What's the Use? Lyrics
A goose asks why swim like a frog when you can float on a log, a fly asks why suck an old apple-core when there is sugar in the grocery store, and a kite says it follows the wind because it has no mind. Each one has a short-cut and a joke.
What's the Use?
"What's the use,"
Said the goose,
"To swim like a frog,
When you go just as far
If you float on a log?"
"Why should I,"
Said the fly,
"Suck an old apple-core,
When there's sugar and fruit
In the grocery store?"
"It's but right,"
Said the kite,
"That I follow the wind.
What's a fellow to do
If he hasn't a mind?"
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/whats-the-use/
- Type
- Poems for Children, Animal Rhymes
- Written by
- Leroy F. Jackson
- Tune
- A quick, cheeky chant: each verse starts with a short question and ends on a punchline
- Best for ages
- 4 to 8 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| To swim like a frog, | Move your arms in a breaststroke through the air. |
| That I follow the wind. | Hold a hand high and let it drift sideways as if pulled by a string. |
What Does What's the Use? Mean?
Each verse is a small speech from an animal who has found a lazy way to do something. The goose says there is no point swimming hard like a frog when you go just as far by floating on a log. The fly does not see why it should suck an old apple-core when there is sugar and fruit in the grocery store. The kite gets the funniest line: it is only right that it follows the wind, since a kite that has not a mind has to be carried wherever the wind goes.
Each excuse sounds almost sensible, which is what makes it funny. The poem is built on a question and a reply, with said the in the middle of every verse and short lines that jump along quickly.
History and Origin
Leroy F. Jackson wrote this poem for a children's rhyme collection that appeared in 1918.
Learning Activities
- Three speakers: read each animal's lines in its own voice and let the child join on the last line of each verse.
- Make a kite: tie a paper strip to a string and run with it outdoors, or let it flutter in front of a fan.
- Float or sink: drop a few small objects into a bowl of water and sort them into floaters and sinkers.
- What's the use?: invent another animal and give it a short-cut reason of its own.