Oh Dear Baby (Did You Know You Can Sing?)

Version 1: the campfire call-and-answer · chords C, F, G7 (bridge adds Am). Strum: down, down-up, down, down-up.

Refrain (this IS most of the song; repeat until happy)

    C                              F              C
Oh dear baby, did you know you can sing?   (you can sing!)
    C                                    G7
You don't need the right words, you can just sing.   (just sing!)
   F                     C
Smile when you get it right,
   F                  C
giggle when you don't,
   F                            G7
repeat after me, and I'll repeat after you:
    C              G7             C
Oh dear baby, did you know you can sing?

Verse (leader alone, quieter)

  C                            F           C
I didn't know what to sing, so I started with this:
  C                                  G7
a la and a hum and a note gone amiss.
     F                       C
The birds never practice, the rivers don't try,
     F                  G7                        C
and nobody ever asked a door to squeak on key.   (refrain)

Bridge (the honest one, still smiling)

    Am                    F
You might die today, you might die tomorrow,
    C                     G7
but chances are, but chances are,
   Am                        F
death has more for you to borrow.
   F                  C
Trade them these tunes,
   F                    C
go find lakes and loons,
        F              G7                C
'cause baby, you're just starting to sing.   (refrain, louder)

Version 2: the little country-folk one · chords C and G7 only. Boom-chicka strum. Swung.

    C
Oh dear baby (oh dear baby),
    G7
did you know (did you know),
    C
you can sing it (you can sing it),
    G7               C
high or low (high or low).

    C
Get it wrong now (get it wrong now),
     G7
that's the way (that's the way),
    C
wrong and loud is (wrong and loud is)
    G7             C
how we play (how we play).

(Bridge as in version 1, or hum it. Humming counts.)

Last time through, everyone at once, no parentheses, no leader:
    C              G7                  C
Oh dear baby, we already knew we could sing.

The tune

Full lyrics also live on songwriting.withwarmth.org.