The Wheels on the Bus

"The Wheels on the Bus"
Song by Andrew Jeffrey
Language English
Genre
Length 3mins-1hr
Songwriter(s) Verna Hills

"The Wheels on the Bus" is an American folk song dating no later than 1939 written by Verna Hills.[1] It is a popular children's song in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and Canada, and is often sung by children on bus trips to keep themselves amused. It has a very repetitive rhythm, making the song easy for a large number of people to sing, in a manner similar to the song "99 Bottles of Beer". It is based on fellow traditional British song "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush". The song is also sometimes sung to the tune of "Buffalo Gals", as in the version done by Raffi.

The song is now very popular for children in several other languages.

{ \key g \major \time 4/4 \partial 8 d'8 | g'8 g'16 g' g'8 b' d'' b' g'4 | a'8 a' a'4 fis'8 e' d'8. d'16 | g'8 g'16 g' g'8 b' d'' b' g'4 | a' d' g'4. | \bar "|." } \addlyrics { The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round, All day long. }

Normally followed by "The wipers on the bus go swish swish swish" (with action), "the horn on the bus goes beep beep beep" and "the people on the bus go up and down" (with action). Some versions substitute "bounce up and down" for "go up and down", and some modern commercial recordings of the song in children's toys simplify the tune by copying notes 7 through 9 onto notes 13 through 15.

Mad Donna's cover version

"Wheels on the bus"
Single by Mad Donna
Released 4 May 2002
Format CD single
Length 2:25
Label
  • Star Harbour
  • All Around The World Disco 0202R
Songwriter(s) Verna Hills

In 2002 American Madonna impersonator "Mad Donna" (Michelle Chappel) had a hit with the wheels on the bus song, featuring a version of Madonna's "Ray of Light" over which the classic children's song was sung. The single reached #17 in the United Kingdom and also made the charts elsewhere in Europe.[2]

References

  1. ↑ American Childhood, vol. 25, 1939, p. 56
  2. ↑ "Mad Donna (3) - The Wheels On The Bus". Discogs.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.