I stepped on a cat
iwasaki
with (on?) the black keys for the most part?
When I was a small kid and started to play the piano, it
was the song "I stepped on a cat" that I first learned to
play. Recently, I learned on a newspaper that the song
is well-known all over the world and is called various names.
(The composer is unknown.) I searched on the Internet and
found the following list about the title of the song:
Argentina Pierrot Polka
Austria Flea's Waltz
Belgium Flea's Waltz
Bulgaria Cat's March
Canada Bridge / Circus Song
Chile Dog's Polka
Cuba Duck's Waltz
Denmark Duchess / The legs of the third daughter
France Cutlet Waltz
Germany Flea's Waltz / Cutlet Waltz
Hungary Donkey's March / Bridge
Japan I stepped on a cat (Neko Funjatta)
Korea Cat's Dance
Luxembourg Flea's Waltz
Mexico Monkey
Romania Dancing of the Black Cat
Russia Dog's waltz
South Africa Chopsticks
Spain Chocolate
Sweden Pig's Waltz
Swiss Cutlet Waltz
Taiwan Dancing of the Kitten
UK Chopsticks / To-to-to song / Bridge / Circus song
USA Chopsticks / To-to-to song / Bridge / Circus song
Yugoslavia Black Melody
The Japanese version has lyrics, which are humorous and
nonsense, but do other coutries' versions have lyrics?
I'd like to know especially English, French, and German
ones, if they have any.
And "Chopsticks"? I thought "chopsticks" is a generic term
for the piano music that are played with only index fingers.
The song "I stepped on a cat" needs all the fingers (and thumbs),
though it's very easy to play.
And then "To-to-to song"? There's a Japanese song that
are called "To-to-to song" (tototo no uta), but it only
uses the white keys and it's different from the
I-stepped-on-a-cat song. I think it was the "to-to-to song"
that Marilyn Monroe sang in _The Seven Year Itch_,
playing piano with index fingers.
I'd appreciate any information or correction.
--
Nobuko Iwasaki
Jacqui
> What do you call a certain piano music that are played
> with (on?) the black keys for the most part?
>
> When I was a small kid and started to play the piano, it
> was the song "I stepped on a cat" that I first learned to
> play. Recently, I learned on a newspaper that the song
> is well-known all over the world and is called various names.
> (The composer is unknown.) I searched on the Internet and
> found the following list about the title of the song:
(snip list)
> The Japanese version has lyrics, which are humorous and
> nonsense, but do other coutries' versions have lyrics?
> I'd like to know especially English, French, and German
> ones, if they have any.
I don't know that it's the same song (Google is refusing to cooperate
this evening) but I know a all-black-keys song:
Oh can you wash your father's shirt?
And can you wash it clean?
And can you wash your father's shirt
And hang it on the green?
Second verse:
Oh I can wash my father's shirt
And I can wash it clean
And I can wash my father's shirt
And send it to the Queen.
(That last line always struck me as wrong and may well be)
The notes -
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 (or F#G#A# C#'D#' F#'G#'A#' for musicians)
68676564
686765
68676564
636261
Jac
R H Draney
>
>The Japanese version has lyrics, which are humorous and
>nonsense, but do other coutries' versions have lyrics?
>I'd like to know especially English, French, and German
>ones, if they have any.
>
>And "Chopsticks"? I thought "chopsticks" is a generic term
>for the piano music that are played with only index fingers.
>The song "I stepped on a cat" needs all the fingers (and thumbs),
>though it's very easy to play.
It *can* be very easy to play, but it also admits of a great deal of
elaboration...I did a little poking around and found this:
http://members.tripod.com/~PauletteKruger/chopstks.mid
I'm not sure how many of the other national variants you list include the bridge
that begins about sixteen seconds into this one, but to me it's an integral part
of what I think of as "Chopsticks"...I'm not familiar with any lyrics....
The only song within the ability of a comparable number of non-pianists might be
"Heart and Soul"....
As for the other US names you mention: "To-to-to song" is unfamiliar to
me..."Bridge" suggests a part of a longer work; it's possible that "Chopsticks"
was quoted as a section within a larger piece and labelled "Bridge" in that
context...(the title of the Eric Clapton song "Badge" is said to come from
George Harrison misreading Clapton's penmanship where he had labelled one part
of the music as the "bridge")....
