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CALAMINE LOTION

Flea. REPEAT
Flea, fly. REPEAT
Flea, fly, mosquito. REPEAT
Calamine, calamine, calamine lotion. REPEAT
Ooo ahh! It's the magic potion. REPEAT
Itchy-itchy, scratchy-scratchy, got one on my backy-backy.
Ooie-ooie, owie-owie, wish it'd go away. REPEAT
Quick get the bug spray think it went that away shh! REPEAT
 
For those with a practiced eye or just a little bit of camp knowledge, this song is sung to the same tune and clapping pattern as Flea-Fly. Again, like that song, the group should be clapping and singing as fast as possible by the end.
 
 
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CAMPFIRE'S BURNING

Campfire's burning, campfire's burning.
Draw nearer, draw nearer.
In the gloaming, in the gloaming.
Come sing and be merry.
 
This song can be, and usually is, sung in a round. It came from Andy, our English staffer, in 1984. Like "America America", this song is a great campfire closer.

GWH
OK, not wanting to step on anyone’s toes I made the bold decision to replace the "In the glowing" as included by Peter Henry with the correct wording of "In the gloaming". "Gloaming" is a Scottish(?) word for the evening half-light, or twilight, at the end of the day.
I also take issue with the idea that this song is great for closing the campfire... In the UK this song is traditionally used to OPEN the campfire. Just read the words to see why! Really, I don’t know what Andy was thinking...
 
  
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CAMPFIRES IN HEAVEN

I remember I met an old Scouter,
He had clearly not long for this life.
He said "Graham, I am trying not the think about dying,
But it's causing me trouble and strife.
Now I know that I'll meet my late Mrs
When at last up to heaven I go.
But there's one thing, you see, more important to me,
And it's this that I'm longing to know."
 
CHORUS
Does the Lord allow campfires in Heaven?
Can you "Ging Gang" and "Goolie" when you’re dead?
Can you sing all those songs that you’ve loved for so long?
Or is it just choirs of angels instead?
Can you strum a guitar round that campfire,
Singing "Haylah Haylah Shaylah" when you’ve gone?
If the angels get narked when I don’t use a harp
Then I really don’t want to pass on.

Well I pondered the questions he asked me
The next night as I lay on my bed
And those small seeds of doubt started buzzing about
Like a bumblebee inside my head
Now assuming that I go to heaven
When I curl up my tootsies and die
Will it be like we’re told with the streets paved with gold
Or a great campsite up in the sky?
                            CHORUS
 
And if the heavens above don’t show heavenly love
Or some tolerant mercy inspired
Then I’ll go when I die to the place where I’ll fry
But at least I’ll enjoy the good fires.

Now my friend has passed on to his maker
And I’m sure, now I’ve given it some thought
That the Lord, good and wise, will have one last surprise
And I believe it’s the one that I’ve sought.
When I finally meet old Saint Peter
And he opens those pearly gates wide
His bright gaze I will follow to a great campfire hollow
To see my friend with B-P by his side.
 
 
Then I will know that
The Lord allows campfires in Heaven
You can "Ging Gang" and "Goolie" when you’re dead
You can sing all those songs that you’ve loved for so long
It aint just choirs of angels instead
You can strum a guitar round that campfire,
Singing "Haylah Haylah Shaylah" when you’ve gone
‘Cos the angels aren’t narked when I don’t use a harp
Now I really won’t mind passing on.
 
 
Notes:
Narked = Annoyed, upset
Tootsies = Toes
B-P = Baden-Powell, who started Scouting
"Ging gang goolie" and "Haylah Shaylah" are from a well- known Scout campfire song in the UK and around the world.
 

Dedicated to the memory of Bill Ingle:
A True Scout

Also dedicated to Steve "Pinky" Durancik
"Live life to the full and be true to your friends"
GWH, CFL 1998

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The years went by just one two three
And soon they had a family.
And every night by the pale moonlight
It sounded like this to me.

Ba Room (Wa! Wa!) Ba Room (Wa! Wa!)
Ba Room Tie yi yi yay
Ba Room (Wa! Wa) Ba Room (Wa! Wa!)
Ba Room Tie yi yi yay.
 
This song was done extremely well by Chris Meyer in 1985 down at the lakefront.
 
 
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There are some songs that will forever be linked to one staffer, whether people personally remember the performances or are told of them. Archie McHarg, I think this is yours.
 
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CHICKEN

C, that's the way it begins.
H, I'm the second letter in.
I, I am the third letter
C is the fourth letter in that word.
Oh- K, I'm filling in.
E, I'm near the end
Oh C-H-I-C-K-E-N, that's the way you spell chicken
Oh Roofus Rufus Johnson Brown.
What you gonna do when the rent comes round?
What you gonna do? What you gonna say?
What you gonna do on that judgment day?
Oh you know, I know rent means dough.
Landlord throw you out in the snow.
Oh Roofus Rufus Johnson Brown-
What you gonna do when the rent comes around.
 
 
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Oh the moral of this story all you Scouts may well define,
Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation would have saved poor Clementine.

 
GWH
I have added the last verse from UK Scouting. Don’t you just love a story with a moral?
 
 
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COWBOY JOE

Way out west where the bad men are
And the only thing to guide you is the evening star
Is the roughest, toughest, man by far
He's the ragtime, Cowboy Joe.
He always sings, ragtime music to his cattle
As he swings, back and forth in his saddle
On his horse, a pretty horse!
A syncopated gaiter and it's such a funny meter
To the roar of his repeaters how they run.(Whee!)
And the western folk all know, "What do they Know?"
He's a high-filluting, rootin'-tootin' son of a gun
From Arizona. Ragtime Cowboy, talk about your cowboy,
He's the ragtime, Cowboy Joe.
 
For music minded people, this song is sung to the tune of "Maple Leaf Rag" which is found in the music tradition known as American Rag. I’m not really sure why an American form of music has a song with a Canadian reference.

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