I sang this over and over and over and over again, verse by verse, while swinging in our backyard. I must have driven our neighbors CRaZy! I then brought my friends over, and we would sing on the swings and sing it some more. “OMG! When will those kids go and play inside???”
I thought about the ruts in the road that must have been made as the wagons pulled her around. So I wrote the verses in such a way as to try and create the “look” of ruts with the lettering….
She’ll be coming’ around the mountain when she comes.
– Traditional Railroad Song
She’ll be coming’ around the mountain when she comes.
She’ll be coming’ around the mountain.
She’ll be coming’ around the mountain.
She’ll be coming’ around the mountain when she comes.
(Each verse is sung five times before moving to the next verse.)
She’ll be driving six white horses when she comes…
She’ll be shining bright as silver when she comes…
She will neither rock or totter when she comes…
Oh! We’ll all go out to meet her when she comes…
Now you can understand why our neighbors might have gotten a bit fed up. This tune could go on for hours! I have no idea where I learned it, yet it was buried in my brain…and here it is again!
I wonder if kids in school today sing? I would hope they do, yet not sure they do. I know I had chorus in fourth grade, do they still have chorus in school? Ya’ know, where every kid has to sing – even the tone deaf ones!?! It was like math, or reading, or social studies. Everyone did it, and not everyone was good at it. Yet we did it and sang these weird songs, that found their way into the car for family car trips…which was the inspiration for my Inktober this year.
Looking back it feels like a rather idyllic childhood. There was no internet, or World Wide Web. There were no cell phones, or many portable radios yet. You had to make up your own games, and most of the time my Mom had no idea where we were or what we were doing. As long as we were home for dinner on time, and washed our hands, we were good to go! Today a Mother who let their children roam unsupervised would probably be reported to Child Services for neglect.
I feel sorry for kids today as they have not had to learn how to fend for themselves, entertain themselves, or handle the neighborhood kids without a scheduled play date. We learned respect, how to tell time and keep it, how to respect people’ property AND how to be responsible for our actions. If we got in trouble, one of the neighbors would tell our Mom, and you never wanted THAT! So you did what was expected – most of the time – and followed the rules…again, most of the time.
This tune reminds me of a time when kids were allowed to be kids. When they played games they made up, sorted out the neighborhood scuffles, and made friends or enemies depending upon whether or not they liked the kid…and somewhere in all of this there was always a dog following us. It was idyllic, peaceful and a cherish time.
So she’ll be coming’ round the mountain again soon, I hope. And maybe next time I’m in the car with the next generations I will teach them this song. Which will of course yield a lot of eye rolling and ear buds very quickly put into ears….but I’ll have fun!
