Who sang this children's song?

September 28, 2015 3:01 PM

I remember a children's song from my childhood (late 70's/early 80's) which sounded a bit like Raffi but I'm pretty sure isn't. It had the lyrics: "Oh, the very best people are sitting in a circle, sitting in a circle and..." and every time you went, around you built on this beginning and added a verse to it.

Some of the verses I can remember include "Sitting in a circle and sipping champagne" "With their noses in the air," and "going 'hooo hooo hooo!'" (Always said in a haughty voice.) Basically it was a song making fun of snobby rich people. I loved it, but my google fu is failing. Sound familiar to anyone else?

posted by egeanin to Media & Arts (4 answers total)

Best answer: Ruthie Buell, "The Very Best People" from the album "Take a Little Step."

Poking fun at all things stuffy and pretentious is one of the many themes in Buell's extensive repertoire. "The Very Best People's," a song on her record "Take a Little Step," pokes fun at people who think they are better than others.

http://folkworks.org/old-columnists/uncle-ruthie-buell/49-and-then-there-were-none

"I go home with a massive migraine, take an Empirin codeine number three and proceed to write my greatest children’s song The Very Best People. The last verse goes:

Oh, the very best people are sitting in the circle
Sitting in the circle, blowing kisses to the crowd
And sipping champagne, with their noses in the air
Going ‘Hoo Hoo Hoo!’; tapping their feet and
Clapping their hands!"

posted by erst at 3:57 PM on September 28, 2015 [2 favorites]

Damn, I was just copying that link!
posted by jaguar at 3:59 PM on September 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

Recording here (it's alphabetized under "The").
posted by jaguar at 4:01 PM on September 28, 2015

Response by poster: Thank you!!
posted by egeanin at 4:49 PM on September 28, 2015