Pooh Songs

 

Pooh Songs - (2020)   

from Winnie-the-Pooh, 1926 edition
A. A. Milne (1882-1956)

for medium voice and piano

 

i. Isn't it funny

(Winnie-the-Pooh sat down at the foot of the tree...)
That buzzing-noise means something.
You don't get a buzzing-noise like that,
without its meaning something.
If there's a buzzing-noise,
somebody's making a buzzing-noise,
and the only reason for making a buzzing-noise
is because you're a bee.
And the only reason for being a bee
that I know of is making honey.
And the only reason for making honey
is so as I can eat it.
(He climbed and he climbed and he climbed,
and as he climbed he sang a little song to himself.
It went like this:)
Isn't it funny
How a bear likes honey?
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
I wonder why he does?
Climb a little further...
and a little further...
and then just a little further.
(By that time he had thought of another song.)
It's a very funny thought that, if Bears were Bees,
They'd build their nests at the bottom of trees.
And that being so (if the Bees were Bears),
We shouldn't have to climb up all these stairs.
 
ii. How sweet to be a Cloud

How sweet to be a Cloud
Floating in the Blue!
Ev'ry little cloud
Always sings aloud.
"How sweet to be a Cloud
Floating in the Blue!"
It makes him very proud
To be a little cloud.
 

iii. Rum-tum-tum-tiddle-um

Tra-la-la, tra-la-la,
Tra-la-la, tra-la-la,
Rum-tum-tiddle-um-tum.
Tiddle-iddle, tiddle-iddle,
Tiddle-iddle, tiddle-iddle,
Rum-tum-tum-tiddle-um.
 

iv. Who found the Tail?

Who found the Tail?
"I," said Pooh,
"At a quarter to two,
(Only it was quarter to eleven really),
I found the Tail!"
 

 v. Very, very funny

It's very, very funny,
'cos I know I had some honey;
'cos it had a label on,
Saying HUNNY.
A goloptious full-up pot too,
And I don't know where it's got to,
No, I don't know where it's gone--
Well, it's funny.

FUNNY.
 

vi. Cottleston Pie

Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,
A fly can't bird, but a bird can fly.
Ask me a riddle and I reply:
"Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie."

Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,
A fish can't whistle and neither can I.
Ask me a riddle and I reply:
"Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie."

Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,
Why does a chicken, I don't know why.
Ask me a riddle and I reply:
"Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie."
 
vii. Lines written by a Bear of Very Little Brain

On Monday, when the sun is hot,
I wonder to myself a lot:
Now is it true, or is it not,
That what is which and which is what?

On Tuesday, when it hails and snows,
The feeling on me grows and grows
That hardly anybody knows
If those are these or these are those.

On Wednesday, when the sky is blue,
And I have nothing else to do,
I sometimes wonder if it's true
That who is what and what is who.

On Thursday, when it starts to freeze
And hoar-frost twinkles on the trees,
How very readily one sees
That these are whose--but whose are these?

On Friday----
 

viii. Sing Ho!

Sing Ho! for the life of a Bear!
Sing Ho! for the life of a Bear!
I don't much mind if it rains or snows,
'Cos I've got a lot of honey on my nice new nose,
I don't much care if it snows or thaws,
'Cos I've got a lot of honey on my nice clean paws!
Sing Ho! for a Bear!
Sing Ho! for a Pooh!
And I'll have a little something in an hour or two!
They all went off to discover the Pole,
Owl and Piglet and Rabbit and all;
It's a Thing you Discover, as I've been tole
By Owl and Piglet and Rabbit and all.
Eeyore, Christopher Robin and Pooh
And Rabbit's relations all went too--
And where the Pole was none of them knew. . . .
Sing Hey! for Owl and Rabbit and all!
 

ix. Anxious Pooh Song

Three Cheers for Pooh!
(For Who?)
For Pooh--
(Why what did he do?)
I thought you knew;
He saved his friend from a wetting!
Three Cheers for Bear!
(Hip! Hip! Hooray!)
(For where?)
For Bear--
He couldn't swim,
But he rescued him!
(He rescued who?)
Oh, listen, do!
I am talking of Pooh--
(Of who?)
Of Pooh!
(I'm sorry I keep forgetting).
Well, Pooh was a Bear of Enormous Brain
(Just say it again!)
Of enormous brain--
(Of enormous what?)
Well, he ate a lot,
And I don't know if he could swim or not,
But he managed to float
On a sort of boat
(On a sort of what?)
Well, a sort of pot--
So now let's give him three hearty cheers
(So now let's give him three hearty whiches?)
And hope he'll be with us for years and years,
And grow in health and wisdom and riches!
Three Cheers for Pooh!
(For who?)
For Pooh--
Three Cheers for Bear!
(For where?)
For Bear--
Three Cheers for the wonderful Winnie-the-Pooh!
(Just tell me, somebody--WHAT DID HE DO?)

21 pages, circa 14' 00"
 

A. A. Milne and his son, Christopher Robin Milne


In 2022, the original text for Winnie-the-Pooh became public domain in the US and in other nations with lesser lengths of copyright control. The texts fall into public domain use in Europe in 2026, pending no new changes to copyright law. These etxts are lightly edited from the 1926 first edition, rhymes turned to song lyrics.

 

A. A. Milne is shown above in an early photograph with his son, Christopher, for whom the rhymes and surrounding texts were invented.

 

Winnie-the-Pooh

 

E. H. Shepherd's first illustrations were charming, as of course were the prose and rhymes. In this vein, these songs, gathered together as a single recital piece with each flowing to the next, are for all those who have enjoyed the works from childhood to those "old children" such as myself. for whom the texts still give great amusement.

 

 

The score is available as a free PDF download, though any major commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without prior arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this art song score.

 

Pooh Songs