Sunday, March 13, 2011

Children All Over the World

Today's song was one I liked a lot as a kid. I thought it was really cool that I "knew" some Japanese. I also like it as a lullaby song because of the first line- perfect for going to bed!
Children All Over the World was easy to edit: Father to Parents, he to they. Changing "his" to "their" in the third line grates grammatically ("each" is singular, "their" is plural), but using male-only language irked me more. Let's hope a grammarian comes up with a good solution in the near future. Perhaps, since language is fluid and evolving, we'll soon be able to use "their" as a singular without the grammar police find us.

Children All Over the World

All over the world at the end of day,
Heav’nly Parents' children kneel down and pray,
Each saying thank you in their own special way,
Saying thank you, thank you in their own special way.
“Gracias.” “Malo.” “Wir danken dir.”
All over the world tender voices hear.
Some say “tak,” others “merci,”
“Kansha shimasu,” we thank thee.
Our Heavenly Parents hear them;
They understand each tongue.
Our Heav’nly Parents know them;
They love them, love them, ev’ry one.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

How about "All saying thank you in their own special way"?