Folk Songs of the World | Hometown Songs Passed Down Abroad

I accidentally broke the clarinet.furansu min’yō

I accidentally broke the clarinet.

“I Broke My Clarinet (My Clarinet Got Broken)” is a French children’s song.

It features a clarinet that gradually loses the ability to produce notes one by one.

Looking at the lyrics of the original French version, it seems that the damage wasn’t solely the instrument’s fault.

Mayim MayimIsuraeru min’yō/ Emanuel Amiran-Pougatchov

“Mayim Mayim / U’shavtem Mayim / וּשְׁאַבְתֶּם מַיִם” Israeli folk song

The Israeli folk song “Mayim Mayim” is, in Japan, one of the quintessential folk dance tunes alongside “Oklahoma Mixer (Turkey in the Straw),” “Korobushka,” and “Jenka.” “Mayim” means “water” in Hebrew, and the song is said to express the joy of bringing water to undeveloped land and working hard to cultivate it.

Buzz buzz buzzBohemia min’yō / Otto Dresel

Buzz buzz buzz

Based on a folk song from the Bohemia region, this piece is a familiar song that depicts bees flying among flowers.

It features a simple melody and repetitive lyrics, and has long been loved as educational music for children.

Since being included in Japanese elementary school music textbooks in 1947, it has become a popular song often sung in kindergartens and nurseries.

It is also frequently used as a beginner practice piece for piano and recorder, and its cheerful rhythm makes it approachable for children.

With themes of living in harmony with nature and the diligence of bees, it also expresses appreciation for hard-working bees.

It’s a perfect song to sing together as a family or to learn the basics of music.

If you’re happy and you know it, clap your handsSupein min’yō / Kimura Toshihito

Kyu Sakamoto / If You’re Happy and You Know It (1964–65)

Beloved around the world, this song is a children’s tune with roots in a Spanish folk song.

Toshito Kimura encountered it in 1959 while doing volunteer work in the Philippines and created the Japanese lyrics, giving birth to the version known today.

Set to a simple, cheerful melody, the lyrics are distinctive for expressing happiness with the whole body.

Incorporating actions like clapping hands and stomping feet, it can also be enjoyed as educational material that helps develop children’s abilities.

The piece also carries messages of postwar hopes for peace and the importance of international exchange, giving it a deeper meaning beyond a mere play song.

It became a hit when Kyu Sakamoto sang it in 1964, and since then it has remained a classic, continually covered by many artists.

Funiculi FuniculaNaporimin’yō / Luigi Denza

With Japanese Translation: Funiculì Funiculà (Neapolitan Music) – With Katakana Reading

“Funiculi, Funicula!” is an Italian song by composer Luigi Denza.

It was composed to promote the Mount Vesuvius funicular railway.

In Japan, the melody is well known as the children’s song “Oni no Pantsu” (The Ogre’s Pants).

Oklahoma Mixer (Turkey in the Straw)amerika min’yō

Oklahoma Mixer (Normal Ver.)

“Oklahoma Mixer (Turkey in the Straw)” is an American song that spread in the late 19th century.

It was often performed and popular in minstrel shows—an entertainment in which white performers painted their faces black to imitate Black people and play the clown.

It is also well known as a staple tune for folk dancing.

Danny BoyAirurando min’yō / Frederick Edward Weatherly

Danny Boy Ireland

“Danny Boy” is a famous song that poignantly expresses a parent’s sorrowful feelings as they keep thinking of a son who has left home.

The song sets lyrics by Frederic Weatherly to the melody of the Irish folk tune “Londonderry Air.”