actually not about judgment day, but how greed and competition makes the world unbearable. And how Peace on Earth would be a treasure.

I know we don't sing "Titanic" anymore (it was sad when the great ship went down to the bottom of the, husbands and wives little children lost their lives, it was sad when the great ship went down, etc.). All references to Native Americans are out.

Sadly, if we picked apart every camp song so many of them would be "banned." I think that's why we sing them with the premise of "it's a camp song, silly."

Lizz, they banned the girl scout camp song?!? Wow, crazy. I learned that at Scout camp as like a daisy and it was always a favorite. Do you still do the girl scout comb and a girl scout brush song? crazy crazy crazy....

What's the girl scout song?

There was one that was brought to us by a new counselor one year that the staff kind of fell in love with, and it seemed like the campers did too... a little too much (singing it non-stop)... so we ended up deciding to not sing it 'til later in the week for the rest of the summer. The song was "Sam, Sam the Lavatory Man" I don't know what we were thinking.

o jeezums, we used to sing it, except we used Stan. Thats one song i wouldn't have been surprised to see banned. never liked it much myself, but the kids tended to like it alot.

nebit, i think it's because our old program director doesn't like the song. and she just created a reason out of "negative" lyrics. and now it's one of the songs that no one knows, so it would take quite a while to come back... kind of like how 'dum dum da da' is banned from the dining hall because it's just so unbearably loud.

Oh gosh. "Sam Sam the outhouse man" has to be the most terrifying camp song ever. I learned it as a camper, but luckily that tradition never continued.

it's been about 5 years since I worked at camp... so I'm not really sure if they've banned any songs since then, but while I was there, the only songs that got banned were those that the counselors got sick of singing... and those would only be banned for the rest of the session.
We did sing Cannibal King, as well as Titanic... As long as the kids sing the "husbands and wives, little children lost their lives" instead of their favorite "uncles and aunts, little children lost their pants."
I agree that most camp songs are probably "ban-able" if they were to be picked apart...
Which got me thinking about one of my favorite songs... Okay.. I don't know the actual title of this song... but here it is...
On the 43rd of May, my Willie passed away.
He died a harder death than he'd ever died before.
He was sittin' in a chair, but he didn't like it there, so he got up, and died
Around the corner, under a tree,
Sgt. Major said to me...
Who would marry you, I would like to know,
cause every time I look at your face, it makes me want to go
Down by the Old Mill Stream
where I first met you
it was there I knew

okay it goes on and on, but that's where my memory gets a little rusty... basically its all little bits of songs put together into one long crazy song. but it ends with "and there was grandma, swinging on the outhouse door, without her nighty, waiting for the garbage man, he never showed up... swinging... on the... out... house... doooooor. She wears pajamas."

If you looked almost any part of that song on its own, it could be banned, but when you put them together you realize it is just about being silly... anyway, now its gonna kill me because i can't remember the rest of it, so please someone help me!!!!

Ahh! I've always heard it as "My Reindeer flys sideways, your reindeer flys upside down ... "

It's to the tune of the pomp and circumstance and I know that there's more to it -- something about wearing PJs and sleeping in the nude. Not the most appropriate song, but funny nonetheless.

The songs banned at my camp were generally songs that the counselors (or dean) just could not stand to listen to anymore. We never told the kids the song was banned, so if they remembered it from the previous year and started singing it we might just go along with it, but we tried our hardest not to bring it up. One song in particular that I remember loving at a camper that we banned last year was the bubble gum song, the chorus of which went a little something like this:

Na-na-na-na-na BUBBLEGUM!
Na-na-na-na-na BUBBLEGUM!
Na-na-na-na-na BUBBLEGUM!
I BOUGHT SOME BUBBLEGUM!

Sung while jumping up and down and spinning in circles. Ah, memories.