"Circus song" is also a very generic name...if it suggests a particular piece of
music at all, it'd be the piece properly called "Entry of the Gladiators" by
Carl Fucik....r
John Ings
<piano...@mtg.biglobe.ne.jp> wrote:
>Canada Bridge / Circus Song
This Canadian has never heard "Chopsticks" called anything but
"Chopsticks"
Just to ensure we're talking about the same tune, it's this one
http://www.randomness.com/clipart/midi/chopsticks.html
Donna Richoux
And contrary to Nobuko Iwasaki's requirements, Chopsticks is played
strictly on the white keys.
FG six times (F key and G key simultaneously)
EG six times
DB six times
CC four times, DB, EA, then repeat from top.
There's a well-known simple tune that is traditionally played on the
black keys called "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater."
--
Best wishes -- Donna Richoux
iwasaki
"Donna Richoux" <tr...@euronet.nl> wrote in message
news:1fku7rm.pp4jns1reyicN%tr...@euronet.nl...
> John Ings <Nos...@Ottawa.com> wrote:
>
> > On Wed, 30 Oct 2002 00:55:20 +0900, "iwasaki"
> > <piano...@mtg.biglobe.ne.jp> wrote:
> >
> > >Canada Bridge / Circus Song
> > This Canadian has never heard "Chopsticks" called anything but
> > "Chopsticks"
> >
> > Just to ensure we're talking about the same tune, it's this one
> > http://www.randomness.com/clipart/midi/chopsticks.html
Thank you for the link. That song is what we call "To-to-to song"
in Japanese and is usually only played on the white keys. The "I
stepped on a cat" song mostly uses the black keys. Maybe the list
I mentioned is not accurate, or they only use the generic term.
> And contrary to Nobuko Iwasaki's requirements, Chopsticks is played
> strictly on the white keys.
> FG six times (F key and G key simultaneously)
> EG six times
> DB six times
> CC four times, DB, EA, then repeat from top.
Thank you for the clarification. That is the same tune as the one
in the link above, and what we call "to-to-to song". It's certainly
played on the white keys, and with the index fingers of both hands
(at least during the introduction).
> There's a well-known simple tune that is traditionally played on the
> black keys called "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater."
Ah, a nursery rhyme. I don't know that melody, but probably
it's different from the I-stepped-on-a-cat song. It is said
that the composer is unknown, but it seems some believes the
cat song was written by Nikolai Rubinstein.
It begins like this:
[left hand] [right hand]
d#
c#
f#
a#f#
a#f#
(repeat two times)
I found the I-stepped-on-a-cat melody at:
http://www.mahoroba.ne.jp/~gonbe007/hog/shouka/nekofunjatta.html
or
http://www.geocities.co.jp/MusicHall/2623/
(click the picture of two cats, and you can hear the
introduction part of the melody (96.7KB)).
--
Nobuko Iwasaki
iwasaki
"R H Draney" <dado...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:apmp5...@drn.newsguy.com...
> In article <apmao7$2rs5n$1...@ID-136331.news.dfncis.de>, "iwasaki" says...
> >
> >The Japanese version has lyrics, which are humorous and
> >nonsense, but do other coutries' versions have lyrics?
> >I'd like to know especially English, French, and German
> >ones, if they have any.
> >
> >And "Chopsticks"? I thought "chopsticks" is a generic term
> >for the piano music that are played with only index fingers.
> >The song "I stepped on a cat" needs all the fingers (and thumbs),
> >though it's very easy to play.
>
> It *can* be very easy to play, but it also admits of a great deal of
> elaboration...I did a little poking around and found this:
>
> http://members.tripod.com/~PauletteKruger/chopstks.mid
>
> I'm not sure how many of the other national variants you list include the
bridge
> that begins about sixteen seconds into this one, but to me it's an
integral part
> of what I think of as "Chopsticks"...I'm not familiar with any lyrics....
