Singing Together was a radio programme for schools broadcast by the BBC which involved us doing literally that – singing along to mainly traditional songs. There was a booklet of words, printed on thick shiny dirty coloured paper together with a simple line of music for the tune.
One of the few songs which has stuck in my mind is the one about Michael Finnegan, many versions of which can be found on the web.
There was an old man called Michael Finnegan,
He grew whiskers on his chinnegan,
The wind came out & blew them in again,
Poor old Michael Finnegan
Begin again.
It is one of those songs which can go on forever, with each verse offering a different reason why Mr Finnegan had to begin again. Our favourite however involved simple repetition of the same verse, but with the tempo increasing at each repeat until it became simply impossible & everybody collapsed into giggles.
My search for links on the web produced a real treasure – a copy of the schedule for BBC schools radio programmes in the summer of 1951.
I was immediately transported back to the Monday morning classroom singing away with all the gusto we could muster, fortified by our statutory third of a pint of milk at break time.