I think banning songs because someone somewhere in the world constues them as offensive is a travesty of justice. I know as a child some of my favorite songs were songs that are now banned at my camp. The Titanic song was my favorite. It still is my favorite. Charlottestown is burning down, the buffalo song, also the third verse of Desperado: "he went to coney island just to take in all the sights, he saw the hoochie coochie and the girls in purple lights, he got so darn excited that he shot out all the lights" whoa dirty. But when I was a child, I sang these songs blindly and never thought anything of it. I never even knew what hoochie coochie was. Songs like that are tradition I think banning them is robbing children nowadays of the joy of being a kid.

I think that banning songs because you just get tired of hearing them is ridiculous. I was told that the Bubblegum song was banned one summer, but really it was because someone was tired of hearing it. I taught it anyway. I don't think that children that come late in the summer should have to suffer just because the kids at the beginning of the summer already sang that song a bunch. Aren't we getting paid to suffer for these children?

Banning songs. I see not allowing vulgar or not very appropriate songs could be okay. I don't want to see or hear an 8 year old singing songs about certain things. I don't see where the Buffalo song, or a lot of other songs on this post should be banned. There is a limit of what is tolerable.

The thing at our camp is that we don't sing enough songs for one to be annoying. We have the traditional Pizza Man song, Pickle Story, Buffalo, about every 5th year the Titanic, Circle Game, Sugar Mountain, that are sung at our campfires. Needless to say the kids will sing the modern songs at campfires since we have a tradition of not singing "traditional" camp type songs. Yes we do screen for vulgarity and appropriateness since there are young ones there.

so i guess you guys wouldn't be hearing "shake your tail feather" on a ghetto blaster walking by a cabin???

we do a cheer that was started a few years ago (that our counselors taught my bunk, the whole camp caught onto it and we felt sooo cool lol) that originally went like this "we are camp blue ridge and we live in a hut, and if you don't believe us, just watch us shake our butt" well after the first day the whole camp did it in the mess hall, our old director decided she didn't like the word "butt" in a cheer so we changed it to "we are camp blue ridge and we live by a lake, and if you don't believe us, just watch us move and shake" and now every time we're in teams, the team changes the cheer to fit the team, so the banned word was for the better, now we get the funniest variations of that cheer!

Some "fem-a-Nazis" at my camp last summer got JIG-A-LO banned!!

We tried to switch it to "Rock the Show" but the campers were like, what the heck is going on here? Especially the campers who had been at the previous session when we sang Jigalo.

Meg

We sing it "wiggle-oh"--"jig-a-lo", which is how I had thought of it, doesn't seem bad at all, but someone pointed out that we probably shouldn't be sending the kids home singing "This is how I gigolo..." A few of the kids do come knowing it as jigalo or gigolo or whatever, but it's never been a big deal. It's such a great song and I'd hate to see it go--besides, it is really funny to hear a counselor singing about how it's time to "wig"...

we dont have to worry about that because we call it bugalow at my camp

We buff-a-low at my camp.

fem-nazis...hahahah


camp last year was like the camp version of PCU

Hey Lizzy, Is the cannibal king like the Zulu king? its about a king with a big nose ring and his sweetheart and they kiss and have lots of kids?

conformists!

My camp has "banned" Titanic out of respect for our british international staff's feelings who may have lost family members when it sank...

Banned songs from the 3 resident camps I have worked at the last 5 summers:
- Titanic
- Bubble Gum (though, I really love that song.)
- Little Sally Walker
- "They say Camp Concord..." I personally got this one re-banned, after a friend of mine and I found it in one of the song books. It basically pokes fun at every aspect of the camp, which is the worst camp I have ever worked at. My director put a ban on it real quick, but not before a couple of my girls had been flipping through the song book and remembered the song from when they were younger, before the director was there...let's just say hilarity ensued, and I had to mock-up some disgust and astonishment that anyone would sing that song. I was laughing on the inside, though.
- Georgie
- The last verse or so of the Crawdad song

Has anyone ever had skits banned? At the camp I was at last year, I guess there was this "mint milkshake" skit the year before that made some kid throw up, so it got banned forever. Another camp I worked at banned "Hole in My Bucket" (an acting-out of the irritating song), as well as Guava Hunt, because both skits kept getting dragged out and no one was paying attention at campfire anymore.
I can't imagine "One Tin Soldier" being banned. That's just going too far. You have to take it in context, and since the song is about peace and friendship, I don't think the whole song should be banned because of one line with the word "bloody."

