Green Corn

So yesterday, I was playing through some old piano music and trying to get Jeran, who was sitting at the computer near me, to sing along. He, of course, refused and I, of course, called "Join in!" when starting every single song I thought he might know.

I came across the old classic She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain. I played the first line then interjected, "Green Corn!" as I always do before the next line. Jeran about fell out of his seat.

"What did you say?! Green Corn?! What are you talking about? You are supposed to say 'Choo-choo'."

"'Choo-choo?' No one says 'choo-choo'. Everyone says 'Green Corn'."

We then got into a short debate about why we would say either thing. Jeran argued that the song is about the railroad tracks being built and the train coming along, which is technically correct.

I argued that my entire family sings "Green Corn" because during one family road trip, we had that old brown song book and we were singing this song and I hollered, "Green Corn" because that was the next song in the book. From that time forward, we all sang "Green Corn!" in all the pauses of She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain.

So who was right? Jeran, obviously. But he will never hear me say anything there but "Green Corn".