Jeanette wrote me…
Good Evening;
My husband’s Grandmother was from Norway and she used to sing a song to him as a little boy about a poor man’s horse, a rich man’s horse, a soldier’s horse etc. My children and Grandchildren only remember the chorus – and only phonetically as they remember my husband (who is now deceased) singing it to them as he gave them a horsey ride on his knee.
The chorus sounded like this to them:
Stoldala, stodola, stodola pumpa,
Stodola pumpa,
Stodola pumpa,
Stoldala, stodola, stodola pumpa,
Stodola pum, pum, pum, pum, pum.I hope you can help me find it for them.
A Grandmother,
Jeanette
If anyone can help Jeanette with this song, please comment below.
Thanks in advance!
Lisa
Note: Many people commented below saying this song is originally Czech.
This article was posted on Saturday, April 26th, 2008 at 2:14 pm and is filed under Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, Languages, Mama Lisa, Norway, Norwegian, Norwegian Children's Songs, Questions, Readers Questions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
April 27th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
I remember that song … but I learned it as Czech song. We sang it in our high school glee club (1964-1968).
I alos found this posting
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=11063
Subject: RE: Anyone know the words to ‘Stodala Pumpa’?
From: Bob Schwarer
Date: 20 May 99 – 07:33 PM
As I recall: Stodala,stodala,stodala pumpa
Stodala pumpa, stodala pumpa
Stodala, stodala, stodala pumpa
Stodala pumpa, pum pa pa.
Also my recall is that stodala pumpa = barn pump
Bob S.
—
I know that I have a book of songs that includes this one in my attic … if come across it, I’ll send you the music score
Ed
April 27th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
I’d like to confirm that the Polish word for barn is:
Stodoła – budynek w gospodarstwie rolnym przeznaczony do przechowywania zebranego zboża, siana i słomy. W stodole wykonywało się też omłoty zboża, przechowywano narzędzia, pojazdy rolnicze.
The Czech word for barn is
Stodola je zemědělská stavba, ur?ená k uskladňování objemných zemědělských produktů (obilí, sláma, seno). Dříve byla sou?ástí téměř každého statku.
The Norwegian word is
Løe er en selvstendig bygning eller et rom i en større driftsbygning. Ei løe er til lagring av høy eller annet tørrfor til husdyr, og for lagring av korn før det blir tresket.
April 29th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
There’s definitely a Czech folk song called “Stodala Pumpa” called “Walking at Night” in English. I don’t know if it’s related to Jeanette’s song though.
May 1st, 2008 at 9:39 am
Ed Gawlinski was kind enough to send me a midi tune of the Czech folk song “Stodala Pumpa”. You can hear it if you click the link. Is this the tune of your husband’s Grandmother’s song Jeanette?
July 4th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
I don’t know if this will help, but I’ve found a few different sets of lyrics to this song that I learned from Grandmother.
http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=7stnHz7dADI
October 28th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
We use to sing this song in grade school back in the 50’s in Detroit Mich.
In the song book the title, “Stodola Pumpa” was suppose to mean Dance of the Barn Owl? Stodola meaning Barn and Pumpa, meaning Owl. At least that’s what I remember the book stating.
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:47 am
I have also been searching for the Czech text to “Stodola pumpa” without much success. However, being a Norwegian-American who has spoken Norwegian and English since I was a child (at home in the Midwest), and as a public school music teacher in both the US and Norway, I must say that this song is definitely NOT Norwegian; the song rhythm doesn’t fit the Norwegian language, nor does the melodic structure. The passage in Norwegian from Ed Gawlinski is an encyclopedia definition of a “løe”, a hay-barn or a hayloft. I guess we are all still searching for that text. I found an English version of it in an old American songbook — at the home of my Norwegian grandparents in northwest Wisconsin, back in the 1950s.
Jim Nelson, Drammen, Norway, May 2009
October 5th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
stodola pumpa is a czech folk song. i learned it as a boy in country school in michigan. it was one of our favorite songs even though we didn’t have a clue what it was about. we were just little kids.