Your camps still sign The Cat Came Back. My camp banned that so many years ago. A few years ago on the last day of staff week, the song leaders played it and then collected the copies of the words and burned it.

The Cat WILL NEVER Come Back to my camp!

Personally, I don't feel it's necessary to band the word god, lord or father out of graces or camp songs, if the Camp's mission statement promotes Christianity and its values. If parents send their kids to such camps, that promotes a higher power, they shouldn't be shocked or be complaing to the camp about using the words like god, lord etc. If the camper feels uncomfortable with saying the word god (given that we are in a camp that promotes Christian values), they could simply just not participate grace(s) or sing those songs, and be respectful to others who does particpate in those activites. The reason I say this is that if you are at someone's house where you are the guest, and if the host's family decides pray, you would not complain about it or stir up trouble. The polite thing to do is be silent and be respectful during that time.

The Cat Came Back? What are the words?

The Cat Came Back:
Well, old Mr. Johnson had troubles all his own. He had an old yellow cat that wouldn't leave home. Tried everything he knew to get the cat to stay away, even took him up to Canada and told him for to stay
Chorus:
But the cat came back the very next day they though he was a gonner but the cat came back 'cause he wouldn't stay away.
Well, they gave a boy a dollar for to set the cat afloat and he took him up the river in a sack in a boat. Now, the fishing it was fine till the news got around that the boat was missing and the boy was drowned
repeat chorus
Well, the farmer on the corner said he'd shoot him on sight and he loaded up his gun full of rocks and dynamite. The gun went off, heard all over town, little pieces of the man was all that they found
repeat chorus
Now, they gave him to a man going up in a balloon and they told him for to leave him with the man in the moon. The balloon it busted back to earth did head, seven miles away they picked the man up dead.
repeat chorus
Well, they finally found a way this cat for to fix they put him in an orange crate on route 66. Come a 10 ton truck with a 20 ton load, scattered pieces of the orange crate all up and down the road
repeat chorus
Well, they took him to the shop where the meat was ground and they dropped him in the hopper when the butcher wasn't 'round. Well, the cat disappeared with a black curdling streak and the towns meat tasted furry for a week
repeat chorus
And from Cape Canavarel they put him in a place, shot him in a rocket going way out in space and they finally thought the cat was out of human reach. Next day they got a call from Miami Beach that
repeat chorus

Here you go

at my home camp, very few songs are banned.. actually, I can't think of any.. Just Titanic.. cause no one knows the whole song anymore..

We sing it all: little green frog getting licked up by a dog to evreyone dies in songs! "death" songs.. those are sung too.. uhm-plucka-plucka (he went down to *cough cough* and sizzled and fried!)

I find it interesting that my camp doesn't ban songs, yet we ahve a policy about unusual peircings and odd hair colours..

i teach my older girls the songs so they dont get lost, and ask them to refrain from singing them in front of 1) little girls and 2) office staff...

particularly since it was found in the staff manual that they cannot ban camp songs, just suggest that they not be sung.

but this way everyone is happy, older girls learn songs, so they can be passed on, and office staff doesnt have to hear them

Hmmm...Never heard of it!! Thanks Melon

your welcome. it's actually pretty funny :p

The baby shark song!!! Hayfever, I can't believe you didn't say what it was really used for!!! Oh, if only the campers knew why they were being called baby sharks!!!

My first summer at camp there were a bunch of banned songs. Like Baby Shark, The Titanic, and Georgie... there were a lot more. Then I found out that the staff director at the time banned them because she just didn't like them, not because they were "bad" songs. Now we have a new director and staff director, so all of the songs are back.

- Teenster

baby sharks....

and i thought of another song they didn't want us singing at camp...

Rainbow Made of Children... something about the whole "I was taught that black was evil, I was taught that white was good" lyric.. in case anyone was wondering... heres the whole song at least as i remember it...

