Repetitive song

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Repetitive songs are songs containing a large proportion of repeated words or phrases. Simple repetitive songs are common in many cultures as widely spread as the Caribbean, Southern India and Finland. The best-known examples of such songs are probably children's songs. Other repetitive songs are found, for instance, in African-American culture from the time of American slavery.

Video Repetitive song

Structure

Self referential: The Song That Never Ends The song quotes its own lyrics.

Describing circular phenomenon: There's a Hole in My Bucket To fix a leaky bucket, one ultimately needs to have the bucket already fixed. Where Have All the Flowers Gone? Flowers were ultimately given to soldiers, who fell in a war, new flowers grew on their graves, those flowers were given to soldiers and so on.

Cumulative songs: "Old McDonald Had a Farm"

Counting: "99 Bottles of Beer"

Maps Repetitive song

Repetition in children's songs

In children's songs, repetition serves various educational purposes: repetition aids memory, can aid in learning punctuation and reading skills, and is very valuable in learning (foreign) languages.

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Repetition in work songs

Repetitive songs are also found in traditional work songs. Examples abound in African-American culture, in political groups, and among traveler, marchers, and walkers.

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Examples of repetitive songs

• "Michael Finnegan"
• "The Song That Never Ends"
• "There's a Hole in My Bucket"
• "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt"
• "Found a Peanut"
• "Yon Yonson"
• "10 Green Bottles"
• "99 Bottles of Beer"
• "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet"
• "Ti amo"
• "Ievan Polkka" (5th stanza) by Loituma, seen frequently in the infamous "Leekspin" animation
• "The Wheels on the Bus"
• "If You're Happy and You Know It"
• "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes"
• "Badger Song"
• "Around The World"
• "The Rockafeller Skank"
• "I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am"
• "Do What U Want"
• The songs on Breadwinners
• "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"
• "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?"
• "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)"
• "The Twelve Days of Christmas"

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Repetitive songs in Czech

Self Referential: Pes jitrni?ku se?ral, Byl jeden ?í?ánek; Counting: První den prohlí?ím koleje, Lélo lélo

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See also

• Donald Knuth, "The Complexity of Songs"
• Cumulative song
• Repetitive music

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References

Source of the article : Wikipedia