11/26/24

Thanksgiving Turkey Drumstick Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkin Pie Table Song - A Lone Pumpkin Grew

Thanksgiving is upon us soon and we sing traditional holiday songs at our Thanksgiving dinner.

Here are the words to one of our classic favorites...

Oh a lone pumpkin grew on a green pumpkin vine.
He was round
he was fat
he was yellow.
"No silly jack-o-lantern shall I make," he said.
"I'm determined to become a useful fellow."

So he raised up his head
when the cook came around
and at once he was chosen the winner.
His fondest wish came true
he was proud pumpkin pie
and the glory of the great thanksgiving dinner...

For the glory of the jack is in the lantern
as he sits up on the gatepost oh so high;
and the glory of the turkey is the drumstick
but the glory of the pumpkin is the pie.

Here we are singing the song in 2006:



Here's a YouTube 2009 home video of the song -- we don't know the folks -- it sounds like our familiar melody and we endorse it.

20 comments:

  1. What tune did you use?

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  2. Cant believe there are more folks out there with the song! Words slightly different than ours...but amazing. we have been singing the song on THanksgiving for over 60 years! the great singing Garofalo Family in NY and Charlotte!

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    1. My dad saying that song has ever since I was a little kid and then he sang it to my daughter where in New York are you from we had relatives with that last name where from New York

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  3. been looking for one of these lines for over 30 years... learned this song in Kindergarten. Thanks

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  4. Dear Friends,

    I learned this song at P.S. 108 in Brooklyn 60 years ago. I've never heard or seen it since. Thanks for posting it!

    Arnie Matlin

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  5. I too learned this song in elementary school PS 35 Hollis, Queens, must has been 60 years ago. From time to time I remember it and sing i and no one has heard of it so glad to find this site

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  6. learned the Pumpkin Pie Song n PS 151 Queens from Mrs. Gertrude Prinzi and have been singing it before every Thanksgiving pumpkin pie since about 1965. Anyone else remember Mrs. P?

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    1. I stumbled on to this blog when I did a search for Prinzi, PS151 teacher. I remember Mrs. Prinzi well. I was in her first Glee Club at PS151 in 1959 to 1961. I've always wanted to get in touch with her. My sister, who taught at PS151 said after retiring, she moved to somewhere in the midwest. Mrs. Prinzi had the most beautiful voice.

      To Lee,
      Los Angeles, CA
      silverlake.la@gmail.com

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  7. I have been searching for the words to this kindergarten song for decades!
    Just for the record, I first heard this one in 1948, P.S. 238, Brooklyn, NY
    Oh, those really were the days.....!!!!

    Roger M.

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  8. I was searching for the lyrics of this song because my Aunt Jolene had mentioned it to me. She had learned it at PS 201 Brooklyn when she was in first grade! I teach music and movement to preschoolers at Thistlewaithe Learning Center, a Montessori preschool. I was elated ( as was she) when I googled it and found it! Thank you to all of those who posted it. It has given both of us a lot of joy.
    Loretta

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  9. i LOVE this!!! My mother used to sing this song when I was a kid in Brooklyn. This brings back such warm memories!!

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  10. And I learned this song in PS 121, Queens! How great to find it!

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  11. Melanie Dull10/15/2014 8:41 AM

    I learned this in P.S. 171 in Brooklyn, and, except for a few word changes, it is what we still sing today! Love it...thanks for sharing.

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  12. I learned this song at PS 188 in Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY. Was glad to find it again - such a fun song.

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  13. I have such sweet memories of singing this song in my early elementary school years at Old Mill Road Elementary School in Merrick, N.Y. I was a kindergarten student there in 1960 and several years thereafter. What a joyous memory!!

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  14. Wow! Can't believe I found the lyrics! I learned this song at PS100, in Queens, NY, around 1960 or '61. I could only remember the first stanza and one line each from the second and third stanzas. Every year when the holidays roll around I sing this and wish I could remember all the words. Well it's that time of year again. But this year I said to myself, "why haven't you googled the lyrics? You google everything else!" So thank you for the lyrics! And reading everyone's response, it looks like everyone was from NY, so I'm guessing this was only taught in the schools there?

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  15. And who wrote this wonderful song and when and where?

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  16. Learned this song in PS 68 in the Bronx in the late 50s/early 60s. Does anyone have the music for this? Love it!

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  17. Learned this song in kindergarten in White Plains, NY in 1963. Always wondered if anyone else knew it. Amazing.

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  18. My mom who lived to be 107 years old taught us this song many years ago and we sing it loudly every Thanksgiving. We were a little hazy on the lyrics, but so glad I found this so it can be memorialized for all our future generations.

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I welcome your comments.