Chorus
We're a rainbow, made of children
We're an army, singing songs
There's no weapons that can stop us
Rainbow love is much too strong

I born in Alabama
Saying yes sir, to a man
-to a man
When I found out, it got me no where
Never said it again

Chorus

I was taught that black was evil
I was taught that white was good
-white was good
but in a rainbow made of children
every color's understood

chorus

Old man Tucker, had a rifle
Protecting Mama's apple pie
-apple pie
when i offered him a flower
he just stood there and asked me why

Chorus

Sigh. A song against racism, banned because it talks about racism... just like One Tin Soldier, a song about peace, being banned because it contains violence...

My very favorite camp song was banned when i was in like 5th grade (i'm in 9th now) It's called the pink pajama song see if you all no it

I wear my pink pajamas in the summer when it's hot,
And i wear my flannel undies in the winter when its not,
but sometimes in the early spring and sometimes in the fall i jump into the sheets with nothing on at all.

And it goes on. i know that some parents complained and i can see why but it really stincks when they ban your favorite traditon

My very favorite camp song was banned when i was in like 5th grade (i'm in 9th now) It's called the pink pajama song see if you all no it

I wear my pink pajamas in the summer when it's hot,
And i wear my flannel undies in the winter when its not,
but sometimes in the early spring and sometimes in the fall i jump into the sheets with nothing on at all.

And it goes on. i know that some parents complained and i can see why but it really stincks when they ban your favorite traditon

So I didn't know that baby shark was on the ban list when we had one but i guess i learn something new everyday. I do know that the
frog song was and the buffalo song and pink pjs and pretty much every song it seemed like and the ones that weren't were sung so much they should have been , i am happy that they can't really ban those songs and that we can still sing them

There are a couple of songs that I know of that are banned from my camp. There's one grace, the Johnny Appleseed grace that's banned because it supposedly causes rain, but we still do it occasionally to tease other campers. THe only other song that I know of is "I wish I was a fascinating lady" that I learned "accidentally" when I was 9 by listening in on my counselors conversation

If we need rain though, the song ban is "lifted" for Johnny.

And Quirky---what is this "fascinating lady" song? You'll have to sing it for me, I dunno what you're talking about!

Yeah, I refused to ban that song. We sang it on old side all of the time! I heard it at a camp fire the one year banning was so bad that we had a "banned songs theme" for a closing fire... I immediately fell in love with it! And the froggy song? Whelll, we sang that all the time too, only Spider was kinda um... paraniod about that and would tell the kids off over additionall lyrics like "pop in the microwave" and such... she did that before dinner once...to all of old side....oh dear.

lets see...
--One Tin Soldier
--Georgie
--Dunderbeck
--Boy and a girl in a little canoe
--Bunny Wunny
--dead moose
--weiner man
--pick a bale of hay
--the salad canoe verse of the K.A. song
--the second verse of the intern song

This wasn't a song, but rather a "cheer" and I can't recall the last time it was even used in the dinning room. I think it may get tauted out once a summer for nostalgia purposes!

One person: 3 claps on 3 "1 -2 -3" (clap clap clap)
Two more - (clap clap)
and one - (clap)
All of boys side: BUSH!

I'm surprised it lasted this long!

bump!

da moose song is pretty much banned at my camp (da moose, floating in the water, not eating his supper, but where did he go?, he decomposed). a lot of the dancing songs are for the most part banned (little sally walker, jig-a-lo). the buffalo song, too. we still sometimes sing them if they are requested, but i think they are slowing trying to get rid of them.

songs about things dying or explictly talking about sexual subjects, i believe, are ok to not sing. however, songs that might be sexual, or are questionably anything, should be kept (like little sally walker). seriously, most of the kids are too little to think like that...and anything can really be seen in a bad way if one was to try hard enough.

wow i guess my camp just really doesnt care at all! we aparently have some really naughty songs that seem to be a-ok at our camp. most of the girls cheers bash the boys and most of the boys cheers are sexual. ..most of the girls cheers are sexual too lol. no one has ever seemed to care. but most people dont learn these cheers until like maybe 6th grade? the little kids have much more appropriate cheers.. i think?