November 15th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
I found an English version of the Czech song (this one seems to be meant to be sung in English)…
Walking at night along the meadow way
Home from the dance beside my maiden gay
Walking at night along the meadow way
Home from the dance beside my maiden gay . . . Hey!
Chorus: Stodole, stodole, stodole, pumpa
Stodole, pumpa, stodole pumpa
Stodole, stodole, stodole, pumpa
Stodole, pumpa, pum, pum, pum.
Nearing the woods we heard the nightingale
Sweetly it helped me tell my begging tale
Nearing the woods we heard the nightingale
Sweetly it helped me tell my begging tale.
Chorus
Many the stars that brightly shone above
But none so bright as her one word of love
Many the stars that brightly shone above
But none so bright as her one word of love.
Chorus
April 10th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
I was cleaning up in the kitchen just now and for some reason began singing the chorus to “Stodala Pumpa,” and then I thought I might be able to find it on the Internet. Why not — one can find anything on the Internet! Indeed, it is the song everyone is talking about, and the midi tune, referenced above, is what I learned in elementary school in Ohio in the 1950’s. Amazing …
May 12th, 2010 at 1:07 pm
…..i am sixty five years old….this tune has been floating around in my grey matter since i was eleven years old….i had an old accordion teacher teach me to play this….i dont know why but today it was on my mind AGAIN..so i looked it up…….i remember the teacher…in 1956 she musta been a hundred years old….she was a real “old school” type of teacher…she wrote the tune she was to teach me…she used the c clef and g clef lines…and hand wrote the notes on the paper and proceeded to instruct….her name was mrs. ckelly….the is correct spelling…spoke with a strong european accent…..
January 5th, 2011 at 3:27 pm
I will be 77 this month (Jan.) and remembered this song as I worked a crossword puzzle today….the word was “stola”…Ilearned “Stodala Pumpa” in elem.music class … we sang song of countries around the world! My teacher was Mrs. Branstead…she liked me because I could sing harmony very easily! What fun to read about this song t…the chorus still sticks in my head!
February 1st, 2011 at 9:27 am
I remember singing the song in grade school in the early 60’s. The words we sand were Stola Pumpa and I thought that the songbook said that it meant “Barn Pump”. It has also stuck in my head all of these years.
February 1st, 2011 at 4:15 pm
Others seem to agree about the meaning barn pump – which may be just nonsense.
February 23rd, 2011 at 11:53 pm
Far in the hills I hear the nightingail
Singing a song that brings home back to me
Three years ago at home I left my love
Still she is waiting waiting just for me hey
Chorus
Three years to wait is much to for us
My love and I we now would married be
February 24th, 2011 at 12:00 am
This song is in the Rotary song book we sing it all the time
April 11th, 2011 at 1:38 pm
Yes, I remember learning the song from grade school, in the 60’s. Here is what I remember.
Strolling along as nightfall ends the day
sweet scented breezes whisper on their way
under the stars the night winds softly blow while distant hills re echo with our song ….. HEY!
stola stola stola pumpa stola pumpa stola pumpa
stola stola stola pumpa stola pumpa pum pum pum
July 25th, 2011 at 12:55 pm
We sang this song all through my childhood, while dancing a rollicking polka to the chorus… how I miss those days, and my long lost sisters!
The words were:
Walking along, while night follows the day
Sweet scented breezes whisper on their way
Under the stars, we slowly stroll along
While distant hills ring, echoing our song – Hey!
Stodala Stodala Stodala Pumpa Stodala Pumpa Stodala Pumpa
Stodala Stodala Stodala Pumpa Stodala Pumpa Pum Pum Pum
April 6th, 2012 at 9:52 am
Ed Gawlinski confirms that the Polish word for barn is Stodoła
Note that the ” ł ” is pronounced like an English “w” but the slash often gets deleted in transliteration. Thus, “Stow Doh Wa” not “Stow Doh Lat” or Stodola
Alternatively, “Sto lat” is a common Polish birthday song, wishing someone “one hundred years”. If you repeat it rapidly, it comes out sounding like “stowdolat”
Granted, repeating “one hundred year pumps” doesn’t make much sense, but neither does “barn pump” in the context of the main verse. Has ‘pumpa’ been garbled in transliteration?
