• Source: Cumulative song

A cumulative song is a song with a simple verse structure modified by progressive addition so that each verse is longer than the verse before. Cumulative songs are popular for group singing, in part because they require relatively little memorization of lyrics, and because remembering the previous verse to concatenate it to form the current verse can become a kind of game.




Structure


Typically, the lyrics take the form of a stanza of at least two lines. In each verse, the text of the first line introduces a new item, and the other line uses the words to begin a list which includes items from all the preceding verses. The item is typically a new phrase (simultaneously a group of words and a musical phrase) to a line in a previous stanza.
The two lines are often separated by refrains. Many cumulative songs also have a chorus.




= Songs with two-line stanzas

=
One of the most well-known examples of a cumulative song is the Christmas song "The Twelve Days of Christmas", which uses a two-line stanza, where the second line is cumulative, as follows:

and so on until

The first gift (the partridge) is always sung to a "coda melody" phrase. For the first four verses, the additional gifts are all sung to a repeated standard melodic phrase. In the fifth verse, a different melody, with a change of tempo, is introduced for the five gold(en) rings; and from this point on the first five gifts are always sung to a set of varied melodic phrases (with the partridge retaining its original coda phrase). Thence forward, the wording of each new gift is sung to the original standard melodic phrase before returning to the five gold(en) rings.




= Songs with refrains

=
In many songs, an item is introduced in the first line of each stanza and extends the list in another line. An example is The Barley Mow (Roud 944):

The second verse substitutes a larger drink measure in the first line. In the second line the new measure heads the list and is sung to the same musical phrase as pint pot.

One version of the final line and refrain is:

Alan Lomax recorded Jack French singing The Barley Mow at the Blaxhall Ship, a famous singing pub in Suffolk, in 1953. This recording is available online at the Cultural Equity website.




= Songs with a chorus

=
A chorus (often with its own refrain) may be added to the stanzas as in "The Rattlin' Bog" (Roud 129):

One version of the final line+refrain is:

Each phrase is sung to the same two-note melody.
Hamish Henderson recorded William Sinclair Mitchell, Agnes Mitchell and Agnes Mitchell singing The Rattling Bog in 1979. The recording is available on line on the Tobar an Dualchais – Kist o Riches website.
Jim Carroll and Pat McKenzie recorded Pat McNamara singing The Bog Down in the Valley in Kilshanny, in 1975. The recording is available online on the Clare County Library website.




Cumulative songs in languages other than English


Yiddish folk music contains many prominent examples of cumulative songs, including "?װאָס װעט זײַן אַז משיח װעט קומען" and "מה אספּרה," or "What Will Happen When the Messiah Comes?" and "Who Can Recall" (a Yiddish version of the Passover song "Echad Mi Yodea").
The Passover seder contains two Hebrew cumulative songs: Echad Mi Yodea and Chad Gadya.




