Music in the Family Part V – Jacko and Papi
Every week that I post something about music, my sock monkeys Jacko and Papi have been begging to include them in a post. “After all,” Papi said, “I am the one that taught you how to sing.” I always thought it was my mom and dad. They did do a lot of singing when I was growing up. But I also remember spending time with Papi when I was a kid.
Here is a photo of me with Papi when I was three years old. It sure does look like he may have been singing in my ear! He assured me that he was singing the “Yo! Ho!” song to me. “What?” I asked, “That song wasn’t written until our Reunions Adventure. This picture was taken way before that.”
“I know,” Papi said, “I started the song years ago when I taught Buddiloo to sing.” So now he’s trying to take credit for teaching my mom to sing! I know he was around back then, but I never really know when to trust what he is saying.
“Yes,” he explained, “It was around the time I was coaching Murder to sing for those old recordings you shared with everyone a few weeks ago. I told you that! You never listen to me. Some sock monkey whisperer you are! Hmmph!”
“You weren’t even there back then,” I started, but then I realized that he had been there. I have a picture of him with Mama back in 1938. Jacko shared it with y’all in the Sock Monkeys in the Past post. And the recordings of Grandma (Myrtle Phenice Bucklin, not Murder as Papi incorrectly calls her) were done around 1944 “when those German Nasties were around,” as Papi likes to put it. I’m sure he’s going to take credit for teaching her to play the baritone now. “No,” he said, “She learned that at school. I just sang along with her when we called the cows.” That’s good to know.
So today I’m going to share with you “Papi and Jacko’s Traveling Song.” According to Papi he started it in the 1940s, then he and Jacko added some more verses in 2007, and finally Jacko and I added the last part in that same year. I’m sure some of you will recognize the melody from “The Lonely Goatherd” song from “The Sound of Music.” It’s a rather catchy little song. I hope you enjoy it.
Yo! Ho! Going on Adventures –
Jacko and Papi’s Traveling Song
Long, long ago lived a monkey sock
And a little girl that everyone called Betty Lou.
She played him a song on her baritone
Til the cows all came a-runnin’ with a moo.
They went to church with her Ma and Pa
And sang and gave their Glory Be’s to You Know Who.
She took along little Cyrus sock
Cuz he promised that he wouldn’t throw his poo!
After the service he told them tales
Of many of the places that he’d traveled to.
He made sure that they knew his skills
So they wouldn’t want to put him in a zoo.
Yo, ho! Going on adventures.
Yo, ho! Always on the move.
Yo, ho! Going on adventures.
That’s what I like to do.
Much later on in a different state,
He befriended a sock monkey who was very new.
His little friend took the name Jacko
And Cyrus then became his Papiloo.
Most of the time they stayed at home
With a family of several kids who grew and grew.
They looked forward to summertime
Cuz the fam’ly always went to somewhere new.
Yo, ho! Going on adventures.
Yo, ho! Always on the move.
Yo, ho! Going on adventures.
That’s what we like to do!
All of the kids grew up and left
and the house that they had lived in was too big for two.
The ma and pa got a smaller place
And they decided just one sock would do.
Poor little Jacko was sent away
and Jacko and his Papi had a big boo hoo!
They gave him a tag with an asking price.
At least they didn’t put him in a zoo.
He sat on a shelf with some other socks
as people walked right by with not much else to do.
Kids always grabbed them and pulled their tails
and some of them were taken home in twos.
A man by the name of Van came in,
And he journeyed from the same state as Papi Lou.
With help from above Van and Jacko met
And they became a trav’ling team of two.
Yo, Ho! Going on Adventures.
Yo, Ho! Always on the move.
Yo, Ho! Going on Adventures.
That’s what we like to do!
Not long ago Papi surfed the web
and came upon a story too good to be true.
Though he was old he still liked to see
the adventures of sock monkeys on the move.
There on the screen was his friend Jacko
and he traveled with a man that Papi thought he knew.
When he heard that his name was Van,
he knew it was the son of Buddiloo!
He sent off a note to his friend Jacko
to see about returning to the place he knew.
Jacko and Van came to pick him up
and their reunion was a big todo.
They met up with friends on their way back home,
and Papi hugged and kissed the girls of Rue Cou Cou.
Though Jacko and Van begged to take him home,
Papi went to live with Betty Lou.
Yo, Ho! Going on Adventures.
Yo, Ho! Always on the move.
Yo, Ho! Going on Adventures.
That’s what we like to do!