Mike Whitla’s Blog

Origin of the song “When You’re One”

Ok here is another song that I have no idea where it came from. The lyrics I sing are:

When you’re one, one, one.
Tap on your bum, bum, bum.
When you’re two, two, two.
Tap on your shoe, shoe, shoe.
When you’re three, three, three.
Tap on your knee, knee, knee.
When you’re four, four, four.
Tap on the floor, floor, floor
When you’re five, five, five.
Tap on your thigh, thigh, thigh.
When you’re six, six, six.
Tap with your sticks, sticks, sticks.

Though I have heard also this version

When you’re one, one, one.
Tap on your bum, bum, bum.
When you’re two, two, two.
Tap on your shoe, shoe, shoe.
When you’re three, three, three.
Tap on your knee, knee, knee.
When you’re four, four, four.
Tap on the floor, floor, floor
When you’re five, five, five.
Tap on your thigh, thigh, thigh.
When you’re six, six, six.
Tap with your sticks, sticks, sticks.
When you’re seven, seven, seven
Tap up to heaven, heaven heaven.
When you’re eight, eight, eight.
Tap on the gate, gate, gate.
When you’re nine, nine, nine.
Tap right in time, time, time.
When you’re ten, ten, ten.
Just start again, gain, gain.

I know Bob McGrath from sesame St. sings this I think on one of his cds called “Songs & Games For Toddlers”. But his words are different and he also credits it to Public Domain.
He sings:

When you’re one, one, one,
Tap on your thumb, thumb, thumb. (not as much fun as my words)
Anybody else know anything about this song?

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 at 8:24 pm and is filed under Music, Song Origins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.