Songs My Mother Taught Me . . . Itsy Bitsy Spider

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{This is the second in an undetermined number of songs my mother taught me I'm posting this month in her memory. For background, please visit the post containing the first song, Ivory Tower.}

My childhood memory of learning Itsy Bitsy Spider from my mother is not unique, I realize that. It is such an iconic childhood song and many mothers and grade school teachers are responsible for it ringing in the minds of adults the world over. You who have had children of your own have undoubtedly passed it on to your kids (if not, get crackin'). Admit it: even as adults the song holds something special for us. I wonder if it isn't the human need for.....wonder. The wonder of coming upon a spot of nature in the midst of our lives. Pausing to look, really look at a photo of a vividly-colored Amazon rainforest bird, or, as I did just last week, to stop to notice that the speck on my shower wall was a minute spider, and, seeing what it was, to collect it on a piece of tissue and take it to a fern outside. If my mother could have seen me do that her reaction would have been, "You have not changed."

So, yes, I save spiders now (most of them, anyway), in large part due to the itsy bitsy spider I sang about with my mother. I remember the feeling of my left thumb touching my right forefinger and the lattice work my right thumb was about to create by touching my left forefinger, and on and on they would touch and climb.......until they were high, quite high, but not destination-high before my hands fanned open and all eight fingers and two thumbs wiggled gently in the air, turning to rain, while my arms brought them down...down...down. But the lesson was to not give up, not any more than the itsy bitsy spider would ever forfeit to a storm, and so the song would begin again.

What is unique about the song in relation to the Carly Simon video is that my mother and I watched the 1987 HBO concert from Martha's Vineyard together in her family room, two grown women enjoying the song again together. I had a Carly Simon album with this version on it and loved the way she combined Itsy Bitsy Spider with Coming Around Again, so was thrilled to share it with my mother. Itsy Bitsy Spider. One of the songs my mother taught me ..... and that she much later learned anew from me.




Coming Around Again (Itsy Bitsy Spider) lyrics

Baby sneezes
Mommy pleases
Daddy breezes in
So good on paper
So romantic
So bewildering

I know nothin' stays the same
But if you're willin' to play the game
It's comin' around again
So don't mind if I fall apart
There's more room in a broken heart (broken heart)


Pay the grocer
You fix the toaster
You kiss the host goodbye
Then you break a window
Burn the souffle
Scream the lullaby


I know nothin' stays the same
But if you're willin' to play the game
It's comin' around again
So don't mind if I fall apart
There's more room in a broken heart


And I believe in love
But what else can I do
So in love with you


I know nothin' stays the same
But if you're willin' to play the game
It's comin' around again


(Baby sneezes)
(Mommy pleases)
(Daddy breezes in)
I know nothin' stays the same
But if you're willin' to play the game
It will be comin' around again


(The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout)
(Down come the rain and washed the spider out)
(Out come the sun and dried up all the rain)
(And the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again)


{Carly plus backup singers}
(The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout)
(Down come the rain and washed the spider out)
(Out come the sun and dried up all the rain)
(And the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again)


I believe in love
Now who knows where or when
But it's comin' around again


{Carly plus backup singers}
(The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout)
(Down come the rain and washed the spider out)
(Out come the sun and dried up all the rain)
(And the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again)


I know nothin' stays the same
But if you're willin' to play the game
It's comin' around again


(Itsy bitsy spider)
(Itsy bitsy spider)
(Itsy bitsy spider)
(Itsy bitsy spider)
(The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout) (Comin' around again)
(Down come the rain and washed the spider out) (Down the rain came)
(Out come the sun and dried up all the rain)
(And the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again)


(Itsy bitsy spider)
(Itsy bitsy spider)
(Itsy bitsy spider)
(Itsy bitsy spider) (Again)


FADE

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