Sunday, September 10, 2023

See You Later, Alligator

Yesterday Hubby Tony and I attended a performance of the play "Million Dollar Quartet". The jukebox musical (where the songs are well-known popular tunes rather than original) dramatizes a recording session at the Sun Record recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee on December 4, 1956. The session included Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis (who was a newcomer at the time). At the end of the show, after the bows, there was a 'encore' concert and each musician performed one complete song. Carl Perkins' was "See You Later Alligator". 

Listening to that made me think of a teacher from the preschool I used to work at who had a wide assortment of rhyming goodbyes. Every day was different, and it was often tied into something the class had talked about earlier. Some of the ones I remember: 

  • See you later, Alligator 
  • After a while, Crocodile 
  • Gotta go, Buffalo 
  • See you soon, Racoon (or sometimes Baboon) 
  • Gotta Bail, Whale 
  • Take care, Polar Bear 
  • Peace Out, Trout 
  • In a shake, Garter Snake 
  • Hit the road, Happy Toad 
  • Gotta scat, Cat 
  • Can't stay, Blue Jay 
  • Bye-bye, Butterfly 
  • Toodle-loo, Kangaroo 
  • Time to scoot, Little Newt 
  • Till then, Penguin 
  • Bye now, Brown Cow 
  • Adios, Hippos 
  • Hasta MaƱana, Iguana 
  • Out the door, Dinosaur 
  • To your house, Quiet Mouse 
  • Better skadoodle, Poodle 
  • Until then, Hen 
  • Adieu, Cockatoo 
  • Farewell, Gazelle 
  • Hit the Street, Parakeet
Five years ago: In Lieu Of

12 comments:

  1. I use some of these. Just used a version of the raccoon one while texting with my granddaughter. She wanted to know when we would be coming over from the hotel. I replied I was trying to get grandpa out the door and she returned with, okay, see you soon. I texted back: not soon, raccoon; in a while, crocodile.

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  2. I've heard a few of them before. I used to have a daycare and say goofy things like that to the children. Fun times.

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  3. And if she really wanted to be funny one time at the end of the last class of the day she would have just walked out of the room without saying anything and not come back.

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    1. Don't know if the parents would have appreciated that :-)

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  4. That's quite a collection. Thanks for sharing!

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  5. You're welcome. Thanks for stopping by.

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  6. I'd only heard of a few of them, but then maybe that teacher made up many of them herself. Very creative, and fun. Bet the kids couldn't wait to hear how she's rhyme good bye every day.

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    1. I'm confident there are dozens more 'goodbye' rhymes out there. It was a great way to end the school day.

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  7. I saw the Million Dollar Quartet on Broadway and was blown away. I know some of the phrases but not all.. so cute.

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