The chairs all are empty

The last guest is gone

The candles burn lower and lower,

And spudder on and on,

And after the last guest has parted,

It’s off to the smoke-laiden air,

There remains a lingering presence,

That goes with a fellowship prayer,

Friends, friends, friends, you and I will be

Whether in fair, dark, stormy weather,

We’ll stand or we’ll fall together

For KAT, you and I will be

Our bonds celebrating, till death separating

Old pals we’ll be (blow out candle)

This after dinner song is one that my neighbor Mackenzie participates in on a weekly basis. Mackenzie and I are members of the same sorority and so both learned this song at the beginning of the school year. Most of the girls in the sorority learned the words and sing the entire song through memorization but have no idea of the meaning of what we are saying. We never contemplate and analyze the words but because we know it is something we are meant to sing we follow without questions.

Additionally at the end of the song we blow out an imaginary candle. I never considered why we would just do this action but when I ponder it now, it makes sense. Blowing out the candle symbolizes the finalization of the evening. Light represents activity, while darkness on the other hand signifies the opposite. When a day comes to an end the transition from light to dark occurs. Therefore it makes sense that although there is not an actual candle present we are signifying this finalization of the night through the “termination of the flame”.

When I questioned Mackenzie as to her thoughts on the after dinner chant she replied that it was a fun and catchy song yet she never really thought beyond it. The part of the song that stood out most prominently to her was the one that had repetition.                 Although the song has been passed down from generations the actual words no longer hold the same significance that they used to. The song is based more off of tradition then meaning.

The tune is very catchy and thus even when we were just learning the song we were able to participate by at least humming along. The words of the song deal with the idea of friendship and the everlasting bonds that come with being sisters in a sorority. It discusses different weather conditions acknowledging that regardless of the situation the friendships that are formed will be not broken. They are everlasting and only death can break the strong bonds that are shared.

This song has been sung since this particular sorority began many years ago. Regardless of what one thinks of the songs, it is sung as it is a tradition that cannot be broken.

Just a boy

And a girl

And a little canoe

With the moon shinin’ all around

And they talked

And they talked

‘Til the moon was dim

He said, “You better kiss me or get out and swim!”

So what ya gonna do

In a little canoe

With the moon shinin’ all a’

Boats floatin’ all a’

Girls swimming all around?

Oh yeah? Yeah!

Get out and swim!

Sydney told me she learned this song in elementary school from her mother when she participated in Girl Scouts. She learned the song in Houston, Texas, but believes that it was probably derived from a standard Girl Scouts handbook of songs to learn and teach. She said that she has no idea where her mother learned the song herself, but suspects that many other Girl Scouts troops sang similar (if not the same) songs as well. Since her mother was the leader of her Girl Scout troop, everyone in her troop learned it as well.

Sydney said that the song is usually sung in a variety of contexts. For example, the song can be used as a Girl Scouts meeting opener activity and is often sung to create a festive and lively atmosphere. The song can also be sung around a campfire, when all the girls are gathered around and settling down for the night. However, Sydney said that her troop usually sang the song when they were marching. Whether marching down the street or through the woods, the troop would sing this song in conjunction with a collection of other Girl Scouts affiliated songs. She said that the best time to sing it would be in a group with a troop of young girls. It is usually sung to consume time and to conjure up a fun and light-hearted atmosphere.

Sydney does not think the song is very difficult to understand. She feels that the lyrics spell out the meaning of the song. In her opinion, the song is about a boy and a girl, who row out into a body of water. They are having a good time, until night falls and they have to go back. The boy demands that the girl kiss him or else he will not row her back to shore. Instead of falling prey to the boy’s advances, the girl jumps aboard and swims to shore. Sydney says that this is a prime example of a female empowerment song for impressionable young girls. It says that boys like girls, but girls do not necessarily like boys. Also, she says that part of the reasons she still remembers the song is because it also gives young girls a glimpse into the future, especially at an age when they still do not understand male/female relations. She says that now, her reaction would probably be to just kiss the guy instead of swimming to shore.

I agree with Sydney in that this song is relatively simple and straightforward in meaning. But besides being a generally uplifting song, I think it is used most often used in communal settings in order to create a sense of bonding amongst young girls. It is targeted at a young age group because the song draws upon their shared naiveté of boy/girl relations and instills a sense of female independence. The fact that it is being promoted by an organization that stresses female leadership is no coincidence. It teaches the girls to be strong and not be pressured into giving in to male authority. The song also reveals the commonly held belief of males’ desires of female attention and at what lengths they will go to get it. It warns the young girls of these sexual encounters and tells them not to blindly follow male dominance and to stand up for themselves.

Mary Ellen at the church turned up

Her Ma’ turned up

And her pa’ turned up

Her sister Gert

Her rich uncle Bert

And the person with the long white shirt turned up

But no bridegroom with the ring turned up

A telegram boy with his nose turned up

Brought a telegram that said

He didn’t want to wed

And they found him in the river with his toes turned up

Katherine learned this song in the mid 1990s from her grandfather. She said that she was probably around 7 or 8 when she first heard it at a large family gathering during Thanksgiving. She is of Scottish descent from the Mac Neill clan, which was later shortened to Neil to sound more American when her family immigrated. Her grandfather would sing it during every family function because he said it was a Scottish tradition and that she just picked it up from him and began to sing along.

This song is most often performed during family get-togethers, when most of the family is gathered around one area. Katherine said that she has never heard it during any other time. It is sung by people of all ages and generally performed in festive atmospheres.

Supposedly traced back to her Scottish roots, Katherine only remembers it because it was funny and reminds her of her grandfather. She does not think that there is any special significance other than being purely for entertainment, and is unsure of any possible meaning besides the surface one. She finds it funny and a little sad that the groom would rather commit suicide than to marry the bride.

I think the song carries more meaning than meets the eye. From the bride’s point of view, the song can actually be very humiliating. If it is sung in the wrong context, such as right before a wedding, I can see it starting problems. Also, I think that perhaps there probably used to be a time during Scottish history when it was more desired for a man to remain a bachelor and to take a wife would be worse than death. This song was probably created as an exaggeration of the cultural norm that might have been true at the time of creation.

A version of the song can be found in Patricia Sheehan’s memoirs published in 2003, a mere five years ago. There are some minor variations, such as the person being a parson, a member of the clergy, changes in names of family members, and mixtures in line orders, but the song generally remains the same in meaning. However in the memoir, instead of the song being sung during family occasions, her grandmother sings it to put her brother to sleep. Her family also resides in Belfast, Ireland, not Scotland. The song is not restricted to Scotland and has probably been spread from Scotland to Ireland or vice versa. These differences demonstrate that there can be multiple meanings for the same piece of folklore. Sung in different places and times, the whole significance of the song can change.

In particular, this song has also been published in sheet music in 1924 by Herbert Rule. The song is titled “Turned Up!” and was found in the National Library of Australia’s Digital Collections Music. Attached is the sheet music. This copy is yet another variation of the same song with the same overarching theme.

Annotation: Sheehan, Patricia. And So I Did: a Northern Irish Memoire. Infinity. 75.

Annotation: Rule, Herbert. Turned Up! [music]: song. 1924.