Alle Meine Enten
We sang this in the bathtub…
Backe Backe Kuchen
This is the German Version of Patty Cake… and you can clap while singing along.
Bake the Cake
Bake, bake the cake
The baker has declared.
If one wants to bake a good cake
He has to have these 7 things:
Sugar and salt,
Butter and lard,
Eggs and flour
Saffron makes the cake yellow,
Slide it into the oven.
Summ Summ Summ
I do love the humming buzzing of bees… they sing as they work.
Summ Summ Summ
Hum Hum Hum
Hum, hum, hum
Bees buzz around
We’ll do you no harm
Just fly out into the forest and heath
Hum, hum, hum
Bees, buzz around
Hum, hum, hum
Bees buzz around
Looking for flowers, looking inside flowers
A little drop for you, a little crumb for you
Hum, hum, hum
Bees, buzz around
Hum, hum, hum
Bees buzz around
Diligently filling our honeycomb
That we may have sweet honey
Hum, hum, hum
Bees, buzz around
Der Kuckuck und der Esel
I LOVED when we sang der Kuckuck und der Esel in German School! The teacher would always split the room, and half of us would be the donkey, and the other half the Cuckoo bird.
I’m sure the teacher was less excited when we would do our best to make more noise than the other group.
Der Kuckuck und der Esel
Der Kuckuck und der Esel,
Die hatten einen Streit,
Wer wohl am besten sänge,
Wer wohl am besten sänge,
Zur schönen Maienzeit,
Zur schönen Maienzeit
Der Kuckuck sprach: “Das kann ich!”
Und hub gleich an zu schrei’n.
Ich aber kann es besser!
Ich aber kann es besser!
Fiel gleich der Esel ein,
Fiel gleich der Esel ein.
Das klang so schön und lieblich,
So schön von fern und nah;
Sie sangen alle beide
Sie sangen alle beide
Kuckuck, Kuckuck, i-a, i-a!
Kuckuck, Kuckuck, i-a, i-a!
Das Ist der Daumen
This is the Thumb is a finger rhyme … sort of like This little Piggy… but with the fingers instead of toes. I remember giggling like crazy when my Oma recited this one while playing with my fingers.
Hänschen Klein
I remember this song/rhyme so well, Little Hans goes off to the while world, and his mother is sad.
Funny, I have no memory of the other verses. But of course, there they are, and the story resolves itself with Hans coming home, and he’s not so little anymore.
Maikäfer Flieg
How about this sweet little song about a Maybug? It’s believed to be a song about the Thirty Years War.
(And I like to think of it as a Ladybug)
Hoppa Hoppa Reiter
I can bet that at some point in your life, an Oma or Opa pulled you on their lap, bounced you up and down, and sang this scary little ditty…. My family only did the last verse… and you would “fall” off the lap for the last line.
Suse Liebe Suse
When I was little, I loved singing about the goslings in the straw. I never got the other parts… about the cobbler not having a proper mold for their feet… or having no bed. Goodness!
Auf Einen Baum Ein Kuckuck
Germans really do like singing about Cuckoos. Wonder why? Are there that many Cuckoos in Germany?
Anyway… this is another song I’m sure my German Teachers had a love-hate relationship with. We would sing it LOUD… especially the simsaladbim parts. (And I remember speeding up to see how fast we could do it)
Hopp hopp hopp
Another horse and rider song… this one was also for bouncing on the knee.
Es Klappert die Mühle
This is a fun hand clapping song… and I hear it in my head whenever I see a water wheel.
The song itself is about how the miller grinds flour to make our bread. An INCREDIBLY important thing in Germany.
Häschen in der Grube
One of those sweet lullabies about bunnies… that ultimately hits you with sharp teeth! I don’t remember my mother EVER singing me the second verse.
Brüderchen Komm Tanz mit Mir
I never had a brother… but I did love spinning to this sweet song.
