Season 2, Episode 8: Five Little Ducks

🎙️ Dive into the enchanting world of nursery rhymes with A Tisket-Tasket podcast hosted by Gina! 🦆 In this episode, Gina explores the delightful rhyme "Five Little Ducks," taking you through its history, origins, and the fascinating story behind its creation by Canadian singer and lyricist Raffi. Uncover the magic of this nursery rhyme that engages children with finger play, motor functions, and counting. Discover Raffi's extraordinary life journey, from escaping the Armenian genocide to becoming a global troubadour and advocate for child rights. 🌍✨ Join Gina in celebrating Raffi's musical contributions and his impactful work through the Raffi Foundation of Child Honoring. Explore the wholesome world of children's music and literature, and don't miss the heartwarming book "Five Little Ducks" illustrated by Denise Fleming. 📚🎶 Subscribe, share, and tune in for a dose of whimsy and wisdom on A Tisket-Tasket podcast atisketasketpodcast.com! 🌈✨ #NurseryRhymes #Raffi #ChildHonoring #FiveLittleDucks #ChildrensMusic #PodcastJoy #GinaSpeaks #WholesomePodcast #RaffiFoundation #KidsEntertainment #PodcastDiscoveries

Transcript

Microphone (2- G733 Gaming Headset): 0:00

Hello and welcome to A Tisket-Tasket podcast I'm your host, Gina. And today we will be looking at the adorable little rhyme"Five Little Ducks" it's still just one of those rhymes I wasn't aware of until my nieces and goddaughter were born. So I was excited to dig into its history and its mystery. Without further ado, let's get started. Honestly, I really wish I had more to report about this nursery rhyme. But first let's go ahead and refresh your memory. Or introduce it to you if you hadn't heard it before. The nursery rhyme. Five little ducks goes as follows. Five little ducks went out one day over the Hills and far away. Mommy duck said quack, quack, quack, but only four little ducks came back. For the little ducks went out one day over the Hills and far away. Mommy duck said quack, quack, quack, but only three little ducks came back. Three little ducks went out to one day. Over the Hills and far away. Mommy doc said clack clack whack, but only two little ducks came back. Two little ducks went out one day. Over the Hills and far away. Mommy duck said quack, quack, quack, but only one little doc came back. One little duck went out one day over the Hills and far away. Mommy duck said clack clack clack, and all five little ducks came back. Here's the recording of the MIDI file. That'll help present the melody. I don't have any other audio recordings because it's newer nursery rhyme and I didn't want to get DMC eight. This rhyme was written by Canadian singer and lyricist Rafi in released on his 1982 album rise and shine. And like many of the other nursery rhymes to cover on this podcast, this nursery rhymes origins seems very, fairly straightforward. It has some finger play involved, helping young children with not only motor functions. Counting to five, but you know, teaching them about ducks and the sounds they make. I can add that Rafi has lived a very fascinating life. According to his Wikipedia page Rafi. Cabo can. Who was born on July 8th, 1948, but is known professionally by the modernism Rafi. Is a Canadian singer, lyricist and author of Armenian descent, Borden, Egypt, best known for his children's music. He developed his career as a quote. Global Troubadour. To become a music producer, author, entrepreneur, and founder of the of the Raffi foundation. Of child honoring. His parents fled to Egypt to escape. There are many in genocide and world war one, and then emigrated with young Rafi to Canada in 1958. His family has made up a bunch of eclectic characters. His father and older brother were famed portrait photographers in a sister. Get this. Was Ontario's former information and privacy commissioner. So I bet family dinners were quite fun in that household. In any case Rafi began learning his musical talents in the 1970s. Which was a time of great folk revival. And protest songs, as you remember from my Steve route interview. And he fell into children's music. Seen in a gig for Toronto's public school. Wikipedia notes that quote, despite his initial hesitations about singing for kids, he wasn't immediate success. I love that some people just have kind of that immediate connection with kids. You could just tell when they meet children. And this experience launches career as a child's entertainer. He is best known for songs, baby beluga banana phone. A personal favorite of mine. All I really need in down by the bay. His work is emphasized by its simple guitar, melodies and vocal work. What I think is super awesome about Raffi and his work. Is that he is a big advocate for making the world a better place. He advocates, both social and environmental causes and promotes these causes through his music. In 2006, he was even presented with the Fred Rogers integrity award. By campaign for commercial free childhood for his consistent refusal to use his music and endorsements the market products directly to children. This ties directly to his foundation of child honoring and what she advocates for child's rights to live free of commercial exploitation. And my personal opinion, he seems like a very standup musician writer and advocate. And I encourage you to not only listen to his music. But check out his charitable work. His links are in my reference page.

Microphone (2- G733 Gaming Headset)-2: 5:55

One last thing to report. In regards to the nursery rhyme. I was doing some further digging just to make sure I wasn't missing anything. And it appears that in 2016, Illustrator Denise Fleming published a book under the same name, five little docs. And it is tweaked a bit from Ralphie's nursery rhyme. And I don't know who wrote these words. Was it Denise filming or someone else? But the words are a little bit different. For example, five little ducks went out on a Tuesday over the Hills and far away, and then the beautiful illustration show them going through different. Environments. So one of the places they go is through a pasture. And so I don't know who wrote those differences, but it does seem to be based on Rafferty's work. If you have children of reading age, I definitely recommend checking it out. The illustrations are gorgeous. And it's just a wholesome book over at all.

Microphone (2- G733 Gaming Headset)-1: 6:55

This episode is short. And I thought about making this a double rhyme episode. But I just was so taken by Ralphie's work. That I wanted to stand on its own to highlight the good. This man is doing for the world. Take the extra minutes that this podcast would fill. And check out his charitable work. These volunteer, maybe donate if you can. We all need a little good in the world and I really think that Rafi has made it, his life work to do that. But with that, I will see you next week. We're all continued to talk about the weirdness. And yes, the wholesomeness. Of nursery rhymes.

7:38

Thank you for listening to a Tisket Tasket podcast. We hope you learned something valuable today. Be sure to subscribe wherever you heard this podcast so you never miss a future episode. If you found value in today's content, please share with others and consider leaving a review. Also, follow Gina on all social media platforms, and we'll see you next time.