Hand Wash Music

HAND WASH SONGS

These are six songs of approximately 20 seconds duration that I’ve written for people to sing or play while they wash their hands during the current Coronavirus restrictions. Mostly Moya is on vocals, me on keyboard.

Here are the lyrics, recordings and scores, with the odd explanation.

I JUST WANT THIS SONG TO GO VIRAL

I just want this song to go viral
I want it spread about
So the whole wide worldly choir’ll scrub
Until the hand wash time is out
I just want this song to go viral
Ooh!
See the Score as a PDF

SHORTER THAN YOU THINK

I reckon
Twenty seconds
Is shorter than you think
By the time this
Little rhyme is
Over
You’ll have flushed your hand wash down the sink.
See the Score as a PDF

IN A MINOR KEY

This song, it won’t take long
And it’s in a minor key
This tune will be over soon
When my hands are virus-free
No more bacteria
Or pathogens for me
In a minor key
In a minor key.
See the Score as a PDF

IN EINER MOLLTONART
As we can’t travel to Europe at the moment, I’ve decided to bring Europe to you with this German version of In a Minor Key. Thanks to Gisela, Karl and Jean-Yves for the German lyrics.

Ein kurzes Lied derart
So Gespielt in Molltonart
Ist gleich dieses Lied vorbei
Sind die Hände virenfrei
Keine kleinen Keime mehr
Oder Krankheit so gemein
In einer Molltonart
In einer Molltonart.
See the Score as a PDF

RUB SOAP RUB
This is a rewrite of an old children’s song of mine called Washing Blues, also known as Washing Machine on Playschool. These new lyrics are based on the World Health Organisation’s instructions for hand washing.

Rub soap, rub, that’s awesome
And rub post haste
Scrub right over the dorsum
Fingers interlaced
Rub soap, rub, rotational
Never asking why
Rinse, rinse, rinse-pirational
Dry, dry, dry!
See the Score as a PDF

JE ME LAVE LES MAINS
Another bit of Europe brought to you, based on an old satirical song of mine called Je Proteste. Thanks to Jean-Yves for help with the French lyrics.

Je me lave les mains
Je me lave les mains
Le lavabo ou le bidet
Un peu d’eau et je suis prête
Je me lave les mains.
See the Score as a PDF

John Shortis, April 18 2020