An innocent song about the fish.
Japanese phone booths turned into aquariums. What a great idea! Source.
Our own little fishy story…
When I first sang this song to my 6 year old girl, she was disturbed. Tearfully, she said “I do not like this song, the little fishy will get hooked and be away from his family”. Whenever I sang it, she would cover her ears. So I stopped singing it. Later on, one bedtime, I told her I was going to sing her a new song. (By then, she had already learned the Camel 駱駝 song, and was loving that song). So I started singing this fish song by substituting to words for fish with the words for camel, i.e., “駱駝駱駝水中游…游來游去樂悠悠…倦了臥水草…餓了覓小蟲”. She laughed so hard that day. Ever since that, we like to make up silly songs by substituting inappropriate animals in inappropriate lyrics. I think, “hey, at least she is motivated. The more she sings in mandarin, the more fluent she will be!”
魚兒魚兒水中游魚兒魚兒水中游游來游去樂悠悠倦了臥水草餓了覓小蟲樂悠悠 樂悠悠水晶世界任自由魚兒魚兒水中游看見前面一線鈎鈎上食味美看得唾延流小魚兒別上鈎貪圖享受失自由 |
Fishy, Fishy Swimming in the waterFishy, fishy swimming in the waterSwimming here and there so carefree and happyWhen you are tired, you rest on the seaweedWhen you are hungry, you look for bugs to eatHappy and free, happy and freeLife in the crystalline water kingdom is so carefreeFishy, fishy swimming in the waterYou see a line with hook aheadOh! What delicious food on the hookMakes your mouth water just looking at itLittle fishDon’t be hookedYour greed will cost you your freedom |
鱼儿鱼儿水中游(simplified chinese version)鱼儿鱼儿水中游游來游去乐悠悠卷了卧水草饿了覓小虫乐悠悠 乐悠悠水晶世界任自由鱼儿鱼儿水中游看見前面一线钩钩上食味美看得唾延流小魚兒別上钩贪图享受失自由 |
Yuer Yuer Shui Zhong You(hanyu pinyin version)Yuer yuer shui zhong youYou lai you qu le youyouJuan liao wo shuichaoEr liao ni xiaochongLeyouyou leyouyouShuijing shijie ren ziyouYuer yuer shui zhong youKanjian qianmian yi xian gouGou shang shi wei meiKan de chuiyen liuXiao yuerBie shang gouTantuxiangshou shi ziyou |
An audio version of this song. Thank you sunny0968 for uploading this sweet song on youtube!
魚兒魚兒水中游 Yuer yuer shui zhong you