Children’s Songs With Animals As Protagonists
Who has not sung as a child some of the many children’s songs with animals as protagonists. Surely when we listen to them again, or teach them to our children or grandchildren, good memories are triggered, beyond the debatable content of certain lyrics.
A tour of children’s songs with animals
With their sympathetic verses and catchy melodies, children’s songs not only fulfill a playful function, but also help speed up their memory and expand their vocabulary, among other things.
However, it is fair to say that, like stories, films and other artistic creations for children, they often convey – wantingly or unwillingly – erroneous or distorted concepts.
And it is that without questioning the welcome quota of fantasy, in the specific case of those dedicated to members of the animal kingdom, they can contribute to excessive humanization and other types of abuse.
Having made these clarifications, we propose a tour of some of the children’s songs with animals that have passed generations or are on the way – for better or for worse – of becoming classics.
– The Turuleca hen
The songs of the clowns Gaby, Fofó and Miliki are part of the collective unconscious of countless Spanish-speaking people. The Turuleca hen is no exception.
Anyway, it is fair to clarify that it is a version of Galinha Magricela , a song composed by the Brazilian author Edgard Poças. The TV Clowns popularized it in the early 1970s.
The subject is so funny that it overlooks the fact that the neighbor was not feeding the hen correctly, which was also all plucked. But still, we don’t know how, the animal ended up laying eggs everywhere.
– Manuelita the turtle
Recorded for the first time in 1962, this creation by Argentine author María Elena Walsh has crossed borders and even inspired an animated film that was released at the end of the last century.
The story of the turtle that looks old enough to be able to conquer the ‘turtle’ with whom it has fallen in love, and decides to travel to Paris to beautify itself, does not seem to square with what the members of the women’s movements, so in vogue in good part of the world, they would like to pass on to their daughters.
In addition, the ideal would be that no child who listens to her decides to put into practice with their pet what they did to Manuelita in the French capital : they painted her with varnish, they ironed her on the right side and inside out, and on top they put a wig and booties on her. In the feet’.
– The dairy cow
What a paradox of life. One of the most candid children’s songs with animals as protagonists was written by an agent infiltrated among the anarchists and a member of Francisco Franco’s police.
Fernando García Morcillo wrote La vaca lechera in 1946 while taking a train trip and contemplating, through the window, the fields populated with cattle.
Thus began to emerge the unforgettable verses of that cow, who walked through the meadow, killed flies with her tail, gave different types of milk … and even cooked cherry cake.
– There was Mr. Don Gato
The story of a cat in love who fell, died and was resurrected has been sung for more than 500 years, with different versions and in different languages. Some attribute Sephardic origin to it and others place it in Renaissance Europe.
The song tells of a kitten who, contrary to what is supposed to happen to the Felis Catus , does not fall standing up from a roof, breaks several bones and dies, despite the efforts of the doctors to save him.
On the other hand, play with the seven feline lives, since the animal is resurrected by smelling fish. And it is that, when they take it to bury, they pass through the market and the sardine aroma makes the feline wake up.
-The chick Pio
A song that has become popular recently, in 2012, is Il pulcino Pio. The success began in Italy and then spread to the rest of Europe and America. The theme has its origin in a Brazilian nursery rhyme by Erisvaldo da Silva.
The verses of El Polito Pío are fun and also educational, since they describe the sounds that different animals emit (cats, dogs, pigeons, goats, etc.). Everything is going well until the chick runs into a tractor and ends up wrecked.
The video for the song quickly went viral on YouTube. Today it reaches more than 1.2 billion views. A true record.
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Read it in My animals We propose a tour of songs inspired by animals, beyond those dedicated to the most popular pets.
Image source: Youtube.com
