THREE LITTLE FISHIES

“Down in the meadow in a little bitty pool, swam three little fishies and a mama fishie too. Swim said the Mama Fishie, swim if you can . . . and they swam, and they swam, all over the dam.” Back in 1939, a few months before I was born, the most popular song on the radio was “Three Little Fishies.” My mom got so tired of hearing it she shut the radio off every time it played. My uncle was 13 or 14 and he sang it just so she would yell at him. When I was little, he taught me the song and told me to go sing it for my mother. She sang along with me. It didn’t bother her any more but she told me the story. It was hot summer and she was uncomfortable. I was kicking and moving around, just about ready to be born. It didn’t take much to ruffle her feathers. 

After the verse, the chorus goes; “Boop boop, ditem datem whatum choo, Boop boop, ditem datem whatum choo: and they swam, and they swam, right over the dam.” In the second verse they leave their mother and swim out to sea. In the third, they are scared by a whale and swim back over the dam. It’s a fun song. 

This summer I went fishing for halibut, out in Cook Inlet, Homer, Alaska. The water was deep and the fish were big. When I had a bite and started reeling my fish in, I started singing “3 Little Fishies”. It takes a long time to get a 30 pound fish up 200 feet from the bottom and I had time to sing all three verses and the chorus. The little fishies I caught never made it back to their mother; they are frozen in my freezer and we’ll have a fish fry one of these days. 

I know some other fishies; three little ones and their Mama Fishie too. They live in St.Clair, MO. and belong to a swim team in Washington, MO. They really know how to move it up and down the pool. Their Mama Fishie is a friend of mine. I’m in Ohio now but I had breakfast with them this morning (French Toast.) Next time I’m in St. Clair I’ll get the guitar out and we will sing the whole song.