Down by the Bay

"Down by the Bay"
Song
Written	Unknown
Genre	Children's song
Songwriter(s)	Traditional

"Down by the Bay" is a traditional children's song, but also enjoyed by adults. A famous version was performed by Raffi and appears on his 1976 album Singable Songs for the Very Young. In recent years, the song had gained popularity as a campfire song among the Scouting Movement in Britain.

Lyrics

The song lyrics are usually as follows:

Down by the bay,
Where the watermelons grow,
Back to my home,
I dare not go,
For if I do,
My mother will say:

Usually the insertion lyrics follow some kind of variation of the question "Did you ever see a _____, _____ing a _____?", with rhyming words. For example:

• "Did you ever see a snake, baking a cake?"
• "Did you ever see a cat, wearing a hat?"
• "Did you ever see a whale, with a polka dot tail?"
• "Did you ever see a moose, kissing a goose?"
• "Did you ever see a bear combing her hair?"
• "Did you ever see a llama wearing pajamas?"
• "Did you ever see a kangaroo using the loo?"
• "Did you ever see a bear, in his underwear?"
• "Did you ever see a goat, rowing a boat?"
• "Did you ever see a fly with a polka dot tie?"