Thank you! That is a complicated and beautiful version of the
song what I call "To-to-to song" (but not the I-stepped-on-the-cat
song). I'm sure I can't play _that_ piece. The Japanese lyrics
for the "to-to-to song" (your "Chopsticks") begins like this:
tototo tototo
tototo totemo
sugoi sugoi
niwatori da
(means something like "vvvvvvvery, very, marvelous, marvelous
chicken")
I found the Japanese lyrics and the (simple) melody of the
"to-to-to song/ Chopsticks" at:
http://www.mahoroba.ne.jp/~gonbe007/hog/shouka/tototonouta.html
The Japanese lyrics and the melody of the "I stepped on the
cat" (neko funjatta) is at:
http://www.mahoroba.ne.jp/~gonbe007/hog/shouka/nekofunjatta.html
--
Nobuko Iwasaki
Stephen Toogood
>What do you call a certain piano music that are played
>with (on?) the black keys for the most part?
>
be pentatonic.
--
Stephen Toogood
Mike Barnes
>In article <apmao7$2rs5n$1...@ID-136331.news.dfncis.de>, "iwasaki" says...
>>for the piano music that are played with only index fingers.
>>The song "I stepped on a cat" needs all the fingers (and thumbs),
>>though it's very easy to play.
>
>It *can* be very easy to play, but it also admits of a great deal of
>elaboration...I did a little poking around and found this:
>
> http://members.tripod.com/~PauletteKruger/chopstks.mid
>
>I'm not sure how many of the other national variants you list include
>the bridge that begins about sixteen seconds into this one, but to me
>it's an integral part of what I think of as "Chopsticks".
Not to me... the lid is usually slammed down on the player's hands at
around the ten-second mark. But I'm glad that didn't happen here.
Splendid.
--
Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England
Joe Fineman
> FG six times (F key and G key simultaneously)
> EG six times
> DB six times
> CC four times, DB, EA, then repeat from top.
When I was little (U.S., 1940s), if another pair of hands was handy,
it accompanied the repetition with a descant
ED.CB.AG.GGAGF.FFGFE.E.
together with the (white-key) notes a third below those. Long after,
Berryman & Berryman wrote a song ("Chapsticks: or, Minnesota
Chopsticks") using both parts, to which the words were names of towns:
Nisswa Waseca Wadena Sebeka
Wayzata Zumbota Moorhead Minneota
Ceylon Ely Waverly Sheridan Shakopee
Sleepy Eye Eveleth Albert Lea.
St. Cloud St. Clair St. James St. Michael
St. Paul St. Peter St. Anthony
New Hope Newport New Prague New London
New Ulm New Brighton and Albany....
It goes on.
One could also fancy up the first part by playing the left- &
right-hand notes alternately instead of simultaneously, and the second
part by using (obAUE: what do you call them -- riffles?) scales played
rapidly by running your fingernail up the keyboard.
--
--- Joe Fineman j...@TheWorld.com
||: I like people who are easy to tell apart. :||
R H Draney
>
>I found the Japanese lyrics and the (simple) melody of the
>"to-to-to song/ Chopsticks" at:
>
>http://www.mahoroba.ne.jp/~gonbe007/hog/shouka/tototonouta.html
>
>The Japanese lyrics and the melody of the "I stepped on the
>cat" (neko funjatta) is at:
>
>http://www.mahoroba.ne.jp/~gonbe007/hog/shouka/nekofunjatta.html
Thank you; I'm saving these links...the tune is charming enough that it makes me
want to try translating these lyrics into something that preserves both the
sense and the scansion of the original, as rusty as my Japanese has become....
Further data point: I was wracking my brain yesterday when the subject first
came up, trying to think of a piece that quoted from the "tototo" song or
American "Chopsticks"...coming in to work this morning, I remembered that the
most recognizable phrase appears--labelled "Elroy's Theme"--in the opening music
for the "Jetsons" cartoon:
http://www.ekn.net/midi/TV_Movie/Cartoons/jetsons.mid
The pertinent passage begins at about the 0:42 mark....r
Jerry Friedman
Another example of a pentatonic song is "Loch Lomond". "Auld Lang
Syne", too, unless I'm suffering from ethnically induced confusion.
