Deloy wrote:
“Does anyone have a copy of the ‘Little Johnny Jump Up’ song from the 1930’s?
The beginning words are:
‘Little Johnny Jump Up, That’s my name.
Early in the Spring time up I came.’
…….( can’t recall all the words)…….
‘Don’t you like my smiling face,
Shining in a sunny place.’
……( Help me find this song)……
Signed: DeLoy Johnson
“Johnny-Jump-Up” can refer to violets or pansies. A “Johnny Jump Up” is also a European wildflower flower called heartsease. Heartsease can also be used as an herb.
Please comment below if you can help with this song.
Thanks! Lisa
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16 Responses to “Are You Familiar with “Little Johnny Jump-up”?”
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November 28th, 2007 at 1:22 am
Admwrlk wrote:
I was looking for a reference to a song or rhyme that I only knew as Johnny jump up. My older brother recorded it on a record when he was in kindergarten, which must have been like 1960. All I can remember is something about … ” When Johnny jump up came to school, blankety blank was the rule. ” I never understood the rest, and it could have been similar to what you quote above.
February 18th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
I originally wanted the song for Mothers Day and was able to put
together the following as a neighborhood handout with Johny Jump Up seeds.
“Little Johnny Jump-up that’s my name.
Early in the Spring time up I came.
don’t you like my smiling face.
Sinning in a sunny place?
Puple yellow Johnny flowers in the way
Little Johnny Jump-ups’s seem to say
We can make a sweet delight
Making Mamma’s Day just right.
Little Johnny Jump-up’s loving sowers
Momma’s love these tinny flowers
Tinny smiles in a little hand bouquet
Have a Happy, Happy special Day.
March 6th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
One of the first graders here at a local school has been singing a song similar…
a few lines are…Little Johnny Jumped up..said it must be spring..i just saw a ladybug..and heard a robin sing….
June 5th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
My mom always sang, “When Johnny Jump up went to school, to jump up was against the rules. A teacher with an angry frown said,’Johnny, Johnny Jump up! Sit Down!'”…I think there is more to it and I’m trying to find the rest!
August 29th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
I can remember I made my class and teacher crack up laughing when it was my turn to recite this poem:
“…I just saw a WATERBUG and heard a robin sing…”
(though I couldn’t remember the rest of the poem).
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:19 pm
In the 60’s there was a collection of songs for children called “Sing and Do.” One of the songs was “Johnny Jump-Up” and the words are:
When Johnny Jump-Up went to school
To jump up was against the rule.
The Teacher with a weary frown,
said, “Johnny, Johnny Jump-Up, sit down.”
So Johnny grew up very tall
and never changed his ways at all.
His friends said, “don’t be such a clown,”
“Johnny, Johnny Jump-Up, sit down.”
His mother, father, sister too and even Uncle Pete.
Could never find out what to do to keep him in his seat.
So One fine day, he jumped so high he bumped his head against the sky.
And when he tumbled back to town,
Johnny, Johnny Jump Up, sat down.
I would like to find the rest of the songs.
March 21st, 2012 at 9:39 am
Thank you for this!! I’ve been looking for these poems, as my Great Aunt used to say them & I’ve long forgotten them.
May 11th, 2013 at 12:01 pm
@Therese, I realize this is 4 years since you posted to this, but I just found it, so I had to comment. I don’t know about the “Sing and Do” collection, but I sang that exact “Johnny Jump Up” song in kindergarten in the late 60’s. I also sang it to my daughter when she was a baby, since I remembered the song well and with such fond memories. I’m wondering if you ever found the collection it was included in, as I would love to have it, too. Thanks for the nice memory.
February 9th, 2017 at 11:55 pm
Oh I’m so glad to have found this website. Around 1960 when I was in kindergarten, I sang this in the end of school year play for the parents. I remember the tune quite well and sing it occasionally when Spring comes round. I didn’t know there was anymore to the song because I just sang this part:
Little Johnny Jumped Up said
it must be spring
I just saw a ladybug
and heard a robin sing
February 10th, 2017 at 2:50 pm
That’s cool Eileen! Would you like to sing it for us? :) Mama Lisa
February 11th, 2017 at 8:33 pm
I have been singing this song for years. I too learned it in Kindergarten, in the mid-60s. I’d love to locate sheet music or something.
May 15th, 2017 at 8:13 pm
I was born in 1941, I remember my mother singing this to me since I was young and she still would sing it (when we would see the flower) when she was well into her 90s. I just now asked my two sisters if they remembered this version. They didn’t know it at all. (I remember nothing of the lyrics offered,here)
This might be a completely different version:
Little Johnny, Jump up, Jump up, Jump up
Where did you get your name?
If they call you a Pansy,
I’d love you just the same—
but I’ll just call you
Johnny, Johnny, Jump Up.
August 27th, 2020 at 7:19 pm
Ellen Ruggles wrote:
“Your Question: I’m looking for the music and words to Little Johnny Jump Up:
Little Johnny Jump Up said
Now it must be Spring
I just saw ladybug
And heard a robin sing.
I heard it as a child in the 1950s. My mom was a piano teacher and I wonder if it came from one of the books she taught from. Or, I might have learned it from her mother who was also a pianist and was a kindergarten teacher before 1920, though in the 1930s she was a Girl Scout Leader.”
August 27th, 2020 at 7:39 pm
It seems Ellen’s version is a poem by Edwina Fallis. I found a YouTube of it at the link below…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXXrvxaRC-k
September 2nd, 2020 at 6:43 am
Little Johnny Jump-Ups
By Julie Grace Gilbert, June 1910
When little Johnny Jump-Up
Poked his head above the ground,
He winked his saucy yellow eyes
And then he looked around,
And saw the sunshine all about
And blue sky overhead.
I’m glad I blossomed out
In such a pretty world, he said.
I’m glad the grass is all so green
The earth so warm and brown.
I’m glad I have a yellow hat
And such a pretty gown
And I shall stand here all day long
And say to everything
That looks into my happy face
It’s Spring, you know, it’s Spring!
March 18th, 2021 at 3:18 am
My great grandmother would sing a Jonny Jump Up song to me when I was little but I haven’t ever been able to find it. The lyrics were similar.
Johnny is my name, through the ground I came.
Don’t you think my face is bonny. I’m a little Jump up Johnny.
Johnny is my name.