Sarasponda

"Sarasponda" is a children's nonsense song which has been considered a popular campfire song. It is often described to be a spinning song, that is, a song that would be sung while spinning at the spinning wheel. It is frequently described as being of Dutch origin, and there is a bit of folklore that says Dutch mothers used it to teach their daughters to spin with the particular aim of finding a good husband. This origin is hard to verify, however.[1] The earliest known printed versions may be American collections from the 1940s. It is contained in the pocket songbook Sing It Again, published in 1944 by the Cooperative Recreation Service, and in Sing for the Fun of It, published by the Florida Methodist Youth Fellowship in the same decade.[1]

The words are sometimes said to be onomatopoeic, made up from the sound of the spinning wheel itself, “sarasponda, sarasponda, sarasponda", and then the sound of the foot pedal brake slowing down the wheel; "ret, set, set.”

Lyrics

The lyrics are variable and not written down with any consistent spelling.. One version of the lyrics, [2] for two groups of singers, is

Group 1:

boom-da, boom-da, boom-da (repeated to chorus)

Group 2:

Sarasponda, sarasponda, sarasponda ret set set

Sarasponda, sarasponda, sarasponda ret set set

All (chorus):

Ah do ray oh, Ah do ray boomday oh

Ah do ray boomday ret set set

Aw say paw say oh.

At some camps, the "boom-da, boom-da, boom-da" has been replaced with "oonga, oonga, oonga."

References

1. Kimberling, Clark. "Historical Notes for Solos for Treble Instrument Especially Soprano Recorder; Collection 5: Americana After 1865". IMSLP.org. International Music Score Library Project / Petrucci Music Library. Retrieved July 9, 2011.
2. Beall, Pamela Conn; Nipp, Susan Hagen (1984). Wee Sing Around the Campfire. Los Angeles: Price/Stern/Sloan. p. 64. ISBN 0-8431-0311-6.