--
Jerry Friedman
Joe Fineman
> Another example of a pentatonic song is "Loch Lomond".
Not quite. In the key of F#, the first syllable of "never" needs a
B.
> "Auld Lang Syne", too, unless I'm suffering from ethnically induced
> confusion.
That does work. I'd never noticed that.
--
--- Joe Fineman j...@TheWorld.com
||: We hate those whom we cannot afford to despise, and we love :||
||: those whom we cannot afford to hate. :||
iwasaki
Thank you for the pleasant music. They say in the movie
_Big_, Tom Hanks character plays the chopsticks/tototo song
with his feet on the big keyboard. I remember the scene,
but I forget what tune he played.
I was beginning to suspect that the people who made the list
I mentioned first in this thread are confusing the "Chopsticks
= tototo song" with the "I stepped on a cat" song, but after
the further search, I found another similar list at
http://www.fjkastl.de/floh.htm
The page introduce the song as "Der weltberühmte Flohwalzer"
(the world-famous flea waltz), shows a note of the
I-stepped-on-a-cat song, and has a BGM of the I-stepped-on-a-cat
song. And their list says:
Great Britain: Chopsticks
Mallorca: Polca de los Tontos
Nederland: Vlooien-Mars
Danmark: Prinsesse Coben
France: Côtelettes
España: Chocolate
Belgique: Valse de Puce
Magyarorszag: Szamár-Induló
Maybe people in the UK call both "Chopsticks = tototo song"
and "Flohwalzer = I stepped on a cat" Chopsticks.
--
Nobuko Iwasaki
R H Draney
>
>The page introduce the song as "Der weltberühmte Flohwalzer"
>(the world-famous flea waltz), shows a note of the
>I-stepped-on-a-cat song, and has a BGM of the I-stepped-on-a-cat
>song. And their list says:
>
>Great Britain: Chopsticks
>Mallorca: Polca de los Tontos
>Nederland: Vlooien-Mars
>Danmark: Prinsesse Coben
>France: Côtelettes
>España: Chocolate
>Belgique: Valse de Puce
>Magyarorszag: Szamár-Induló
>
>Maybe people in the UK call both "Chopsticks = tototo song"
>and "Flohwalzer = I stepped on a cat" Chopsticks.
Now *there's* an interesting assortment of titles...the Dutch and Belgian titles
seem to match the German one (although if I'm right in thinking that's a
cognate, the Dutch consider the piece a "march" rather than a "waltz")....
The Mallorcan and Hungarian titles are a near match too...I read the former as
"Dullards' Polka" and the latter as "Dance of the Jackass"...I'll try to confirm
that with a Hungarian co-worker when she returns to the office after the first
of the year, and will also ask if she's familiar with the tune....r
Skitt
My Hungarian handyman says "Szamár-Induló" means "donkey march".
--
Skitt (in SF Bay Area) http://www.geocities.com/opus731/
I speak English well -- I learn it from a book!
-- Manuel (Fawlty Towers)
Evan Kirshenbaum
> I'm not sure how many of the other national variants you list
> include the bridge that begins about sixteen seconds into this one,
> but to me it's an integral part of what I think of as
> "Chopsticks"...I'm not familiar with any lyrics....
Not familiar with the '60s/'70s commercials for Holsum bread, eh?
At three in the morning when you're in bed
The Holsum bakers are baking bread.
And that is the reason it tastes so good
Like oven-fresh Holsum bread should.
Then the "Chopstics" chorus:
H-O-L-S-U-M
H-O-L-S-U-M
H-O-L-S-U-M
Holsum bread.
--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
HP Laboratories |In the beginning, there were no
1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |reasons, there were only causes.
Palo Alto, CA 94304 | Daniel Dennet
kirsh...@hpl.hp.com
(650)857-7572
Aaron J. Dinkin
> One could also fancy up the first part by playing the left- &
> right-hand notes alternately instead of simultaneously, and the second
> part by using (obAUE: what do you call them -- riffles?) scales played
> rapidly by running your fingernail up the keyboard.
Glissandi?
-Aaron J. Dinkin
Dr. Whom