Chickadee Song, The

DESCRIPTION: "The ground was all covered in snow one day, And two little sisters were busy at play, When a snowbird was sitting on a tree, And merrily singing his chick-a-dee-dee." The girls wish they could bring the chickadee inside to make it warm
AUTHOR: F. C. Woodworth?
EARLIEST DATE: 1881 (Franklin Square Song Collection, according to Browne-AlabamaFolkLyric)
KEYWORDS: children bird music clothes
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Browne-AlabamaFolkLyric 103, "The Chickadee Song" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Brown-MyGrandmothersSongbook 1, "Chck-a-dee-dee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4382
NOTES [72 words]: The bird-watcher in me has to note some errors in this song. Chickadees sing "chick-a-dee," or "chick-a-dee-dee-dee" (the latter more than the former), but not "chick-a-dee-dee." And while they are very bold -- some birds will actually feed from a person's hand -- they aren't going to come inside when they're making that call; it's a warning of a minor danger (one might say that "chick-a-dee-dee-dee" means "large slow threat"). - RBW
Last updated in version 4.5
File: Brne103

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