Earlier this year an not-for profit off-shoot of Rainbow Songs was founded. The purpose of this organization is to bring the same high quality music programs that Rainbow Songs is famous for to people that do not have the means to experience them. So the Rainbow Songs Foundation runs Rainbow Songs programs for families staying in shelters in the GTA. Earlier this year we applied for charitable status so we could issue tax receipts for donations. This week we found out that we have been approved. Please click on the picture above to see the work we have been doing. If you would like to donate please use this button:

Four White Horses (words I learned from Doug Goodkin)

Four white horses by the river
Hey, hey, hey, up tomorrow.
Up tomorrow is a rainy day.
Come on and join our shadow play.

Shadow play is a ripe banana.
Hey, hey, hey, up tomorrow.
Up tomorrow is a rainy day.
Come on and join our shadow play.

I think more likely words are:

Four white horses by the river
Hey, hey, hey, hope tomorrow.
Hope tomorrow is a rainy day.
Come on into the shallow bay.

Shallow bay has a ripe banana.
Hey, hey, hey, hope tomorrow.
Hope tomorrow is a rainy day.
Come on into the shallow bay.

Anybody know where this song is from?
I would love to hear about other versions or stories about the song. As always please feel free to post your lyrics or comments below.

Jessica Vigars- Vocals and percussion
Joshua Engel - Vocals and Bass
Chris Cawthray - Drums
and Me singing and playing guitar

The band will play family oriented concerts and we have our first ones booked already at the famous Gladstone Hotel in Toronto.
If you and your family want to come please check here for tickets:

Ok before you start recording you first need to have your song. For this process I am using the song “Some Like it Hot” a folk rhyme from England that was turned into a folk rhyme in Trinidad. I have been singing the song for a while and have adapted myself from the Trinidadian version. Then you need  to get your musicians rehearsed. For the rehearsals you need sheet music I have been using a program called sibelius to do this. It is a nice music notation program which I have just started using and seems to work quite well. I made an arrangement that has drums, bass, guitar, and several vocal parts for the band to read in rehearsal and recording sessions.
This song will have the following instrumentation:
Drums
Bass
Guitar (several guitar parts 4-8 different tracks and sounds)
Voice (about 5 different parts)
Horns (probably 3-5 different saxophones and brass instruments though I might not use em)

The first part of the recording is to get good takes of the “bed tracks”. In this case this means the rhythm section, bass and drums. I will play guitar as well and have it recorded but the most important part in this first part is to get a good foundation to build on.
Then the day before I had studio time booked I had a rehearsal with the bass player and drummer to make sure we sound tight. The guys I worked with on this occasion are, David Monis (drums) and Kevin Cooke (bass). I have found that with professional musicians it can work really well to have the rehearsals and recording next to each other as the material will be fresh in their minds.
I did the rehearsal at my drummers house and we got about 7 songs ready to record the next day.
We recorded at Canterbury Sound which is a really beautiful studio near Dufferin and King here in Toronto. There are fewer and fewer of these “A” class recoding studios with equipment and engineers that are top notch. Canterbury sound, run by Jeremy Darby who used to do sound for David Bowie, is one of these last “A” class institutions. It is is nicely laid out and has many different rooms and isolation areas available to be utilized, it has great microphones, preamps and other recording equipment.
Anyway have a look at the nice room we did our playing in:

From the left Kevin Cooke (bass) John King (guitar) and Mike Whitla (electric guitar) David Monis (not visible) the drummer is in the room at the back right of the picture. John came in to record one of his songs with the band called “I can’t fly”
Well the recoding went well and here is how the bed tracks sound:

You will notice although the performance is ok on this the sound of the recording is very flat and does not have much life. This is because it has not yet been mixed that will get worked on as we move on to. . .
. . . Part 2 where we start to add overdubs of vocals and extra guitar parts and begin to mix the rhythm section.

This is the words as sung by the staff of the Bayview Wildwoord resort.

The Moose Song (author unknown)

There was a great big moose (repeat)
Who liked to drink a lot of Juice. (repeat)
There was a great big moose (repeat)
Who liked to drink a lot of Juice. (repeat)
Wayo Wayo (repeat)
Wayo, wayo, wayo, wayo (repeat)

The moose’s name was Fred. (repeat)
He like to drink his juice in bed. (repeat)
The moose’s name was Fred. (repeat)
He like to drink his juice in bed. (repeat)
Wayo Wayo (repeat)
Wayo, wayo, wayo, wayo (repeat)

He drank his juice with care. (repeat)
But he spilt it on his hair. (repeat)
He drank his juice with care. (repeat)
But he spilt it on his hair. (repeat)
Wayo Wayo (repeat)
Wayo, wayo, wayo, wayo (repeat)

He really liked to drink his juice. (repeat)
But now he is a sticky moose. (repeat)
He really liked to drink his juice. (repeat)
But now he is a sticky moose. (repeat)
Wayo Wayo (repeat)
Wayo, wayo, wayo, wayo (repeat)

Now there’s a sticky moose (repeat)
Full of juice (repeat)
On the Loose!! (repeat)
Wayo Wayo (repeat)
Wayo, wayo, wayo, wayo (repeat)

Now I know that Joel Exner had a “moral of the story” verse in addition to these verses. So if you know a different version or more verses please post your yours.
If you can record a version and post if somewhere on the internet all you need to do is put a link to the mp3 file in your post and everybody will be able to hear it.
Anybody know where this song came from?
How far back do you guys know this one?

