"Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-aye," sixth-grader Shika Duncan sang on the playground at Stevens Elementary School. "Oh - something, something - what a wonderful day."
She, like many Americans, can't remember the words to songs that have become an important part of this country's culture.Seeking to help them remember - or teach them for the first time - the Music Educators National Conference has compiled a list of 42 tunes they think all Americans should know. (See box at right.)
The list includes patriotic songs like "The Star-Spangled Banner," "America the Beautiful" and "This Land is Your Land."
There are American folk songs, Negro spirituals, a Jewish celebration song, a Japanese folk melody and such favorites as "Amazing Grace," "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain," "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" and "If I Had a Hammer."
Imagine actress Julie Andrews singing "Do-Re-Mi" in "The Sound of Music," or an Irish tenor belting out "Danny Boy." Both are on the list.
"We have a whole generation that has grown up without singing songs like these - songs that are part of our culture, part of who we are," said Will Schmid, president of the 90-year-old group representing 65,000 music educators nationwide.
People need to start singing again in neighborhoods, homes, churches, schools, ballparks, Scout troops and summer camps, Schmid said in launching a nationwide "Get America Singing . . . Again" campaign at the group's convention this week in Kansas City, Mo.
The conference slogan is: "It's not over until the audience sings."
At the Washington D.C. elementary school Wednesday, Erica Quinlan, a fifth grader, led her friends in several verses of "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing." But she conceded that she only knew half of the "Star-Spangled Banner."
They sang: "He's got the whole world, in his hands . . . he's got the whole world in his hands." But their voices trailed after "He's got the little, bitty baby in his hands."
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Know these songs!
"Amazing Grace"
"America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)"
"America the Beautiful"
"Battle Hymn of the Republic"
"Blue Skies"
"Danny Boy"
"De Colores"
"Dona Nobis Pacem"
"Do-Re-Mi"
"Down by the Riverside"
"Frere Jacques"
"Give My Regards to Broadway"
"God Bless America"
"God Bless the U.S.A."
"Green, Green Grass of Home"
"Havah Nagilah"
"He's Got the Whole World in His Hands"
"Home on the Range"
"I've Been Working on the Railroad"
"If I Had a Hammer"
"Let There Be Peace on Earth"
"Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing"
"Michael (Row the Boat Ashore)"
"Music Alone Shall Live"
"My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean"
"Oh! Susanna"
"Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin"'
"Over My Head"
"Puff the Magic Dragon"
"Rock-A-My Soul"
"Sakura"
"Shalom Chaverim"
"She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain"
"Shenandoah"
"Simple Gifts"
"Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child"
"The Star-Spangled Banner"
"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"
"This Land Is Your Land"
"This Little Light of Mine"
"Yesterday"
"Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah"