Childhood games we used to play
come into my mind today
Playing with the gang till it was dark
Mr. Wolf, now what's the time?
Hands together, sing the rhyme
Lemonade and butties in the park

Off-ground tick was rather good,
standing on that piece of wood
‘Can’t catch me ‘cos now I’m off the floor
I call in my very best friend,
when you skip you shout, ‘No end!’
Doing handstands on the dirty floor
... and sitting on the pavement

Hopscotch and Allalio,
In and out those Darkie Bluebells watch us go
Queenie Eye – who’s got the ball?
‘Not me’ said Lucy Locket – ‘it isn’t in my pocket’
Oh, those games we used to play

Remember playing ollies and conkers and having a well-worn sixer?
And us all having encyclopaedias because we didn’t have Alexa.
Remember the swings, the slide and monkey bars in the park?
You’d also play footy there from early morning till it was dark.

Remember when you got your cycling proficiency certificate?
Your mum was so proud she got it copied… in triplicate.
Do kids still sing the ‘We Are the Minors of ABC’ at the Saturday pictures?
Do The Three Stooges and Abbot and Costello still have you in stiches?

In the days when we had nowt,
throw the cherry up the spout
Watch it fall to see if you could win
Bursting bubbles in the tar,
catching tadpoles in a jar,
Waiting for the telly to begin
…it's Crackerjack

Hopscotch and Allalio,
In and out those Darkie Bluebells watch us go
Queenie Eye – who’s got the ball?
‘Not me’ said Lucy Locket – ‘it isn’t in my pocket’
Oh, those games we used to play

Orange boxes made a cart
or a steerie, very smart
With some pram wheels borrowed from the tip
Make a swing around the lamp
With skipping rope when it was damp
Twirling round and round till you were sick
... and dizzy

Hopscotch and Allalio,
In and out those Darkie Bluebells watch us go
Queenie Eye – who’s got the ball?
‘Not me’ said Lucy Locket – ‘it isn’t in my pocket’
Oh, those games we used to play

Remember when two ounces of dolly-mixtures lasted ages?
You couldn’t have any till Thursday when dad got his wages.
We’d race on our bikes and throw balls to hit the kerb.
We made up songs, not knowing a noun from a verb.

Remember when you played in the back garden as a tot?
And your mum approached you with a hanky for your snot.
Jacks and Ollies were two games we all enjoyed.
And if you happened to lose you didn’t get annoyed.

Roller skates were shared by two
Dressing up in yer mother's shoes
Pretending we were grown-ups for the day
The big ship sails through the Alley-alley-O
The Alley-alley-O, the Alley-alley-O
The big ship sails through the Alley-alley-O
On the last day of September

The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea,
The bottom of the sea, the bottom of the sea.
The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea,
On the last day of September

Hopscotch and Allalio,
In and out those Darkie Bluebells watch us go
Queenie Eye – who’s got the ball?
‘Not me’ said Lucy Locket – ‘it isn’t in my pocket’
Oh, those games we used to play