Who among us Northland Pines alums (and probably several others, too) remembers singing the “50 Nifty United States” song in grade school?
Don’t ask me how, but I got it stuck in my head this afternoon. There’s a YouTube video out there of a very poor a capella performance of this tune combined with a single shot of a US map, if you wanna look for it…
Here are the lyrics that I found on sing365.com:
Fifty Nifty United States from thirteen original colonies;
Fifty Nifty stars on the flag that billows so beautifully in the breeze.
Each individual state contributes a quality that is great.
Each individual state deserves a bow, We salute them now.
Fifty Nifty United States from thirteen original colonies,
Shout ’em, scout ’em, Tell all about ’em,
One by one,til we’ve given a day to every state in the USA in the USA in the USA, <- hold out all the A’s for 3 beats
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut
Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana
Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine,
Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan.
Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana,
Nebraska, Nevada,
New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York,
North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio,
Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina,
South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas,
Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming
North, South, East, West in a clam, objective opinion (Name of favorite State)
Is the Best of the Fifty Nifty United States from thirteen original colonies
Shout ’em,scout’em, tell all about ’em
One by One, till we’ve given a day to every state in the good old U….S…A (hold all notes very short)
That song is 100% responsible for me remembering all 50 states all the time. What an odd first exposure to Ray Charles…