Happy heavenly birthday

Happy 120th birthday Uncle Charley!

For he's a jolly good fellow, for he's a jolly good fellow
For he's a jolly good fellow, which nobody can deny!

The Happy Birthday song has been around since the 1890s, but it was primarily sung to and for children at the time. However I can certainly imagine Grandpa Fred and Uncle Charley's fraternity brothers singing a rousing verse of the alternative on Saturday, Dec. 13, 1924.

It would be his last earthly birthday.

The tune of For He's a Jolly Good Fellow is of French origin and dates from at least from the 18th century, and it was well known by 1862 in the United States.

The British and the American lyrics differ slightly; "And so say all of us" is typically British, while we Americans usually sing, "Which nobody can deny."

-30-

Thanksgiving greetings

I like to post happier things when I either find them, or remember them. Today's memory is a song grandpa Fred taught us, and before that he taught it to my aunt, father, and cousins. He learned it as a child so I imagine Uncle Charley knew it too.

(sung to the tune of Did You Ever See a Lassie) 

Oh here we come marching,
Our fine feathers arching.
Oh, gobble, gobble, gobble,
Fine turkeys are we. 

We are for Thanksgiving,
As sure as you're living.
Oh, gobble, gobble, gobble,
Fine turkeys are we.

Author Unknown

A search on Google brings up some similar songs but not an identical song. Apparently it changed a bit as it was orally taught to each generation.

However, a similar version was found in a 1902 (the year Charley was born) manual for teachers: Outlines and Suggestions for Primary Teachers:

Oh, see us come marching,

Our fine feathers arching.
We're kings of the barnyard
Plump turkeys are we. 

We strut all so proudly.
We gobble so loudly
Oh, 'Gobble! Gobble! Gobble!'
Plump turkeys are we. 

 

Another similar version is in the April 1904 (the year Grandpa was born) School Work, Volume 3 by Leon W. Goldrich and Olivia Mary Jones:

Oh, see us come a-marching,

Our fine feathers arching,

We're kings of the barn-yard—

Plump turkeys are we; 

 

We strut all so proudly,

We gobble so loudly—

Oh, "gobble! gobble! gobble!"

Plump turkeys are we. 

 

Oh, would you think—scarcely—

That dressed up in parsley,

We kings of the barn-yard

Soon roasted will be?

Oh "gobble! gobble! gobble!"

Plump turkeys are we.

Do you have any family Thanksgiving traditions?

-30-