this is by far our worst.... (6th- 8th graders)

We are juvenille delinquents
We roam the streets from 2 to 4 AM
We smoke with the sailors
And we drink with the bums
We wait on the corner til the pick up comes
Cause we are juvenille delinquents
We never go to bed alone
Move over Harry
The zippers on the other side (250 please)
The customer is always right (say it again)
The customer is always right
WE GIVE (clap clap)
GREAT SEX (clap clap)
WERE A BUNCH OF HORNY PEOPLE!

heres another:
boom boom were proud to be unit 3
boom boom dont you think were sexy
boom boom were proud to be unit 3
arent you arent you arent you

boom boom we never do what were told
boom boom we think were too damn old
boom boom were proud to be unit 3
arent you arent you arent you

we stay up late at night
you know whats on our minds SEX
hanging in teen village
away from our own kind THEYRE LOSERS

boom boom were proud to be unit 3
boom boom dont you think were sexy
boom boom were proud to be unit 3
arent you arent you arent you


theres another song thats something like:
unit 3 girls are filled to the brim
weve got vitality of vodka and gin
yip yip yip yip vodka and gin
yip yip yip yip vodka and gin

and then i know another verse is something about 'our units better cause we make out the best' dont remember all the words its been years since i was a camper and i work in the younger units.

oh i love camp! haha

wow, i can't believe your camp allows that to be a cheer that the kids do!

never, ever would i allow anyone to sing that song at my camp.

do the parents know you sing that? i find it hard to believe that parents would be ok with...

honestly its all in good fun. the staff doesnt mind, the kids obviously dont either. it doesnt promote that kind of behavior its just jokingly. our campers are very well behaved.. as for their parents.. well i'm not really sure. mine knew but obviously didnt care. im sure some know some dont. the only kids that sing these cheers are older campers.

having said, i find it kind of ridiculous to ban songs and cheers. camp is about having fun, joking and laughing. if you honestly think your campers don't talk about these things anyway then youre crazy. listen to the music blasting in their cabins and at the socials. dont they ask you crazy inapropriate questions that you refuse to answer? of course they do, and then they ask their friends. theyre teenagers, theyre crazy, these things are on their minds and most of all.. they are at camp, theyre allowed to have fun. some of my favorite memories as a camper are from sing these ridiculous songs. singing a silly song is hardly harmful. in my honorable (liberal) opinion

ummm, last summer my campers were 6th graders and they didn't talk about being "juvenile delinqents" and "sleeping with a different person every night." that's pushing it...some kids that age probably don't even know what "horny" means...it doesn't make your campers feel uncomfortable when they sing that? and what happens when they go home and sing those songs to their parents? i can't see that happening and going over very well.

I don't believe that song or cheer or whatever it is real, nor would I believe any responsible director would every allow that.

believe it or not theyre some of our cheers. no ones ever seen it as a big deal, but if you are so offended.. if you like i can delete the posts.

i really am sorry if it offends you and i swear my camp is credible and wonderful. ive been to several camps over the years and id say this one is virtually problem free. but like i said, if you really are offended i can delete the post- but it is a real cheer.

haha no whostolemyloofa it's fine that cheer just has some shock value that i can't see ever being allowed...but hey every camp is different, so props to yours for being so open!

no worries--really---no need to delete the post....it's all good

I loved reading all of your banned songs and not so banned songs! I absolutely love 4-H summer camp, proven by the fact that this will be my 37th straight year attending, We go to Marin County's 4-H Summer Camp at Las Posadas State Forest in Angwin California. OK so I have dated myself, but oh well. Therefore, as you can see I too do not like change! We have not really had to ban any songs yet, although we did have to eliminate “butt writing” for a few years, as someone did get a bit offended. For those of you who do not know what butt writing is, a camper (*preferably a staff member) stands with their back to the group and has to spell a word using their bottom. This is usually "punishment” for something serious like forgetting to wear your nametag! The one song that the kids just love I have been expecting to be banned for years but has no happened yet!
Oh Lord Chester
Oh Lord Chester, please do not touch me.
Oh Lord Chester, please do not touch me,
Oh Lord Chester, please do not touch me,
As I lie beneath the burning white sheets with nothing on at all!