Recently I wrote music for and appeared in a new TV show called the “Jungle Room“. It is a reality show set in a daycare. I play “Mike” a musician who works with kids (a really big stretch for me). For those that are interested it airs now on TV Ontario Tuesday-Thursday at 6:45am and 1:45pm and I am in about a quarter of the episodes. Anyway I wrote a bunch of songs for the show and one of them was for their haunted house episode. It is perfect for Halloween so here it is:

Walking in the Night (Mike Whitla 2007) courtesy of Rainbow Songs Inc. and Sinking Ship Entertainment

1. I went walking in the night.
Then I saw such a scary sight.
I saw a witch standing there with a big black hat.
And at her feet was a scary black cat.
So I run and I run to get back to my house.
And I hide in my bed like a scared little mouse.

2. I went walking in the night.
Then I saw such a scary sight.
I saw an owl in a tree it could see me too!
Then all it said was hoot hoot hoot!!
There were bats all around and a grey wolf howled.
And the sound he made was just like OWWWWW!!

3. I went walking in the night.
Then I saw such a scary sight.
I saw a ghost standing there, it shrieked and squealed.
But I’m not afraid ‘cause that ghost ain’t real.
It’s my friend with a sheet, I can be one too.
Now I am the ghost and I’ll scare you!!
Now I am the ghost and I’ll scare you!! Boo!!

Here are some more scary songs.

I’m a crazy witch

I’m a crazy witch, stirring up my brew.
What will you give me to put in my stew?

I’m dressing up for Halloween:

I’m dressing up for Halloween.
Big tall hat and eyes so green.
I’m dressing up on Halloween.
Wrapped in a sheet I won’t be seen.
Owwwwww!!!
Owwwwww!!!
Ow Ow Owwww!!

Five little pumpkins

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, “oh my it’s getting late.”
The second one said, “there are witches in the air.”
The third one said, “but we don’t care!”
The fourth one said, “let’s run and run and run.”
The fifth one said, “I’m ready for some fun!”
OOOhh OOOhh went the wind
and out went the lights
and the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

Pumpkin Pumpkin
(tune: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)
Pumpkin, pumpkin big and round.
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground.
With my finger, I will trace,
A smile upon your orange face.
Pumpkin, pumpkin big and round.
Pumpkin, pumpkin on the ground.

The Very Scary Spider
(tune: Itsy Bitsy Spider words: Mike Whitla)
The very scary spider went up the water spout
Down came the goo - it made me want to shout
Then out came the moon and scared us all away
The very scary spider will come another day

If any of you have any Halloween songs to share please post them in the comments.
That’s it have a great Halloween!!

We do not own a car and try to live our lives with as little an environmental impact as possible but still with a full rich life. That leaves us the Bike, Train and Bus and leaves out the car. This is a bit of a challenge as it turns out. Lisa (my wife) and my favourite way to vacation is to tour on bicycle but unfortunately our kids are 4 and 2 years old and that seems like it would be more work that vacation and it might turn Kyle and Jake off bike touring for life. Next best the train!!

Lisa found a resort 10km from the Washago train station so we were off by VIA train to the Bayview Wildwood resort!!

They picked us and our luggage up at the train station in a minivan and it was only 10 min in a minivan to the resort.
The resort was fabulous and very family friendly. There are great programs for kids and tons for all to do. Lisa and I went on several hikes though the woods that were gorgeously. The meals were of very good quality and had enough variety to be enjoyed by kids and adults alike.

The accommodation were varied as well you could rent small cottages that give a very “you are not at a resort feeling” up to suites that are very much like a hotel. Almost all of the suites have two bedrooms (another plus for separating kids and adults)

We stayed a week and had many a happy nap while kids were in programs. I left a note about some possible simple improvements that they could make (like low flush toilets, low wattage bulbs etc) and they took the time to write me back thanking us for the suggestions.

I guess we can find out next year when we go back if they put some of it into practice.

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?

The Jew’s Harp is simple instrument is made from a metal frame with a metal tongue that is pressed against the teeth held slightly open. Then the instruments tongue is plucked producing a sound. This sound is amplified by the vocal cavity of the player. The player then manipulates his breath, tongue and throat muscles to change the tonal characteristics of the inside of the vocal cavity which makes an incredible variety of sounds from the instrument.

The Jew’s harp has over 1000 documented names from different countries all over the world. It is likely that it originated in Central Asia near what is now Mongolia. It is found in as different cultures as Bali where it is referred to as genggong and Germany where it is called a Maultrommel (literally mouth drum). Samples more that 1000 years old have been discovered in Japan and early examples in Europe date from 1400. The origin of the name Jew’s Harp in English is a mystery and this is the only language that connects the instrument to a particular language or culture.

More on the History of the Jew’s Harp here.

More on the origin of the name Jew’s Harp here.