Do you remember the ridiculous children’s song “Little Bunny Foo Foo”?
I’m certain I never warbled it as a child. (Was it even around in those Dark Ages?) The song was completely foreign to me when my son came home from preschool chanting it.
Over and over he chanted it. It was the ultimate in preschool humor.
I thought it was a stupid song then, and I think it’s stupid now.
But I remember it vividly, because my son giggled the first time he sang that Little Bunny Foo Foo scooped up the field mice and bopped them on the head.
And giggled again the second time. And the third. And the fourth. With each “bop” he chortled louder.
And he guffawed – as much as a three-year-old can guffaw – each time he shook his finger as the Good Fairy gave Little Bunny Foo Foo another chance to reform before she turned him into a Goon.
I’m not sure my son ever got through the song in its entirety without dissolving into complete hysterics.
Either he never got through it all, or my memory is faulty. Because, while I remember hearing that Little Bunny Foo Foo bopped the field mice on the head four times, that the Good Fairy gave him three chances to change his ways, and that she did in fact turn him into a Goon after he used up his third chance, I was not at all aware that there was a moral to the story, which was (I learned in doing research for this post), “Hare today, Goon tomorrow.”
Which, I must say, makes the song even stupider.
I wonder now what it was about the song that tickled my son’s fancy. Was it the naughty bunny that bopped the field mice? (My son was forbidden to bop anyone on the head.)
Was it the wickedness of the bunny that repeatedly did the same wrong thing? (My son did not always learn from his mistakes.)
Was it the word Goon, which sounds so dreadful?
Whatever it was, it made my son collapse in glee.
As my son grew, I came to think we shared a sense of humor. We could riff off each other across the dinner table, while my husband and my daughter – both with more prosaic and literal minds – looked from me to my son like we were crazy.
But as I recall now my disgust at my son’s fascination with Little Bunny Foo Foo, I must conclude that we apparently don’t see eye to eye about rabbits, fairies, and goons.
And now, I hope you’ve got the stupid song stuck in your head, because I certainly do.
P.S. Today is my son’s birthday. Leave a comment to wish him Happy Birthday.
Happy Birthday, James!
Happy Birthday, Theresa’s son whose name I don’t know, but do know he appreciates a good children’s song when he hears one.
Theresa, the appeal of “Little Bunny Foo Foo” is the forbidden things like bopping things on the head (thus the popularity of that gopher bopping game at that pizza place) and using “bad” words like “goon.” And there is the fact that Little Bunny Foo Foo gets punished for breaking the rules.
In my day, it was the chicken who refused to lay an egg and the extremely sadistic trick of pouring hot water up and down her leg which we all sang with great glee. I don’t think it had anything to do with our love of causing animals pain.
Or, how about that favorite song, “Great big globs of greasy, grimey gopher cuts and me without a spoon.” That’s pretty gross.
Children understand the absurd and appreciate it.
Bob, perhaps I was never a child. (A friend once told me I was born at 35.) Sigh.
Theresa
Sorry, it’s “greasy, grimey gopher guts” not “cuts.”
May little bunny Foo Foo always be part of your BD celebration, James.
I’ve learned that clever or humorous writing involves contrast. You are an excellent writer, Theresa Hupp, whether you warble or not.
Happy Birthday! Great, now I have the Barney tune in my head…thanks! 🙂
Happy birthday, you almost Valentine, you!
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