The song continues on, each time leaving off one word. By the end of the song, the kids are screaming Oh Lord Chester Please do….
Followed by Oh Lord…

Then of course Oh!

Half of the kids have no idea why this is such a favorite song or really what it implies, but they are caught up in the craziness of the older kids.

Makes me laugh every time!

We have had to revise how we play Chubby Bunny due to reports of kids choking and actually dying because of cramming too many marshmallows into their mouths. We only allow the adults to play this game, oh boy!

Thanks for sharing your stores. Eileen
:p

Does the one that talks about beating up the devil go like this?:

"If I had a little white box to put my Jesus in
I'd take Him out and *kiss* *kiss* *kiss*
And share Him with a friend.

But if I had a little black box to put the devil in
I'd take him out and *SMASH HIS FACE*
And put him back again."

If so, we sing that all the time at my camp, everyone thinks its a lot of fun.

Oh my! We sing:
If I had a little red box,
to put all the campers in,
I'd take them out,
and (bam bam bam hitting fists in tables),
and put them right back again
followed by:
around the water tank you must go, you must go, you must go, around the water tank you must go, you were naughty (to the tune of London Bridge is Falling Down)
We have a water tank up on a small hill above our dining hall that they then need to go around. This is used for someone putting their elbows on the table as well:

Joe, Joe strong and able,
get your elbows off the table,
this is not a horse's stable,
but a decent dining table,
around the water tank you must go.......


In the little red box song, "the campers" is subistuted with "the boys", or " the girls", or "the staff" and my worst one to hear "the adults".

Guess you can figure out I am an adult!

We can still sing this one, although I am sure somewhere down the line it may ruffle someone's religious feathers!

This is a repeat after me song:
Oh you can't get to heaven,
On roller skates,
Cuz you'll roll right through,
Those pearly gates

Oh, you can't get to heaven,
In a Kleenex Box,
Cuz the Lord don't want,
No little snots

Oh, you can't get to heaven,
In a hula skirt,
Cuz the Lord aint got,
No time to flirt

Oh, you can't get to heaven,
In Mike's old car (Insert the camp director's name here)
Cuz Mike's old car,
Stops at every bar

Oh you can't get to heaven
On a pair of skis,
Cuz you'll slide right through,
St. Peter's knees

Oh if you get to heaven,
Before I do,
Just cut a hole,
And pull me through

Oh if I get to heaven,
Before you do,
I'll cut a hole,
And spit on you!

I know this is an old song that has been around for years; does anyone else have any verses to add?

we do the oh you'll never get to heaven song..

one of the brits years ago did it and whenever the counselors would sing it we would all do her british accent..


and the mountaineering club i joined in ireland does the chester song on the bus... but its more funny when you have 18-24 year olds doing the song
but never at camp would i do that one..

When I was at Girl Scout camp as a camper in the eighties, we sang Ms. Effie and Screwball ("old screwball was a racehorse.....he always drank wine")



As a counselor at a Private traditional camp, they had banned Titanic, the Russian song, and superman grace(because it was reverent or something). My family does the family camp program now and we sing Just a Boy and a Girl, the Beaver Song, Buffalo song, and Bazooka.



Back in the day, if I heard a song on the radio at camp that wasn't appropriate we would just say TNC (That's not camp) to let whoever know it wasn't cool.

Does anyone still sing Shaving Cream? This one is always big hit, especially with the 9-12 year old boys!