My Polish in-laws claim not to have heard the song. Polish and Czech are close
April 20th, 2012 at 4:34 pm
Hi, I’m Czech :-). Stodola pumpa could mean something like “barn pump” but… Stodola is a noun and in Czech nouns don’t sound the same as adjectives. If you mean “barn” as an adjective, in Czech you must say “stodolová”, “stodolový” or “stodolové” (depends on grammatical gender). And another thing is that I can’t imagine any “barn pump”. So I think this is only enumerating of words.
As for the song about a poor man’s horse, a rich man’s horse, a soldier’s horse etc. – yes, we’ve got such as song. Frankly speaking, it’s not real song, but something like chant. It goes like:
Takhle jedou páni (fine men ride like this)
Takhle jedou kmáni or Takhle Cikáni (poor men ride like this or Gypsies ride like this)
A tak jedou husaři! (and hussars ride like this!)
Adult person “gives to the child the horse ride” on his or her knees, softly in the begginning, wildly at the end, saynig this words. Children love it :-). There are many variants of this here is one of them (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkdXRVdHEjU) and here is another part with the less often verse about farmers (this part with the slow rocking motion – takhle jedou sedláci) and the completely new verse with Formule 1 :-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqZiKixNcaY
September 28th, 2012 at 7:57 am
Chorus…
Stodola, stodola, stodola pumpa,
Stodola pumpa, stodola pumpa,
Stodola, stodola, stodola pumpa,
Stodola pum, pum, pum, pum, pum. (repeat)
Up from the valley we will make our way,
leaving behind the worries of the day,
being at one with all that we survey,
singing aloud this joyous song. Oh,
Chorus…
Greeting the sunlight in the morning air
is a happy feeling well beyond compare.
To the mountaintop, we’ll soon be there,
and as we climb, we’ll sing this song. Oh,
Chorus…
October 3rd, 2012 at 10:02 pm
I am just learning this song as I am in high school right now and my version matches Alice’s. My music teacher researched and found a translation that this song was about drinking. I don’t know though so…..yeah. Um help if you know whatever language this song is in!
December 14th, 2012 at 11:09 am
Wow – I can not believe I found this post. I have been singing this song for ages. Since first grade in the 50’s in Fairmont WV. The words I learned were:
Walking along, while night follows the day
Sweet scented breezes whisper on their way
Under the stars, we slowly stroll along
While distant hills ring, echoing our song – Hey!
(then the fun begins with the Stolada pumpa chorus…and on pumpa we pounded the tables to make a boom boom sound)
Our class loved this interactive song. I am so happy to know it’s origins.
December 14th, 2012 at 11:47 am
Correction : while distant hills, re-echoing our song!
February 25th, 2013 at 5:17 pm
I was surprised to find this information. I remember being taught the chorus before 1972 from some relatives visiting from Germany. My Grandpa was fluent in German and often had visitors and relatives. I don’t remember the verse words but thought they were sung in German but not sure about that. I thought the song was about a horse or horses racing. I have remembered the chorus and tune. I have not remembered to ask my older cousin to see if she remembers more of the story or what language the verses were sung in by our relatives.
February 26th, 2013 at 4:37 am
It seems to me that many songs quite widespread in the US (and considered to be Czech national songs) are quite extinct in the country of origin. It is interesting how this heritage and some particular songs were preserved by Czech emmigrants for many decades (as far as I know largest communities existed in Texas, Nebraska, Illinois and neighbouring states).
The text indeed literally means “barn – pump – barn – pump etc.” The catchy music seems to be a traditional tune, quite widespread in the past. Many different songs were probably sung to this melody.
I have found just this example from the modern days using mentioned tune AND wording (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovISzlWqxFc). You can hear there are two different lyrics used for the chorus.
