If you didn’t go to summer camp, or maybe specifically Girl Guide camp, you might not know that the title of this blog is a line from a camp song.
Linger is one of the songs that we would sing at the end of a campfire, especially on the last campfire of camp.
Linger
Mm-mm, I want to linger
Mm-mm, a little longer
Mm-mm, a little longer here with you.
Mm-mm, it’s such a perfect night
Mm-mm, it doesn’t seem quite right
Mm-mm, that this should be my last with you.
Mm-mm, and come September
Mm-mm, I will remember
Mm-mm, our camping days and friendships true.
Mm-mm, and as the years go by
Mm-mm, I’ll think of you and sigh
Mm-mm, this is good-night and not good-bye
Mm-mm.
Camp songs hold so many memories for me. We sang them while on a 10-day canoe trip through Temagami or while doing chores on site.
Last weekend I spent time with my mom and the girls camping. One night sitting around the campfire, Rachel started singing the songs she learned when we were up at Muskoka Woods for the weekend a few weeks ago. This led into me singing songs that I could remember from when I went to camp.
The memories started flooding back… singing “Keep on the Sunny Side” while paddling a canoe through Algonquin park on a 10-day canoe trip. Rachel’s favourite from our Muskoka Woods trip was “The Moose Song“. She and her new friends got to sing it during campfire. It’s nice to know that when she goes to camp this summer she’ll know a few songs but she will learn so many new ones.
I’m so excited for her! Rachel is going to get to do a lot of new things at camp this summer…more than just learn new songs.
On OurKids.net there is a nice article about singer-songwriter Amy Sky (one of my favourite artists) where she talks about her time at summer camp:
“Camp broadens your horizons, because you meet people from all over,” says Sky. “And it increases your confidence since you get positive feedback just for trying something new.”
And when she comes home from camp, she’ll have a whole new list of songs to sing, and a lot of memories to go with them.
Do you have a favourite camp song? What does it remind you of?
Our Kids is Canada’s trusted resource for everything kid – http://www.ourkids.net