Mefites are Little Stars!!
September 21, 2010 1:11 AM   Subscribe

Variations on Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star?

My daughter's favourite song is Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. She likes it when I sing different words to it, like Lewis Carroll's Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat and one I made up which goes:

Twinkle, twinkle, little moon
You are hardly seen at noon
Up above the world so high
Like a pancake in the sky
Twinkle, twinkle, little moon
You are hardly seen at noon

But there my creativity stops. Can you clever mefites think up more variations, or find some online? Only proviso is that it's clean and of course, as silly as possible. Thanks!
posted by low_horrible_immoral to Writing & Language (33 answers total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
A B C D
E F G
H I J K
L M N O P
Q R S
T U V
W X
Y and Z
Now I know
My A B C's
Next time won't you
Sing with me
posted by clorox at 1:32 AM on September 21, 2010


Well, there's always "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat" from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.
Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!
How I wonder what you're at!
Up above the world you fly,
Like a tea tray in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!
How I wonder what you're at!
Fun fact: According to Martin Gardner, editor of The Annotated Alice, the "bat" may have been a reference to Bartholomew Price, an Oxford don of the author's acquaintance.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:33 AM on September 21, 2010 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Starkle starkle little twink
posted by Obscure Reference at 2:03 AM on September 21, 2010


You could sing the rest of the verses (I never knew there was more to the song until I looked it up just now):

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky!

Repeat:
*Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!*

When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.
(*repeat)

Then the traveller in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.
(*repeat)

In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky.
(*repeat)

As your bright and tiny spark,
Lights the traveller in the dark,—
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

posted by amyms at 2:09 AM on September 21, 2010 [4 favorites]


Best answer: From my daughter's daycare (she's in bed so this is from memory):

Twinkle twinkle, traffic light
Standing on the corner bright
Red means stop,
Green means go,
Orange means (something that rhymes with go)
Twinkle twinkle, traffic light
Standing on the corner bright

My father in law sings:

Twinkle twinkle, little moth
How I'd like the weekend off.
posted by tracicle at 2:13 AM on September 21, 2010 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Twinkle twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky
Ha ha ha, you little mite
I'm really a Russian satellite

Twinkle twinkle little star
Light distorted from afar
What goes on twixt there and here?
It's my planet's atmosphere
Twinkle twinkle little star
Light distorted from afar

Tumble tumble asteroid
A chunk of rock we'd best avoid
Hurtling, hidden, through the dark
Hopefully you'll miss your mark
Tumble tumble asteroid
A chunk of rock we'd best avoid
posted by obiwanwasabi at 2:13 AM on September 21, 2010 [1 favorite]


My brother used to sing "Tinkle tinkle in a jar" but I can't remember who made it up or anything after that.
posted by theichibun at 3:20 AM on September 21, 2010


Best answer: From my childhood:

Twinkle, twinkle little star,
Daddy drives a motor car
Push the button
Pull the choke
Off we go in a puff of smoke
Twinkle, twinkle little star
Daddy drives a motor car

No idea if that was just us, or if it was a more widely known version.

We are well and truly grown up now, but if my family are in a car or a train together, sometimes someone will say 'Puff of smoke!' as we set off - I had completely forgotten why until I saw your question.
posted by une_heure_pleine at 3:38 AM on September 21, 2010


Scintillate, scintillate, global vivific,
Fain would I fathom thy nature specific,
Loftily poised in the ether capacious,
Strongly resembling a gem carbonaceous.

That was a favourite of my Dad's and mine when I was a child. I remember he even found the full version in a newspaper and tore it out, and one of the later verses ended in "coruscate, coruscate, semper nocturnal". But that first verse is all I can remember now :-(
posted by tel3path at 3:42 AM on September 21, 2010 [4 favorites]


Best answer: I used to sing this version to my daughter..

Twinkle twinkle little ball
How I wonder where you'll fall
I threw you up into the sky
You went so very very high
Twinkle twinkle little ball
How I wonder where you'll fall
posted by jmsta at 3:42 AM on September 21, 2010


Via Wikipedia, although I heard of it in a L'Engle book:

Mica, mica, parva stella,
Miror quaenam sis tam bella.
Super terra in caelo,
Alba gemma splendido.
Mica, mica, parva stella
Miror quaenam sis tam bella.
posted by theredpen at 3:46 AM on September 21, 2010 [1 favorite]


If you haven't run across it already, you and your daughter might enjoy Mozart's variations of the Twinkle theme.
posted by heyforfour at 4:50 AM on September 21, 2010


Twinkle twinkle little moon
High above the forest gloom
Hark! I spy Imperial freighters!
Hang on, what's this generator?
There's no other explanation
That's no moon, it's a space station!
posted by obiwanwasabi at 4:56 AM on September 21, 2010 [1 favorite]


Best answer: My husband sings this version for library storytime - it's always fun to see the shocked looks on parent's faces who a second ago were singing along sweetly, and the glee of tiny tots embracing anarchy:

Twinkle twinkle ... GORILLA STAR!
How I wonder WHAT you are
Up above the world you SWING!
Like a HAIRY! MONKEY! THING!!!

Emphasis for shouting.

Finish by dropping guitar and leaping on chair to imitate a monkey.
posted by Catch at 5:14 AM on September 21, 2010 [4 favorites]


"By the way...

An obfuscated version also exists for the second and third verses:

When torrid Phoebus removeth his presence,
Ceasing to lamp us with fierce incandescense,
Then you illumine the regions supernal,
Scintillate, scintillate semper nocturnal.

