Aiken Drum - Song Page
Background
Aiken Drum is popular Scottish folk song dating back to the 18 century. In it's current form, it teaches the about the names of clothing and body parts by associating them with different foods. This version was adapted to include foods that today's children would be familiar with, i.e. we substituted "lasagna" for "haggis bags".
The song begins with a poetic verse about a man who lived in the moon. The chorus moves us in the food direction as "he played on a ladle" and then introduces his name as "Aiken Drum". Proceeding verses associate his hat with "good cream cheese", coat with "roast beef", buttons with "donuts" and his pants with "lasagna". UNITS: This song is a great accompaniment to lessons on daily living skills (clothing and what to wear in different weather), travel and multiculturalism (Scotland) and music (singing). WHAT YOU'LL HEAR IN THE SONG: MICHAEL MARK vocals, accordion and electric bass ALICE LEON backup vocs PETER BANNON hurdy gurdy MARK ATTEBERY flute JEFFREY FRIEDBERG banjo 
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Video
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Lessons, Lyrics & More
"Aiken Drum" - guitar lessonActivity Suggestions1. Teach and sing chorus of Aiken Drum song
2. Ask children to put both hands on specific clothing sung about in each verse 3. As each chorus returns ask children to strum on a pretend ladle as if they were playing a guitar Alternate Activity: Ask children to choose their own foods that they associate with different articles of clothing and then sing about those. |
guitar chords
Same chords as "Head & Shoulders" but different pattern. Again, don't let the bar chord throw you - it'll take time to build up the hand strength to master that. But it's worth it so give it a try. LyricsNote - we adapted the original lyrics to be...well...more understandable and suitable for children who don't know what "haggis bags" are. There are different versions floating around but we hope you like ours as well.
AIKEN DRUM There was a man lived in the moon In the moon, in the moon There was a man lived in the moon And his name was Aiken Drum Chorus: And he played on a ladle A ladle, a ladle He played on a ladle And his name was Aiken Drum His hat was made of good cream cheese Good cream cheese, good cream cheese His hat was made of good cream cheese And his name was Aiken Drum Chorus And his coat was made of good roast beef Good roast beef, good roast beef His coat was made of good roast beef And his name was Aiken Drum Chorus His buttons were made of donuts Donuts, donuts His buttons were made of donuts And his name was Aiken Drum Chorus His pants were made of lasagna Lasagna, lasagna His pants were made of lasagna And his name was Aiken Drum Chorus There was a man lived in the moon In the moon, in the moon There was a man lived in the moon And his name was Aiken Drum |
