Thanksgiving is just a week away. How about a song about pie? For the past couple of years, I’ve enjoyed a song I learned from my pal Tina Stone in The Children’s Music Network. It engenders a special community spirit in many classrooms.
Scroll down for a link to a clip of the tune. Here are my words, based on my memory what Tina sang:
I went down to the apple fair, I had three dollars and I spent one there.
I got so happy, do you know why? I got me a piece of apple pie!
Oh pie, pie, pie, pie, I can’t get enough of that apple pie.
Pie, pie, pie, pie, can’t get enough of that pie.
The song continues with more verses, each with one dollar less, and whatever kind of pie people want to sing about (purchased at the fair by the same name). When you have no more dollars left, you sing:
I went down to the pie fair, I had no dollars to spend there.
I saw those pies up on the shelf, but if I want some pie, I’ll have to make it myself.
The fun part is thinking of all the different pies people like, including silly ones like popcorn pie. The motions are also great: I have everyone sit on the floor in a circle with their feet straight out in front of them, so it looks like a sliced pie. We count out how many dollars on our palms, and then we tap on our legs as we’re going to the fair. For the chorus, we “make our pie dish” by putting our arms around each other and swaying. This is tremendously popular with most kids.
When I was planning to post this song, I got a lesson in the “folk process.” Tina reported that the song was written by our Canadian colleague, Kathy Reid-Naiman. Here are Kathy’s words:
I went down to the county fair, I had four pennies to spend there.
I bought a raspberry pie and took it home, put it on a shelf and I sang this song.
Then, sing the chorus, which is the same. All I can say is pies are quite a bit cheaper in Canada.
If you’d like to hear the tune, you can find it at this link for Kathy’s pie song:
Thanks, Tina and Kathy!