Jumbo Elephant
This is a song the teacher taught us in kindergarten or first grade:
Jumbo Elephant, Jumbo Elephant,
You have such a great long nose,
Jumbo Elephant, Jumbo Elephant,
It reaches to your toes.
Jumbo Elephant, Jumbo Elephant,
You live in a great big zoo,
Jumbo Elephant, Jumbo Elephant,
We'll come and visit you.
There was also a song about a giraffe, but I quickly forgot that one.
Jumbo Elephant, Jumbo Elephant,
You have such a great long nose,
Jumbo Elephant, Jumbo Elephant,
It reaches to your toes.
Jumbo Elephant, Jumbo Elephant,
You live in a great big zoo,
Jumbo Elephant, Jumbo Elephant,
We'll come and visit you.
There was also a song about a giraffe, but I quickly forgot that one.
posted by Stephen at 12/11/2009 10:14:00 PM
12 Comments:
Do you have any idea what song book that song came from?
I'm sorry, but I don't know what source the teacher used for the songs. They could have come from a book, or a magazine, or music sheets, or been something the teachers passed around, or something she saw on TV, or something else. The song, as I have written it in the post, is from memory. The time period when I heard it would have been in the 1958-1960 area. I'm sorry I can't be more helpful.
Both the "Jumbo Elephant" song and the "Funny Giraffe" song are from a songbook called "My Picture Book of Songs." My mom taught us songs from it when we were kids. "Jumbo" was one of our favorites :)
http://deseretbook.com/My-Picture-Book-Songs-Songbook-50th-Anniversary-Edition-Erla-Young/i/3484044
Thank you for that information, Marie. It's good to finally know, after all these years, where the songs came from.
I remember singing "Jumbo" in Primary and Sunday School from the '50s and 60s.
Thank you thank you thank you for clearing up a fifty year mystery for me! My kindergarten teacher Mrs. Claxton used to play the song on the piano for us at Grovecenter School (circa 1963) in West Covina, California. The tune has stayed in my head but many of the words were lost--until now!
Yesterday I had to laugh
because I saw a big giraffe
He had a neck so very high
It reached way up into the sky.
My mom used to sing this to me, and weirdly I've also heard my mother in-law sing it. I'm from Arizona so it might be more popular in this area of the states.
I have searched for this for 60 years! Whirly Twirly and Jumbo Elephant. SOOOO grateful to you all. Buying the book TODAY.
Erla Young was an award-winning Utah artist who did the illustrations. Alene Dalton wrote the lyrics and Myriel Ashton composed the music. The book book was originally published in 1947 by MA Donohue & Company. As Erla later explained, it was during WWII and Alene had just started a preschool. It was a very fearful environment and this new teacher was looking for material to “brighten their spirits.” She turned to her friends Erla, whose husband Brigham would survive the Battle of the Bulge, and Myriel, whose husband was in the naval battles of the South Pacific. Radio voice and patriot Kate Smith, “Uncle Sam’s counterpart” had encouraged women to share what they were doing for the war effort. She was contacted by these three and shared their project with her “vast listening audience”-which is probably why children all over eventually had access to the songs. (Information From Erla Young’s letter to her friends along with the gift of a copy of the 50th Anniversary Edition, 1997)
http://gombessa.tripod.com/scienceleadstheway/id31.html
The link is words/music & picture taken right out of the book
Good Lord, the damn Elephant Song. It, along with Milton Kaye's Circus Band song has been stuck in my head for well over 50 years.
2nd or 3rd Grade. Lincoln School. Prescott Arizona.
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