The Last Campfire
Camp Rising Sun, Colebrook CT

dateline: 08/26/00

Then it's "The Unicorn." The Clancy Brothers somehow made this ballad about Noah's little oversight famous without the hand movements supplied by Michael Donohue and one of the campers.

Meghan Frenzel sings while the "green alligators" board the ark.

Becky leads everyone in "Rattlin' Bog," one of those tongue-twisting repeat-after-me accelerating list songs that can only be sung at camp

Chorus:
Rare bog, rattlin' bog, way down in the valley-o
Rare bog, rattlin' bog, way down in the valley-o

And in that bog.... there was a tree.... a rare tree..... a rattlin' tree
And the tree in the bog and the bog down in the valley-o

And on that tree, there was a branch....a rare branch.... a rattlin' branch
..... And the branch on the tree and the tree in the bog and the the bog down in the valley-o

.......and on......and on......

.......and the tick on the feather and the feather on the bird and the bird in the nest and the nest on the twig and the twig on the branch and the branch on the tree and the tree in the bog....

I recorded part of the campfire. You can listen to this one here because there are no copyright problems (listen). If you are gettting hit with a wave of nostalgia, check out this site's page of Song Indexes, which include several collections of camp songs. I especially like Becky Vincent's Campfire Songbook. Becky is a Canadian Girl Guide leader and has amassed a huge collection, hundreds of songs categorized by their role in camping life. Another Canadian site, KIDiddles, is home to about 800 songs, mostly in the public domain.

Meghan and I take turns leading most of the songs on guitar, with Iggy and Jay sometimes strumming along. The "Twist and Shout/La Bamba" medley, "You've Got A Friend" and "The Cat Came Back" fall to me. Iggy gets us through "I Will Survive."

This song is a big deal here. It's not that the kids don't recognize the campiness of singing this love anthem from the seventies, it's that the song actually takes on a seriousness that was never intended. Camp Rising Sun is a camp for kids who are currently being treated for cancer or who are cancer survivors. Even teenagers who were treated as infants and have led normal lives ever since come back year after year. They identify themselves as survivors and know how tenuous the gift of good health can be. Some have become counselors.

You can always tell when the campfire has reached its natural end. The littlest kids have been treated to smores at the campfire and are getting ready to go off to bed. After so many sweet songs and game songs, the older kids start to become teens again. The tone of their conversation changes, they turn to each other and a kind of veil starts to descend. I get up on one of the benches and begin:

"A long, long time ago...."

The hush comes once again. It still amazes me that every camper over the age of 12 knows this song, some of them verse for verse. The teens have gathered at the edge of the stage, near the bonfire. They throw their arms over each others' shoulders and sing, proud to know the words.

But something touched me deeeeeep inside,
The day the music died....

.....So bye, bye Miss American Pie.

And all the kids know exactly what it means.

Keep on singing.

Hugh Blumenfeld, Editor
hugh@balladtree.com