My father, he works in the sewer,
He works everyday in the grit, grit, grit,
And when he comes home in the evening,
He face is all covered with
Shhhhhhaving cream

(Chorus)
Shave everyday and you'll always be clean,
"Shave everyday with shaving cream

The baby fell out of the window,
We though he was going to hit, hit, hit.
But fortunately for the baby,
He fell in a bucket of,
Shhhhhhaving cream

(Chorus)

My grandmother died in the bathtub,
She died form a terrible fit, fit, fit,
According to her last wishes,
She wished to be buried in,
Shhhhhhaving cream

(Chorus)

The Titanic song has been banned at my camp... cause ya know, it's a really upbeat song, about the deaths on the Titanic the chorus goes like this:
"Oh, it was sad__ (oh, it was sad),
Oh, it was sad__ (oh, it was sad),
It was sad when the great ship went down to the bottom of the sea__
(Husbands and wives, little children lost their lives)
It was sad when the great ship went down."
So I'm pretty ok with having banned this song, I'm the director this year and I plan on enforcing it.

We don't really ban songs that i'm aware of. We'll sometimes... limit... songs during certain sessions if they are over sung but if the girls really want to sing it we'll do it.

There are quite a few songs that are banned at my camp, but I don't know what all of them are. The "Three Little Indians" song was, "Buffalo" was for a little while, and a couple graces were banned.

Honestly, I really wish people would stop blaming every song ban on people being "oversensitive." Banning a song because it teaches kids stereotypes is -not- "oversensitive." I don't really care if it's "tradition" or "just a song," those things have no place in an environment which is supposed to be diverse.

we don't do graces anymore. which makes me sad because they were definitely a comforting tradition. and a fun tradition, too. now we do "meal appreciation," which are quotes from poems and songs and what not. they didn't really go over well last year. maybe i'll protest. "WE WANT GRACES! BRING BACK JOHNNY APPLESEED! AND THE ADDAMS FAMILY GRACE!"

We still do Johnny Appleseed, both verses! hey, what is the Adamm's Family grace? I'm always looking for new ones! So far, we can still do grace! Thanks, Eileen

wishy washy washer woman, hambone, Gigalo game, and one of the verses of Spiders web are banned at my camp

at my camp there are a lot of songs that we cant sing. we banned hooka tooka because people read to far into it and came to the conclusion that it makes too many innapropriate references. we banned the last verse to ole' ola because people claim she commited suicide. we cahnged the boy and a girl in a little canoe song so that the girl ends up getting out and swimming. we cant sing the second half to the donut song. and there are a bunch of songs that are unoffically banned for short peroids of time just because they get annoying. we also changed a lot of the prayers so that instaed of saying lord we say world ("we thank you lord for giving us food" is now "we thank you world for giving us food") which doesnt really make sence to me because as someone said earlier if the type of camp values religion then there shouldnt be an issue and it is a girl scout camp. i cant think of any others though.

Girl Scouts promotes spiritual values, not religion, and saying "Lord" is religion-specific... but I'm repeating myself here, so...

I'm curious, what's your last verse to "O-le O-la" (we call it "Suitors")? I've heard a bunch of different versions. Oh, and what's your second verse to the doughnut song?

I remember when I was studying for my CIT test (reading over the staff manual) and found page 103: "...council cannot ban songs." Ah... my group sang every banned song at the top of our lungs in the showerhouse that night. Good memories. Anyway, Hayfever already covered some, and most of them are the same as others':
Titanic, Pink pajamas, Buffalo Song (although not so much anymore), Green Frog (just the 2nd verse, though, again, not so much anymore...)... I can't think of any more.
OK, I lied: Rainbow Made of Children, Suitors, Rose, My Little Pony (I miss Ape), mm-Plucky-Plucky.
Of course, these songs are still in my CIT ntoebook and I plan on teaching them to the CITs thisyear, just to keep them alive.

One we don't sing during teen week is 'big white pony' just because it has actions in it and some of the teens tend to make them inapropriate actions.

We don't really have any banned songs now. Sometimes we'll change lyrics like in "The Other Day I met a Bear" we changed 'Aint got any gun' to 'Aint havin any fun' We had a bad director a few years back who banned a ton of songs for dumb reasons (This woman banned the Tajar Tales) Now though we don't have any really banned songs, were just encouraged to use good judgement.