Kommt ein Vogel Geflogen
Another song about a child far away. So many of these must have come from wartime or emigration.
Schlaf, Kindlein Schlaf
And then it was bedtime…. this is another song where I don’t remember my mother singing the second verse with the biting sheep.
Müde Bin Ich, Geh zu Ruh
As a prayer at bedtime….
Ich liebe die Kinderlieder. KANNTE SIE ALLE. Habe meinen in U.S. geborenen Kinder diese Lieder vorgesungen und sie haben auch einige gelernt.
I remember these nursery rhyme.
Das war sehr interessant. Vielen Dank fuer Ihre Hilfe 🙂
Ich bin froh das ich Helfen konnte
I used to sing some of these as a little Dutch boy in occupied Germany for the German troops for rest in our village. I was taught them by German officers occupying our living room while we lived in the kitchen. I live in Australia now. The young soldiers were clearly delighted by the songs sung by a five-year-old child. I can remember fragments of other rhymes and songs. I wish I had access to more of them.
As a lover of German culture, I was always a big fan of these songs. My favorite, however, is probably the folksong “Heut’ kommt der Hans zu mir” (Today Hans will come to me). It’s a very playful little song, and the tune is the same as “Music Alone Shall Live”!
I will look for that one, thank you
I have been searching for this nursery rhyme. My grandmother sang to me about thunder and lightening phonetically it sounded like this Zu Za Du Zu Za Du Brux. I do not know the rest of it. It may have had something to do with bowling in heaven too?
The closest I can imagine is La Le Lu, der Mann im Mond schaut zu.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SYJdNvN10E
I put it on the facebook page, hopefully someone will recognize the song you are searching for
Maybe this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkqLWLj2VaE
the hop hop little rider. Grandma would us on her foot and bounce us she would at the end she would have us fall off and she would say something like “ booms de liter” Well thats what it sounded like. I have never found version that ended in this manner. has anyone else?
This is new to me… but Omas all had special ways of doing things. I bet someone will recognize it
“Bums, da liegt er” – in dialect, it would sound like “Bums, da lieht er”
Good morning, My Austrian grandparents, who of course spoke German, sang a nursery rhyme to me called Kribble Krabble. It went something like this:
Kribble Krabble – in the palm of my hand like a spider
Salt Schmaltz – mark a cross in my hand
Elepoggan – elbow in my hand
Knoggen seen – grab my nose
Heart seamen – cross my heart
Crossapuch – tickle me I know nothing is spelled correctly. Are you familiar with this nursery rhyme? Beautiful memories. I am 70 years old. They were around my age when I was a little girl. Thank you!
OH! We did this too! thanks for the memory!
As close as I can recall is this child’s tickling rhyme. Appreciate any help.
Talla, Mark, Kuchen, Kelchen und ein gilly-gilly-gilly-gilly genchen
Hi Karen! I’m wondering if you know where I could find the melodies or rhythms to these songs?
I will track them down and link them.
Thank you for these! My mother used to sing the one about the sheep, including the verse where it might bite you. This really brought back some memories!
My dad didn’t teach my sister or me German but he taught us Schlaf, Kindlein Schlaf and Hopp Hopp Hopp and we’d sing them together at bed time. He also taught us a marching chant when we were really little but I only remember the end shouting “halt!” and the first two words may have been “sowas vieren”. Does anyone know what this may have been?
I’m going to put this question out to the facebook page… hang on and I’ll see what comes back
My Austrian grandmother used tomakes circles with her index finger in our palm and sing (sorry I don’t know proper spelling, this is how it sounded) Kysellie Kooselli licht all Botch! And when she said Botch, she would clap her hand on top of ours. Does anyone remember this one/have proper lyrics?
Oh… there are so many “Fingerspiele” (hand games) let post this to the facebook page. Someone may recognize it.
Have you the German words to ‘where oh where has my little dog gone’?
In Lauterbach hab’ ich mein’ Strumpf verlorn