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"A Sailor Went to Sea" is a traditional children's nursery rhyme, clapping game, and skipping rhyme. It was initially called 'My Father Went to Sea', before becoming more widely known as 'A Sailor Went to Sea'.[1]
Lyrics
editA first verse of A Sailor Went To Sea goes as:
- A sailor went to sea, sea, sea
- To see what he could see, see, see.
- But all that he could see, see, see
- Was the bottom of the deep blue sea, sea, sea.
While saying "sea", aquatic waves are mimed with the hand; while saying "see", the hand is brought to the eye to mime a "seeing" gesture.
Further verses typically replace "sea/see" with other words, such as "chop", "knee", "bed", or "pick", "toes", with appropriate gestural substitutions.[2]
In popular culture
edit- In 1994, VeggieTales parodied the song in its second episode, "God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?!" during a parody of Gilligan's Island. The crew members sing "Some Veggies Went To Sea" in an attempt to entertain their passengers.[3]
- The Australian Children's Series Hi-5 in 2003 in their song titled "Underwater Discovery" responding to series 5 in a final verse is included in the song
- In 2022, the song was a recurring motif in Molly of Denali episode "Unsinkable Molly Mabray." The protagonists sing the song multiple times while constructing a boat and during fantasy sequences.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ The British Library. "Clapping games - A sailor went to sea, sea, sea". Playtimes. The British Library. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2011.
- ^ "A Sailor went to Sea (2010)". British Library Collection Items. British Library. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
- ^ VeggieTales: Some Veggies Went To Sea, retrieved 16 January 2023
Further reading
edit- Curtis, Mavis (2004). "A sailor went to sea: theme and variations". Folk Music Journal. 8 (4): 421–437. JSTOR 4522717.
- Opie, Iona Archibald (1985). The Singing Game. Oxford University Press. pp. 467–468. ISBN 978-0-19-211562-1.
External links
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