We had a huge song banning rampage at one of the camps I worked at 10 years ago, then things settled down for a while, and it seems they are back on a rampage. Songs which have been banned or altered at my camps include:

Titanic
Rainbow Children
One Tin Soldier
A boy and a girl in a little canoe
Louise (the elephant song)
Ann Marie and John Pierre
Dona, Dona
Georgie
I love little Willy
C-H-I-C-K-E-N (the second verse only)
The billboard song
Grandma's in the Cellar
Misty Song (because it makes kids homesick)
Ezekial
Father Abraham
Singing in the Rain
The Zulu King
Wishy Washy Washerwoman
The Buffalo and his Brother
O'Leary

I'm sure there are at least a dozen more, but that's all I could think of.

does the spiders web go like:

its a web like a spiders web
make of silk and light and shadow
spun by the moon in my room at night

i cant really remember all of it...havent been to camp yet this summer...im finally a CIT, cant wait...

about the reigndeer flying sideways, and the turtle floating, ours goes like this:

my froggy is pur-ple
your froggy is UG-LY GREEN!
my froggy is pur-ple
your froggy is DEAD! HA!

my froggy eats pancakes
your froggy eats CORN MEAL MUSH!
my froggy is pur-ple,
your froggy's still DEAD! HA!

we dont ban songs much, only if they're oversung...

the adams family grace:
we thank the earth(lord) for giving
the food we need for living
the air we need for breathing,
the earth(lord) is good to me.

a-men! *snap snap*
a-men! *snap snap*
a-men! a-men! a-men! *snap snap*

I remember doing a version of the shark song which says...

"Baby shark...(all the way till you lose every limb)..."
after you lost each limb...

"Six Feet Under. Doo doo Doo doo
Six Feet Under. Doo doo Doo doo"
(while doing this you bounce happily like you are a corpse in a casket).

"Worms and Magots. Doo doo Doo doo
Worms and Magots. Doo doo Doo doo"
(while singing this you do jazz hands up and down your face to mimic worms and magots on your face--Graphic Egh ).

we can't sing johnny appleseed anymore for grace cuz at the end we say yeehaw instead of amen.

At my camp, we do:

Shaving Cream
Little Green Frog (all the verses)
Three Jolly Fishermen (Amsterdam)
Pink Pajamas
Baby Shark

At my camp, we do:

Shaving Cream
Little Green Frog (all the verses)
Three Jolly Fishermen (Amsterdam)
Pink Pajamas
Baby Shark

but we never sing them for parent programs.

We used to have a lot of songs banned but when the new director came most all the bans were lifted. The only two we really don't sing are Desperado and She sat on her Veranda (Um Plucka Plucka).

Why is Father Abraham banned at so many camps?

good question. I know why we have banned Oh Lord Chester, but only when the kids are around. Father Abraham isn't bad at all.

Well, because Father Abraham is religious, and many of us work at non-religious camps. Perhaps people used to sing it at the camp without really thinking about it--and sometimes people who've worked at other kinds of camps bring such songs over, not understanding that it isn't appropriate in that setting. Hence, a "ban".

Father Abraham wasn't banned at my camp. In fact we sang it quite a bit, and we are a Girl Scout camp.

Come to think of it, I can't think of any songs that are banned...

- Teenster

when we were told that Father Abraham was not to be sung due to its religious connotation, we found out that it was because of the line, "So let's all praise the Lord". So then we changed the line to "So let's all go like this!"

Problem solved!

"Let's all praise the Lord" is the blatant part, for sure, but "Father Abraham" is still religious (Abraham fathered the seven tribes--he's part of the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic tradition).

I guess our version is a bit different because there isn't the line in it "so lets all praise the Lord" I am assuming that comes at the end of each verse and we say "All they did was go like this" followed by each additonal gesture.

Oh ours isn't religious at all!

Ours goes:

Father Abraham had seven sons (seven sons)
Seven sons had father Abraham
And they never laughed (haha)
And they never cried (boo hoo)
All they did was go like this.. (to me right...) and they you wave your right hand and sing it again..

So I guess if you sand my camp's version it wouldn't be banned.

No, as I said before, the reference to Father Abraham having seven sons is definitely religious.