Nyango M. Nambangi sent us this Cameroonian song from Africa. What’s even better is that we have a recording to go with it!
Nyango wrote: “Here’s a song our mother taught us and her Middle School students. The tune is very British, in my opinion, but I have not been able to find the lyrics or tune or any reference to it anywhere. The end actually gets the listeners laughing!”
MP3 Recording of Laughing is Contagious
Laughing is Contagious
Ha, ha, ha!
Laughing is contagious.
Ha, ha, ha!
And sometimes advantageous.
Ha, ha, ha!
And very careful be
And laugh with caution now.
Ha, ha!Ha, ha, ha!
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
Ha, ha, ha!
ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
Ha, ha ha!
This recording is extra special to us because it was done by recording a phone call! It’s the first time we were able to easily use this technology of having someone call and recording them. Also, Nyango have sent us many songs from Cameroon over the past couple of years. It’s great for everyone to finally hear her voice!
If anyone would like to sing a traditional (non-copyrighted) song for us, please email me at lisa@mamalisa.com for directions.
Many thanks to Nyango M. Nambangi of the Minnesota African Women’s Association for contributing and singing this song for us!
Mama Lisa
*****
Minnesota African Women’s Association has products available that were stitched by their sewing group. They’re available for purchase online at Etsy. They have beautiful pillows, dolls dressed in traditional and contemporary African fashions, tote bags, hats and more!
This article was posted on Sunday, October 25th, 2009 at 10:10 am and is filed under Cameroon, Cameroonian Children's Songs, Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, English, Languages, Laughing is Contagious, Mama Lisa, MP3's, Recordings of Songs. 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.
6 Responses to “Laughing is Contagious – A Song from Cameroon with an MP3 Recording”
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October 25th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Thank you for sharing!
I love the song and agree that Laughing is Contagious. Of course, the song got me smiling.
November 14th, 2011 at 6:06 am
How do you the get MP3 ?
November 14th, 2011 at 12:54 pm
If you can’t hear it on this page, you can try the song page. There you can download it or listen to it on a player.
January 11th, 2012 at 10:47 pm
I do not think it is a Cameroonian song I learnt that song a long time ago in the 60s in Ghana. I was admitted at the Catholic hospital and we had Catholic sisters as nurses and one of them taught the kids and I was one then.
January 13th, 2012 at 10:40 am
Thanks for commenting Adwoa… you inspired me to research this song more. I found that it was written by the American songwriter GF Root (1820-1895) and published in his book in 1857 called “The Sabbath Bell: A collection of music for choirs, musical associations, singing-schools, and the home circle”.
Here are the full lyrics:
Ha, ha, ha! Laughing is contagious, ha, ha, ha!
And sometimes advantageous, ha, ha, ha!
But very careful be and laugh with caution now,
Ha, ha, ha! Ha, ha, ha! Ha, ha, ha! Oh!
For wise men laugh but rarely
The reason we’ll state fairly
They think it’s not becoming
To be found in any funning,
So their laugh is very low,
Oh! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
Ha, ha, ha,
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
September 15th, 2020 at 9:53 pm
My Dad used to sing this song years ago when I was a teenager. He passed away in 2008… I was singing the song to my son this evening when I thought to check on google if its a real song and voilaaa… found it with the MP3 added bonusππ½ππ½ππ½
So excited… it brought back good memories.
Thank you for sharing.π