In the Czech Republic the tune was most notably preserved in the folk song called “Má roztomilá Báruško” (i.e. “My Sweet Babette”) in one of its versions (lyrics: http://hudba.hradiste.cz/index.php?AKCE=DETAIL&ID=33323336320500 video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPArz_Kz0pc and adapted: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRMcFB0D-8I). The song and this version especially is quite vulgar. It can also sound quite differently and have somewhat different lyrics (check this version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuxM2Eo8Omg).
May 1st, 2013 at 8:50 pm
Hello,
Stodola is a Bohemian word. It means “shelter of animals” in bohemian.
I was raise by bohemian grandparents, my grandfather spoke the language. I do not know the song title or the lyrics, but maybe this will help in any case
May 27th, 2013 at 3:22 pm
We sang this song in the 5th grade in Houston, back in the mid 1950’s. We were told it was a Czech folk song and meant “Barn Pump.” Our music teacher told us to sing the chorus faster and faster at the end, emulating, I suppose, pumping water furiously until you were exhausted. It was a favorite of ours and I never forgot the chorus, but only remembered a few words of the verses, until the chorus got stuck in my head today and I had to look it up. The wonders of the internet. . .reuniting singer with song after all these years!
November 7th, 2013 at 11:12 am
I have encountered this song twice in life. In the eary 1950’s I lived in Los Angeles. The ice-cream truck that visited my neighborhood played the chorus of stodola pumpa endlessly as it made its rounds. I didn’t know it was stodola pumpa, because it was just a little mechanical contrivance on top of the truck, playing endlessly on little bells driven by a camshaft. When I went to college in 1961, I joined the glee club, and that’s where I learned the rest of the song, in a Parker-Shaw TTBB arrangement. We recently sang it at our 50-year reunion. It’s still funny! The soloist sings the love song over smarmy barbershoppy chords hummed by the rest of the club. As each verse concludes, the club shouts HEY! and chugs through the chorus. James McMurtry, who makes some of the darkest western music around, once had a line in one of his songs about the endless repetition of a song on the ice cream truck – “sure must play hell on the ice cream man” or words to that effect. He doesn’t name the song, but I’ll bet it was Stodole Pumpa.
November 7th, 2013 at 11:49 am
Thanks for sharing. If you’d like to record this song, we’d be happy to post your recording.
January 2nd, 2014 at 1:11 pm
In 1948, a number of us (teenagers) were taught the song by a minister visiting from Czechoslovakia. We were in New Hampshire at a non-sectarian workcamp run by the Unitarian church. The words were very similar to those of Lisa’s 11/15/2009 post.
March 24th, 2014 at 4:09 am
I remember this song from music class in grade school in the mid 1950’s. The verses were song slowly and with feeling, the chorus very fast and with exuberance. The verse I remember is quite militaristic:
Son when you’re grown you must not stay at home,
Into the Army you will go with me,
There in the Army, you will learn to drill,
When you are good, then you can march with me, Hey
Chorus
May 1st, 2014 at 7:43 pm
I see that i’m not the only one who had that chorus going around in their head! It’s such a catchy little tune. I also believe that I learned it in school in the 50’s or 60’s. In looking at Youtube, I see that the kids are still singing it!
Cool!
December 5th, 2014 at 8:30 am
For no apparent reason this song started drifting through my mind tonight. Back in the 1950’s we sang it in school, and loved it! However, we sang only the chorus. What fun we had with it! We also sang a song which sounded like “Hi loshka, loshka…etc. It may also have been Czech.
January 24th, 2015 at 12:47 am
I sang this song in choir last year. It is called Stodala Pumpa. If you go into Google search, type in’stodala pumpa czech folk song’, you can find the sheet music to buy. There is also a preview of it available.
