Camp Songs

Happy Friday. It's time for a campfire sing-a-long.

Did you go to camp as a kid? Or did you ever work as a camp counselor?

I did both. I grew up going to camp 4-6 weeks every summer. I went to music camp and Boy Scout camp in Missouri. The same summer I would go to a music camp and a Bible camp in Minnesota.

I know just about every song ever sung around a campfire or in the evening program or at the dining hall breakfast table.

I'm a Little Pile of Tin
Pass it On
Arky, Arky
Father Abraham

And did you know you can sing "Coming Round the Mountain" at the same time as "When the Saints Go Marching In" as a group song? You can also add in "I'm Gonna Sing, Sing, Sing" and "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" if you want to make things really chaotic.

This morning at 5 a.m. my eyes snapped open and I found myself inexplicably chanting these words:

"Hi. My name is Joe. I work in a...something factory...."

I couldn't remember where Joe worked. He worked in a something factory. This was a camp song (no tune - just a chant) that I haven't heard in, easily, 20 years. How would I ever remember where Joe worked? Would I have to call my friend Lynda? We've been friends since the age of 14, and she knows every camp song too.

Do you grasp the magnitude of my insanity now? I was in bed at 5:30 a.m. looking up at the ceiling chanting, "Hi, my name is Joe, I work, in a....I work in a.....I work in a...."

"I work in a BUTTON factory."

(That's it! He worked in a BUTTON factory!!) Once I got the button factory part, the whole "song" came back to me...

"One day the boss came up to me. He said, 'Joe, are ya busy?'
I said, 'no'.
He said, 'Turn the button with your RIGHT hand...'

I googled the song this morning (busy day at work!) and discovered there is another line of the song that my counselor at camp never taught us. Apparently, Joe had a wife, a dog, and a family. I was never told this. Maybe my counselor was gay and didn't want Joe to have a wife and family. This validates the fact that there is a gay agenda, doesn't it? Gay camp counselors purposely teach small children songs but do not mention the option of having a wife or a family. They want to destroy the very fabric of our society.

Well, let's not dwell on the gay agenda right now. Let's be happy. Here, hold my hand and sing with me. "It only takes a spark, to get a fire going...."

Do you know a camp song? If you do, you can put your song in the comments for everyone to join in and sing. But PLEASE no "Kum Bay Yah"!