Songs of Nostalgia

The other day I was talking to my mentor when her intern was in the classroom. He pulled out some random music fact about J. S. Bach, and we're like, "How do you know that?" He said that he remembered it from a song he sang in grade school choir, called "The Music Fact Rap."

At which point I started singing.

"The Music Fact Rap is fun to sing.
The beat is rock and lyrics swing.
You can snap your fingers,
clap your hands,
dance to the rhythm of a hundred bands."

Granted, it's been since 5th grade for me (in Germany), but I remember most of the words (so this may not be exact). He was amazed at this, for he had never heard of anyone else who knew the song. So, we sang little snippets.

"Babbit, Bartok, Berrio, Boulet, and Berg, you see."
"Legato means smoothly; Staccato means short. Short. Short short short.
"Fermata means hooooooooooold the noooooooooooooote loooooooooonnnnnnger."

Anyway, I've looked all over the Internet to find the lyrics, but they are not to be found. Now, if I wanted to indulge in some nostalgia, I could purchase the music and CD for $15, but at this point, it's really not worth it. Maybe when Elsie is older. :)

So this reminded me of another nostalgic song that I thought I was the only person to know (my family excepted), and that's the birthday song. When I was little, perhaps when we lived in New York (?), my parents bought me this record of a birthday song that they would play on my birthday...for many years.

"This is Space Command to Erin." Those words woke me up on my birthday for years.

"My name is Zoom and I live on the moon. I came down to Earth just to sing you this tune, because, Erin, it's your birthday--TODAY!" And on and on about the different aliens he wanted to get me.

Anyway, I got into a conversation about this with a co-worker once when I lived in Austin, and she told me her brother Mark had that SAME record (except it didn't say Erin, it said Mark). I was amazed! No one has ever heard this song.

So, with these things in mind, there are some songs from 5th grade choir that I still sing when I'm in the car by myself, but I don't know more than 1 verse. I don't know the title. I don't know anything. So, if you know these songs, could you let me know?

Song #1 (I tried out for a solo and didn't get it. That was the last time I sung by myself in front of people until I tried out for the musical when I was 28):

"When I was home in Scarlet Town, I had a single dream:
to sail away across the seas to lands I'd never seen.
I longed for new adventures, a land to call my own,
but I never thought I'd ever leave home."

It came from a series of songs about sailors and sailing and stuff.

and Song #2:

"It's not fun to feel bad. We don't want you looking sad. Try a happy face and you'll be glad you let us chase your blues away."

On that note (ha), I'm the last one in bed. Goodnight!