The traveller on lustreless perigrination,
Gratefully hails your minute coruscation,
He could not determine his journey’s direction,
But for your bright scintillitating protection."
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:16 AM on September 21, 2010 [2 favorites]


Oh, and here's the rest of tel3path's version. This is a great question, by the way!


Scintillate, scintillate, globule vivific,
Fain would I fathom thy nature specific,
Loftily poised in the ether capacious,
Strongly resembling a gem carbonaceous!

When torrid Phoebus removeth his presence,
Ceasing to lamp us with fierce incandescense,
Then you illumine the regions supernal,
Scintillate, scintillate semper nocturnal.

The traveller on lustreless perigrination,
Gratefully hails your minute coruscation,
He could not determine his journey’s direction,
But for your bright scintillitating protection.
posted by heyforfour at 5:16 AM on September 21, 2010 [4 favorites]


jinx!
posted by heyforfour at 5:17 AM on September 21, 2010


The Alpha-BaaBaa-Twinkle Song
posted by briank at 6:17 AM on September 21, 2010


Related: classic Sesame Street: Kermit the Frog and Don Music write "Twinkle Twinkle"
posted by Jugwine at 6:41 AM on September 21, 2010 [1 favorite]


Slightly off topic...
I saw a public service announcement somewhere that said to avoid transmitting colds and flu, you should wash your hands with soap and water for a minimum of 20 seconds, which is the amount of time it takes to sing, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". I thought that was a pretty useful mnemonic.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 6:44 AM on September 21, 2010


Twinkle twinkle little star
I don't wonder what you are
Through spectrographic ken
I know you are hydrogen
Twinkle twinkle little star
I don't wonder what you are
posted by jrishel at 6:49 AM on September 21, 2010 [4 favorites]


Response by poster: these are good! I've especially liked the ones where 'star' and 'diamond' is changed and another object is apostrophised. Especially GORILLA STAR!! :-))

I ought to mention my daughter is only 2 1/2 so anything very SILLY and simple is ideal.
posted by low_horrible_immoral at 6:55 AM on September 21, 2010


For the sake of completeness I'll mention:

Skinhead Skinhead over there,
What's it like to have no hair?
Is it hot? Or is it Cold?
What's it like to be bald?

But you must remember that the Skinhead sub-culture in '70s Britain was very different to the prejudiced / political skin scene that seems to be prevalent in the US these days.
posted by dirm at 6:56 AM on September 21, 2010


Response by poster: Am enjoying the ones for when she's a bit older too, obviously. :-)
posted by low_horrible_immoral at 6:58 AM on September 21, 2010


For Twinkle Twinkle Traffic Light - One version I've heard says "Yellow means very very slow". I hate this lyric, and sing it instead as "Use some caution on yellow". The second version allows me to take yellows at high speed without cross-examination by a three year old, so long as I am cautious in the process.
posted by crazycanuck at 6:59 AM on September 21, 2010


For some related silliness, take a listen to Mozart's Ah vous dirais-je, Maman. No words, but 12 awesome variations on the tune.
posted by jquinby at 7:01 AM on September 21, 2010


clorox: "A B C D E F G"

But everybody knows that. A more impressive version to teach her would be the alphabet backwards. And it's pretty easy to remember because it still fits the rhythm of the song:
ZYX WVUT
SRQP ONM
LKJ. IHG.
FED. CBA.

Now I know my ZYX's
Won't you come with me to Texas
(That last part needs work.)
posted by Rhaomi at 7:21 AM on September 21, 2010 [5 favorites]


Updated cosmology from the Girl Scouts of America:

Twinkle, twinkle little star
You're a ball of gas that's very far
32 Light years in the sky
10 parsecs, which is really high
Helium, carbon and hy-dro-gen
Fuse to make our starry friend.
When it enters supernova stage
It explodes with bursts of rays,
And if the star's mass is big and bold
It will become a black hole!

posted by rongorongo at 7:31 AM on September 21, 2010


Rhaomi--my sister's middle name starts with Z and we called her by that name when she was little, so she was completely obsessed with the letter Z. So...I, as a child, made up my own backwards ABCs version to entertain her. Slightly different rhythm than yours...

ZYXW VUT
SQRP ONM
LKJI HJF
EDBCA (said with no breath)
that's it.
Now I know my backwards ABC's,
next time won't you sing with me.

(Ok. I was 4;) But it still works for classroom management.)
posted by eleanna at 8:07 AM on September 21, 2010


Best answer: Twinkle twinkle little botty
You are sitting on the potty
I am waiting here with you
Until you have done a poo
Twinkle twinkle little botty
You are sitting on the potty


This worked remarkably well as an aid to potty-training, although she would sing it at nursery and we got questioned by one of the teachers.
posted by Hogshead at 8:48 AM on September 21, 2010 [1 favorite]


jrishel: I'll be singing your version to my daughter tonight; thanks! But I don't think "Through spectrographic ken" fits the meter; "Using spectrographic ken" or "Thanks to spectrographic ken" works better.
posted by roystgnr at 11:04 AM on September 21, 2010


ZYX WVUT
SRQP ONM
LKJ. IHG.
FED. CBA.

Now I know my ZYX's
Won't you come with me to Texas


We use "bet that's not what you expected"
posted by Abbril at 11:22 AM on September 21, 2010


I used to sing this (badly) to my then-girlfriend from the other side of the bathroom door in the loft we shared:

"Tinkle tinkle, little star
How I wonder what you're doing in there..."

Due to laughter and self consciousness, it would take her forever to actually pee. I'm sure that's not what you're looking for, but it *IS* a variation of the original :)
posted by 2oh1 at 11:41 AM on September 21, 2010


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