Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Children’s song, U.K.

“Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” is a children’s song sung to the tune of the traditional folk song “There is a Tavern in the Town”, which first appeared in the 1883 edition of William H. Hill’s Student Songs.

Kids love “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” because they can play with something they know well, the parts of the human body. Throughout this song, the four parts of the human body mentioned are gradually substituted by a sound (the sound of a percussion instrument, a clap or the any other body-generated sound).

On this page you will find a Sing-along Video, Lyrics and MP3 and MP4 files of the song for free download.

Table of Contents

Song Info

The song was written by Karl-Axel Elmquist (1929-2023), a pastor from Sweden, with original lyrics in Swedish. The melody was based on the folk song “There is a Tavern in the Town”, which in turn first appeared in the 1883 edition of William H. Hill’s Student Songs.

Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” was conceived by Elmquist as a “teasing song” about the father of gymnastics in Sweden, Per Henrik Ling. It was written in the 50’s and was first sung in the city Jönköping, Sweden.

The song became popular all over the world via the scout movement and was translated to different languages. Karl-Axel, who lived in the USA for some time, also wrote other songs, which didn’t become as well-known as this one.

Thank you to Helena Elmquist for the 2023 information update.

Sing-Along Video

Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes [SONG...
Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes [SONG] | Nursery Rhyme Sing-Along with Lyrics

For printable lyrics and a karaoke video, click here.

Lyrics

1. Head, shoulders, knees and toes
Knees and toes
Head, shoulders, knees and toes
Knees and toes
And eyes and ears and mouth and nose
Head, shoulders, knees and toes
Knees and toes

2. —-, shoulders, knees and toes
Knees and toes
—-, shoulders, knees and toes
Knees and toes
And eyes and ears and mouth and nose
—-, shoulders, knees and toes
Knees and toes

3. —-, ———, knees and toes
Knees and toes
—-, ———, knees and toes
Knees and toes
And eyes and ears and mouth and nose
—-, ———, knees and toes
Knees and toes

4. —-, ———, —– and toes
—– and toes
—-, ———, —– and toes
—– and toes
And eyes and ears and mouth and nose
—-, ———, —– and toes
—– and toes

5. —-, ———, —– — —-
—– — —-
—-, ———, —– — —-
—– — —-
And eyes and ears
And mouth and nose
—-, ———, —– — —-
—– — —-

6. Head, shoulders, knees and toes
Knees and toes
Head, shoulders, knees and toes
Knees and toes
And eyes and ears,
And mouth and nose
Head, shoulders, knees and toes
Knees and toes

Original lyrics in Swedish

Huvud axlar knä och tår

Huvud, axlar, knän och tår, knän och tår
Huvud, axlar, knän och tår, knän och tår
Ögon, öron, kinden klappen får,
Huvud, axlar, knän och tår, knän och tår.

Free karaoke MP3 download

Slow version – 110 bpm

To download your free instrumental mp3 of this song, click or tap on the following button, then choose “Save link as…”

“Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” (Slower version) free mp3 download (instrumental, 1:59 – 4/4 – 110 bpm)

Fast version – 130 bpm

To download your free instrumental mp3 of this song, click or tap on the following button, then choose “Save link as…”

“Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” (Faster Version) Free instrumental mp3 download (instrumental, 1:35 – 4/4 – 130 bpm)

Singing Bell 30 Favourite Nursery Rhymes

Buy our entire album with 30 Favourite Nursery Rhymes

https://www.singing-bell.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Finger-Family_x264.mp4

MP4 Video File | Free Download

To watch the karaoke video of this song on your mobile device, click on the following link to download the video file (mp4 format).

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes | Free mp4 Video File Download

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes Free Sheet Music

Click on the button to watch a piano tutorial video and download a PDF file with piano sheet music to this song for free.

Head,Shoulder,Knees and Toes Instrumental Nursery Rhyme - Free Music Score Download (in F)

Click on the button for a printable PDF file with Guitar Chords, Tabs and Sheet Music for this song for free.

Head Shoulders Knees and Toes - Guitar Chords and Tabs.

Teaching idea and activities

As the text goes on, a word corresponding to a part of the body is replaced by a rest. Finally, the motif of the rests looks like this:

Rests

Four children with different percussion instruments or other sounds (hands, foots, fingers, or objects like table, chair, etc.) play in place for every part of the body.

They start with one sound and four words that they sing, and gradually they just play five sounds at the corresponding verse.

A similar activity can be realized for the “Bingo Song”.

Did you like this post?

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (5 vote(s), average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading...

You may also like:

Finger Family (Daddy Finger)

ABC Song (The Alphabet Song)

Bingo Song

If You’re Happy and You Know It

London Bridge Is Falling Down

Five Little Monkeys

Related Posts for Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Leave a Reply