"Down by the Bay" is a traditional children's song. A famous version was performed by Raffi and appears on his 1976 album Singable Songs for the Very Young. It is possibly of Greek origin: a traditional Cephalonian kantada song called "Yialo Yialo" has the same melody. In recent years, the song had gained popularity as a campfire song among the Scouting Movement in Britain.
The song lyrics are usually as follows:
"Down by the bay,
Where the watermelons grow,
Back to my home,
I dare not go,
For if I do,
My mother will say:"
Usually the insertion lyrics follow some kind of variation of the question "Did you ever see a _____, _____ing a _____?", with rhyming words. For example:
"Did you ever see a snake, baking a cake?"
"Did you ever see a cat, wearing a hat?"
"Did you ever see a whale, with a polka dot tail?"
Did you ever see a bear combing her hair?
The song "Polka Dot Tail" from rock band Ween's 1997 album The Mollusk contains lyrics taken from "Down by the Bay," including original variations on the pattern.
The song is sung on two occasions by Nellie in the 1995 film Angela written and directed by Rebecca Miller
Sillywhim, the Jingleheimers and the Fruggy Frogs sang this song in "Wee Sing in Sillyville".
In the feature film The Guns of Navarone
A version of the song is featured on the album Diego, Dora & Friends' Animal Jamboree, performed by Dora and her cousin Diego of the series Dora the Explorer.
Around the beginning of "Franklin Goes to Day Camp" on Franklin
On the episode "The Berenstain Bears Go To Camp" of the animated television series The Berenstain Bears
The Barney and the Backyard Gang video "Rock with Barney" features puppets and the lyrics, "Did you ever see a bee with a sunburnt knee?", "Did you ever see a goose kissing a moose?", "Did you ever see a whale with a polka-dot tail?", "Did you ever see a bear try to curl somebody's hair?", "Did you ever see a guy playing tennis with a fly?", "Did you ever see a green dog jumping on a yellow log?", "Did you ever see a rhino kissing a dino?", and "Did you ever see some friends having fun that never ends?".
