SOLVED!- A collection of stories, songs, and poems for children from 1980's or earlier [s]

[J.]

I used to check this book out several times a year when I was little (probably 7 or 8), so it has to be from the 80's but maybe older. It was a huge book, an anthology of poems, songs, jokes, stories. One song was something about "Stay on the Sunny Side of Life", and it was very humorous, something like an animal that has progressively bad things happen to it. Similar kind of eclectic style of "Free To Be You and Me" but a lot heavier/thicker. I don't remember there being many pictures, if any, and I think the cover was yellow-ish.

So random, I know. But maybe any ideas of old kids' anthologies will help me figure it out.

[Andria]

Maybe The Hodgepodge Book or The Whim-Wham Book? My friend and I were obsessed with those books when we were kids in the early 80s. They sound like what you described but they did have a fair amount of line drawings scattered throughout. I remember my friend and I running around singing that Stay on the Sunny Side song, and have a feeling we got it from one of those books.

[J.]

Thank you!!!! It's the Whim-Wham book. Just looked at a copy on line (archive.org) and found the Sunny-Side song in it. So funny, I never did know the tune and so just made one up.
"Stay on the sunnyside, always on the sunnyside, stay on the sunnyside of life-doo, do, doodo, dododo. You will feel no pain as we drive you insane, so Stay on the sunnyside of life." Followed by a knock, knock joke about ether bunnies.

Another favorite- The Nothing Song

[Andria]

Oh, wow! I'm so glad you found it but more amazed that someone else out there read one of these books. LOVED them. My friend and I did the same thing with the sunny side song, making up our own tune to it. I think we really loved the "you will feel no pain as we drive you insane" part, because we knew that our constant singing was driving the grownups crazy and that was HILARIOUS.

We also ran around chanting "Lincoln, Lincoln, I've been thinking, what the heck have you been drinking?" Neighbors must have loved us.

[J.]

Andria wrote: "I think we really loved the 'you will feel no pain as we drive you insane' part, because we knew that our constant singing was driving the grownups crazy and that was HILARIOUS."

Ditto. :) I remember being very popular on the playground teaching my friends those songs.