Song examples


"Father Abraham Had Many Sons"
"The Twelve Days of Christmas"
"The Barley Mow"
"Chad Gadya"
"Echad Mi Yodea"
"Alouette"
"The Austrian Yodeler (Once An Austrian Went Yodeling)"
"When I Build My House" by Parachute Express"
"Birthday Cake" by Parachute Express
"Children, Go Where I Send Thee"
"The Court of King Caractacus" by Rolf Harris
"Don't Be Anything Less Than Anything You Can Be" from the musical Snoopy
"Du Hast" is partially cumulative; it's a fairly popular German industrial song, making its cumulative parts somewhat novel
"Eh, Cumpari!"
"Getta Loada Toad" from the musical A Year with Frog and Toad
"Grandmother's Farm" by Hap Palmer on his album Witches Brew
"The Green Grass Grew All Around"
"Green Grow the Rushes, O"
"Guerres de clocher" by Québec Redneck Bluegrass Project
"The Herring Song" (or "Herring's Heads")
"The House at the Top of the Tree" by They Might Be Giants on their album No!
"I Bought Me a Cat", known by various other titles, such as "My Cock Crew" and "Barnyard Song"
"I Am a Fine Musician" from two episodes of the Dick Van Dyke Show
"I Have a Song to Sing, O" from Gilbert & Sullivan's opera The Yeomen of the Guard
"Jouer dehors" by Jérôme 50 & Julyan, sung by Passe-Partout
"Katootje" Dutch traditional sung by Wim Sonneveld in 1955.
"Langt ud' i Skoven", a traditional Danish folk song played by Dreamers' Circus and DR BørneKoret on their album "Langt ud' i Skoven" from 2022
"Moshpit à St-Dilon" by Margaret Tracteur
"Most Beautiful Leg of the Mallard", sung by Henry Mitchelmore on The Voice of the People vol 07
"The Music Man"
"Must Be Santa", a Christmas song popularized by Mitch Miller
My Hand on My Head
Some versions of "Old King Cole"
"Old McDonald Had a Farm"
"One Little Coyote" by Riders in the Sky on their album Harmony Ranch
"Pat the Cat" by Don Spencer
"Prologue" from Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 makes use of the format to familiarise the audience with the cast of the musical.
"The Rattlin' Bog"
"Le reel alcalinisant" by Québec Redneck Bluegrass Project
"Rig-a-Jig-Jig"
"The Schnitzelbank Song"
"Song of Love" from the musical Once Upon a Mattress
"Star Trekkin'", a 1987 parody song by The Firm
"There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly"
"There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea"
"Hole in the Bottom of My Brain" by AJR
"Today is Monday"
"White Pyjamas" by Franciscus Henri
"Il Pulcino Pio" and its various language versions
"Alla fiera dell'est", an Italian song by Angelo Branduardi and its English version "Highdown Fair"
"One Man Went To Mow" (Roud 143) is an example of a cumulative counting song.
"To Kokoraki" (as sung by Donald Swann on Flanders and Swann's "At the Drop of a Hat") is a Greek counting song about animals.
"Oh Sir Jasper!" is the opposite of a cumulative song, in which words are successively omitted from the chorus each time it is sung.
"The Camping Song", from the Noddy episode "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Goblins"
"Why We Build the Wall" by Anaïs Mitchell
"La feria de Cepillín", by the Mexican clown and singer Cepillín
"A-benn dilun..." ("On Monday...") also known as "Kokerikero", a Breton folk counting song about animals
"Mountain People" by Super Furry Animals
Got No Beard by The Longest Johns
"What's in there inside this egg?", by the brazilian writer, poet and musician Marcelo Aceti
"A Velha a Fiar", Brazilian folk song




Song Lyrics


"There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea"
This is a traditional folk song that has been altered in many ways by various musicians and artists. Below are the 'traditional' lyrics.
There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea
There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea
There’s a hole, there’s a hole
There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea
There’s a log in the hole in the bottom of the sea
There’s a log in the hole in the bottom of the sea
There’s a hole, there’s a hole
There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea
There’s a bump on the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea
There’s a bump on the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea
There’s a hole, there’s a hole
There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea
There’s a Frog on the bump, on the log, in the hole in the bottom of the sea
There’s a Frog on the bump, on the log, in the hole in the bottom of the sea
There’s a hole, there’s a hole
There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea
There’s a wart on the frog, on the bump, on the log, in the hole in the bottom of the sea
There’s a wart on the frog, on the bump, on the log, in the hole in the bottom of the sea
There’s a hole, there’s a hole
There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea
There’s a fly on the wart, on the frog, on the bump, on the log, in the hole in the bottom of the sea
There’s a fly on the wart, on the frog, on the bump, on the log, in the hole in the bottom of the sea
There’s a hole, there’s a hole
There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea
There’s a flea on the fly, on the wart, on the frog, on the bump, on the log, in the hole in the bottom of the sea
There’s a flea on the fly, on the wart, on the frog, on the bump, on the log, in the hole in the bottom of the sea
There’s a hole, there’s a hole
There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea
There’s a smile on the flea, on the fly, on the wart, on the frog, on the bump, on the log, in the hole in the bottom of the sea
There’s a smile on the flea, on the fly, on the wart, on the frog ,on the bump, on the log, in the hole in the bottom of the sea
There’s a hole, there’s a hole
There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea




See also


Cumulative tale
Announcer's test
Round (music)
The Complexity of Songs




References

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Seventeen (grup musik Korea Selatan)
• Prison Playbook
• Legend of the Blue Sea
• Blackpink
• Red Velvet (grup musik)
• Kiss of Life (grup musik)
• Diskografi Seventeen
• D.O. (penghibur)
• While You Were Sleeping (seri televisi 2017)
• Love in the Moonlight
• Cumulative song
• The Twelve Days of Christmas (song)
• Alouette (song)
• The Rattlin' Bog
• There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
• Cumulative tale
• The Barley Mow
• Ten German Bombers
• Eh, Cumpari!
• And the Green Grass Grew All Around