November 8th, 2015 at 2:59 am
Greetings from Bill Sharp: The Mad Bavarian – Band Leader & Song Writer –
We sang “Stodla Pumpa” at Methodist Church Camp 1947 +/- After listening and hearing mundane versions – I decided that this song needed some pep – BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY The song needed to tell a story with beginning to conclusion. The Verse Part(s) needs to be a tuneful “Langsamer Walzer” in order to make the “Stodla Pumpa Gallop” a real ‘Hey’ in contrast. So, here is the song by Bill Sharp 2014:
===============================================
“STODLE PUMPA” – “The Old Barn Pump”
After The Traditional Chekhovskaya Volk Lied
Appropriated by Bill Sharp mit Ramona im K’Hootzen!
Fanfare Intro – Arpeggio then Langsam
Langsam:
#1 VERSE: (Each Verse Sung after the intro 4 bars of Arpeggio)
Walking at night – along the meadow way:
Home from the Dance to end a perfect day!
Holding you near – I took your precious hand.
Happily Strolling ! That’s where Our Love Began.
Yell”HEY” after the Trumpet Fanfare
And then go into the Gallop !
Gallop: Go for it ! (Stowe-Du-Lah Phoomp-Pah)
“Hey” ! Stodle – Stodle – Stodle Pumpa
Stodle Pumpa – Stodle Pumpa
Stodle – Stodle – Stodle Pumpa
Stodle Pumpa – Ump Pah Pah!
(repeat as needed – with the band)
#2 VERSE:
Nearing the Woods – We heard the Nightingale
Quietly – KaKooing with Her Lonesome Tale !
Softly & Sweetly floats Her Song of Love!
Loftingly they Shimmer down from up above. “Hey” !
Gallop
#3 VERSE:
Close to the Glen – She Whispered in my Ear!
Darling please hold me close . . I need you near.
That’s when a ring – I gave to her with Pride
“Schatze” Oh, My Love! – Oh Yes! I’ll be your Bride. “Hey” !
Gallop
#4 VERSE:
Quietly that night – Alone – No one could see!
The Man of the Moon – Witnessed Our Pledge to Be !
Sparkling were Stars for Two – (Or Maybe Three)
Softly & Tender! You Shared a Kiss With Me ! “Hey” !
Gallop
#5 VERSE:
Papa on the Porch Herr Frowns Mit Schiess Gewehr
Freuline Auf Geht – The Ring She had: So fair!
Up gets Mama – Mit Schnapps for us to share!
So, was the night ! Uns Hoch Zeit started there ! “Hey” !
Shone die Abend!
Gallop
#6 VERSE:
Soon we were wed – and had not ‘one’ but ‘three’!
Blessed with the Love – that came so full and free!
Remembering the night – We danced until the dawn !
Past are Those Days! But Fond Memories Linger On! “Hey” !
Gallop
======================
November 19th, 2015 at 5:25 am
Anyone know tushi,tushi. Poya ma, pots geme du mama?
November 20th, 2015 at 2:34 am
Remembering this from music class in grade school in 1957
Even remembering the girl who always requested to sing it…
Strolling along as nightfall ends the day
Sweet scented breezes whisper on their way
Under the stars we slowly stroll along
As distant hills re-echo with our song
Hey…
Stodola, Stodola, Stodola Pumpa,
Stodola Pumpa, Stodola Pumpa,
Stodola, Stodola, Stodola pumpa,
Stodola Pumpa, Pump, Pump, Pump
April 28th, 2016 at 7:08 pm
Ray Hawkins, we could be cousins. I was a Hawkins and sang this song in second grade in Little Rock, Arkansas, in the 50’s! I remember it exactly as you do. Unfortunately, I only remember the chorus and we were told it was Polish. Of course the chorus, with the pounding, was a big hit. Why does this song just pop into people’s heads, many, many years later? Yet it did, for me, this week, and I just had to look it up.
May 10th, 2016 at 9:36 pm
In response to an earlier post above, “Aj Lucka, Lucka” is a Czech folk song, meaning “Aj Lovely Meadow.” Both the song “Stodola Pumpa” and “Aj Lucka Lucka” were songs printed in a music book of world songs used by school children back in the 40’s and 50’s. I believe both of these songs were brought to this country by Czech immigrants, which my grandparents were in Nebraska.
