Ducks Like Rain, Root Beer, and Pretzels

The thunderstorm hit today slightly before class dismissal, a mite earlier than yesterday when we had already taken the children to the playground. Two things surprised me as we sat in a circle for a sing-along:

1. These children are too young to remember Hurricane Katrina. For months after the hurricane kids worried about Katrina flooding whenever we heard thunder.

2. I couldn't remember the words to the Raffi song, "Ducks Like Rain." In the late Eighties I thought those lyrics would never, ever leave my head.

My Woolly Mammoth son doesn't remember back when he was a Raffi duck song addict. It's one of those things I'll toast him with at his wedding rehearsal dinner, along with his fondness for the music from Disney's "Little Mermaid" at naptime (Everything's better down where it's wetter, take it from me!), rainbows, goldfish, and hot air balloons.

I drove thousands of miles in the blue Ford Aerostar minivan with Raffi singing duck songs for little Steven in his carseat. When we weren't driving, I was pushing him in his stroller around the Hafer Park duck pond on Bryant in Edmond, Oklahoma. [It's a very nice duck pond, renovated in 2004.] Once little Steven could walk, I hauled him out of the duck pond when he fell in due to over-duck-dose excitement. His older brothers tended to fall into fishing lakes and the prairie dog habitat at the Henry Doorly Zoo. It's good for each sibling to find his own niche!

In searching for the "Ducks Like Rain" song I found an online video as performed by Dubya. It's not a great video, but it has the whole song.

Ducks like rain! Ducks like rain!
Ducks like splishy splashing in the rain.
Ducks like rain! Ducks like rain!
Ducks llike the rainy weather
Water running off their feathers
Ducks like splishy splashing in the rain

In those politically incorrect Aerostar days the Duck Trifecta was "Ducks Like Rain", "Five Little Ducks Went Out to Play", and "Six Little Ducks That I Once Knew." The six little ducks included:

Fat ones, skinny ones,
Fair ones, too
But the one little duck
With the feather on his back
He led the others
With a quack, quack, quack

When the five little ducks went over the hills and far away back in those days, only the mother duck went quack, quack, quack to call them back. Papa Duck was probably staying at the Embassy Suites and enjoying the complimentary breakfasts and happy hours.

If you are of a certain AARP-age, you may remember "Little White Duck." It was recorded by Burl Ives, Danny Kaye, and others for children's records in the Fifties:

Little White Duck
Written by: Bernard Zaritzky and Walt Barrows - © 1950

There's a little white duck sitting in the water
a little white duck doing what he oughter
he took a bite of a lily pad
flapped his wings and he said
"I'm glad I'm a little white duck sitting in the water
quack! quack! quack!"

There's a little green frog swimming in the water
a little green frog doing what he oughter
he jumped right off of the lily pad
that the little duck bit and he said
"I'm glad I'm a little green frog swimming in the water
ribbit! ribbit! ribbit!"

There's a little black bug floating on the water
a little black bug doing what he oughter
he tickled the frog on the lily pad
that the little duck bit and he said "I'm glad
I'm a little black bug floating on the water
bzzz! bzzz! bzzz!"

There's a little red snake playing in the water
a little red snake doing what he oughter
he frightened the duck and the frog so bad
he ate the bug and he said "I'm glad
I'm a little red snake playing in the water
hiss! hiss! hiss!"

Now there's nobody left sitting in the water
nobody left doing what he oughter
there's nothing left but the lily pad
the duck and the frog ran away, I'm sad
'cause there's nobody left sitting in the water
boo! hoo! hoo!


My little sister had an Australian preschool teacher who sang this song, so we always sang it with an Aussie accent. We loved rhyming water with daughter:

Have You Seen the Little Ducks

Have you seen the little ducks
Walking to the water
Father, mother, baby duck
Grand-mama and daughter

Root beer and pretzels were the special treats I used for distracting my little sons during tornado warnings in Omaha and Oklahoma. I have some fond memories of our basement storm parties. Having a festive family ritual for potentially scary events kept us calm and focused on the joy of family. If I'm ever going to be wiped off the face of the earth in some act-of-God catastrophe, please let me enjoy my last moments with good company, duck songs, pretzels, and root beer!

© 2007 Nancy L. Ruder