This week it’s time for a bit of 70s cheese! We both grew up with parents who loved (and still love!) the Carpenters so it was inevitable that many of their top tunes have become ingrained in us.
We love “SING” – the message is great for both children and the adults that we work with – just sing, sing a song!
But here’s a bit of random trivia for you – this is not an original song by the Carpenters, it’s actually a song that was written for Sesame Street. Numerous artists appeared on the show with the puppets and sang versions in English, Spanish and even one in sign language (ASL) by Lily Tomlin. The video for this is at the bottom of this post! The Carpenters then covered the song and made it a hit in 1973.
If you are feeling unsure about singing – don’t be! The beauty of doing signed singing is that it is NOT just about the voice, that is only one element of a performance. By adding signs, you make the song something much more multi-sensory. All of a sudden it becomes a song for the eyes, not just the ears.
This song has some lovely signs but it also has a great pace too for signing and plenty of repetition to make the song accessible for all ages. As with “Wonderful World” we’ve pretty much kept to key word signing throughout.
Don’t forget to download your copy of this track from iTunes so that you can join in too (or perhaps a karaoke track so that you can sing along yourself?!)
“Sing” by the Carpenters
Sing, sing a song (SING, rpt)
Sing out loud (SING, LOUD)
Sing out strong (SING, STRONG)
Sing of good things, not bad (SING, GOOD, THING [rpt for THINGS], NO BAD)
Sing of happy, not sad (SING, HAPPY, NO, SAD)
Sing, sing a song (SING, rpt)
Make it simple (EASY)
To last your whole life long (LIFE, ALWAYS)
Don’t worry that it’s not good enough (NO, WORRY, NO, GOOD)
For anyone else to hear (PEOPLE, HEAR)
Just sing, sing a song (SING, rpt)
Sing, sing a song (SING, rpt)
Let the world sing along (WORLD, SING)
Sing of love there could be (SING, LOVE)
Sing for you and for me (SING, YOU, ME)
Sing, sing a song (SING, rpt)
Make it simple (EASY)
To last your whole life long (LIFE, ALWAYS)
Don’t worry that it’s not good enough (NO, WORRY, NO, GOOD)
For anyone else to hear (PEOPLE, HEAR)
Just sing, sing a song (SING, rpt)
Just sing, sing a song (SING, rpt)
Just sing, sing a song (SING, rpt)
Here is Lily Tomlin and some children on Sesame Street signing in ASL:
Happy signing!
S&T xx
By: SMI
hello there I would just like to say a big thank you when I found out bout your 2 years again I started to do it in my music class and the children looked to sign new song because the children and I have autism and it is hard to understand things but I’m a teacher at hill top school specialist arts college.
Thank you James – how great that you are using signed singing with the children you work with at Hill Top – keep up the good work! You know we have just launched a Pledge campaign to make a DVD/CD of signed pop songs – take a look at the Pledge information on our homepage and come and support us! Thank you! 🙂
Is the pop dvd nearly ready for buying or ordering please
Hi Tracey
Great to hear your son is using Makaton with his choir – he’ll be pleased to hear the older pop songs are nearly ready! The DVD will be available for pre ordering in a week or two and we will be sending orders out from mid July. I’ll drop you an email when it’s available to order on the website!
Happy Signing!
Hi please can you let me know when the sign dvd is ready to order so we can use it for our families within cartoon heroes.
Hi Jessica – the DVD is being delivered to us next week. Shipping out to customers by Fri 20th July. Thanks 🙂
Hi Tracey – the DVD is now ready to order from our online shop – the DVDs arrive in our office next week and we’ll be shipping out by Friday 20th July. Thanks!
Hi Tracey – the DVD is ready to order from our online shop now – the DVDs arrive in our office next week and we’ll be shipping all orders out by Friday 20th July xx
Im really excited about this,my son has just joined a choir thats uses makaton and he loves it but he is nine and would like older pop songs
xx