On Top of Spaghetti
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"On Top of Spaghetti" is a well-known folk song and children's song written and originally performed by folk singer Tom Glazer in 1963. The song is sung to the tune of "On Top of Old Smoky", based on a version heard from his own children in Westchester County, New York (Simon 128). The song is essentially the tale of a meatball that was lost when "somebody sneezed". The song discusses what happens to the meatball after it is lost. A group of children sing the chorus in the original recording.
[edit] Variants
A regional variant of "On Top of Old Smoky" which is sung in the same gallows vein as "The Burning of the School".
- On top of spaghetti
- All covered in blood
- I shot my poor teacher with a forty-four slug
- I went to her funeral
- I went to her grave
- First I threw rocks and then a grenade
[edit] References
- CNN.com article discussing Glazer and this song
- lyrics
- Simon, William L. (1985). The Reader's Digest: Children's Songbook. The Reader's Digest Association, pp. 128. 0-89577-214-0.
