Velocipede

We used to sing this when I was a kid, in German accents:

In de vinter venn de vind blows
Look de vinder out vehr de shtreet goes
See de vimmin from de vaudeville
Ride velocipedes around de vindmill.

I never knew what a velocipede was. But now, voila:

Comments

[Scott P]

Y'all got some strange customs 'round there.

[gail]

That was in Cincinnati, which is a strange place to begin with.

[Sojourner]

Your site came up as the only result when I was looking for the origins of this song! My dad (who grew up in Argentina) used to sing it to me (who grew up in Florida) because his mother (who grew up in Dresden) used to sing it to him. I have no idea where it comes from...do you? He only sang the first two lines, so that second part is new to me! Do you remember the melody you sang it to? The way I sing it is a dotted-rhythm melody beginning with a major third (say, E-E-C, E-E-C ["in de vinter time ven de vind blows"]) then going to a diminished seventh (B-D-D, D-F ["look de vinder out as de"]) and returning to the major third (E-C ["street goes"]).