June 13th, 2016 at 6:53 pm
Our singing group were rehearsing this song this morning and wondering what Stodola Pumpa means. I decided to Google it and lo-and-behold. The words we have are:
Pumpa pumpa, stodola pumpa
Pumpa pumpa, stodola pumpa – pum –
Walking along beside my sweetheart fair
Happy am I to know that she is there
Soft is the breeze and bright the moon above
Strolling and talking with my own true love – Hey!
Stodola stodola stodola pumpa
stodola pumpa, stodola pumpa
Stodola stodola stodola pumpa
Stodola pumpa, pum pum pum
Happy and gay we’ve danced the night away
Late is the hour we can no longer stay
Homeward we turn and stroll the moon-lit lane
Soon comes the morrow, then we’ll meet again – Hey!
Stodola stodola pumpa
stodola pumpa stodola pumpa
Stodola stodola stodola pumpa
Stodola pumpa
Pum, pum pum
Pumpa pumpa stodola pumpa
Stodola pum – pa
November 19th, 2016 at 5:20 am
At the El Toro Marine Base School in Orange County, California, we too sang this song at a school function. This would have been in 1956 or 57. A parent taught it to us and we held hands and danced in a circle while singing the song. How strange that these words and tunes still dance in our memories. I guess one day there will be a bunch of people in an old folks home who will intermittently burst into strains of “Stolla stolla stolla pumpa.”. Memory is an amazing thing!!
May 5th, 2017 at 12:23 am
The idea behind barn pump is supposed to be stark contrast to the melodic and slow verses. Your walking with a young spark and when the fast paced, loud chorus comes that is the “barn pump”. Barn pump as in sexual intercourse.
March 24th, 2018 at 6:03 pm
We received this version today:
Strolling along as nightfall ends the day,
Sweet gentle breeze is whispers on his way ,
Under the stars I hear a nightingale
Singing her song out over hill and say…
Stottala stottala stottala pumpa
Stottal pumpa stottal pumpa, etc.
November 3rd, 2018 at 7:03 pm
I’m 70 and remember this from kindergarten. What I recall is close to the version just above.
Strolling along as nightfall ends the day
Sweet scented breezes whisper on their way.
Under the stars we slowly stroll along
As distant hills re-echo with our song.
December 9th, 2018 at 5:07 pm
I have no idea where I learned this song, musta been 50-60 years ago. I remember the stodala pumpa part, but the rest? I recall “echo with our song” just before we got into Stodala pumpa. sure wish I could remember the whole scene of where and what, I’m sure it was a happy time, just like the song. I’m glad others remember
March 21st, 2019 at 7:56 pm
Stodola in Czech means a Barn and Pumpa means a pump. Pumpa could also be loosely translated as a well (water well)
January 13th, 2020 at 2:04 pm
We sang the Stodola pumps in grade school in the 50’s just as others have said, going faster and faster. I thought, though, that we sang it with another part that was phonetically like….
.A DOR-e-o
A DOR-e-doon-de-o
A DOR-e-doon-de-ret-set-set
Ret-set-set
Ret-set-set, etc…..
Anybody remember that?
July 10th, 2020 at 4:37 pm
I remember this song of my childhood which emerged recently out of nowhere! I learned it in 4th or 5 th grade in the early 50’s. The lyrics I remember are as follows:
Walking at night along the village green
Who but yourself should be the village queen?
Who but yourself should win the golden prize?
Who but yourself has jewels in her eyes?
Stodola stodola……….etc.
It has become an earworm for me lately. I did love my teachers at the time in Maplewood, New Jersey, two in particular……Leona Rice my brilliant word loving 5th grade teacher, and Marjorie Bram the strict but generous music teacher.
November 9th, 2020 at 7:07 pm
Replying to Jane – The chorus that you quoted is from a different song, “Sarasponda.” We sang that in our grade school, and it was a favorite! It was described as a spinning song with nonsense words.