Lyrics
(Carey Morgan and Lee David, 1919)
1. The other day, (The other day,)
I met a bear, (I met a bear,)
A great big bear, (A great big bear,)
A way out there! (A way out there!)
The other day I met a bear,
A great big bear a way out there.
2. He looked at me, I looked at him,
He sized up me, I sized up him.
3. And so I ran away from there,
But right behind me was that bear.
4. Ahead of me there was a tree,
A great big tree, O glory be!
5. The closest branch was ten feet up,
I’d have to jump and trust my luck.
6. And so I jumped into the air,
But I missed that branch on the way up there.
7. Now don’t you fret, now don’t you frown,
‘Cause I caught that branch on the way back down.
8. That is the end, there ain’t no more,
Unless I meet that bear once more.
I left out the verse about the gun.
See also
- Subject: bears
- Type: ballad
- Form: call & response
- Harmony: Orff arrangements / chords I IV V
- Melody: descending major pentascale / la / high do’ / paper xylophones
- Meter: 4
- Timbre: Boomwhackers
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- Printable & Digital Visuals
- PDF of song with chords + Lesson ideas
- MIDI file
- Listen to the song
