The Grand Old Duke of York

I now have three different versions of the actions to this song:

Version One

The grand old duke of York

He had ten thousand men

He marched them up to the top of the hill

And he marched them down again

And when they were up they were up

And when they were down they were down

And when they were only half-way up

They were neither up nor down!

Actions: Every time you sing the word "up", stand up. When you sing the word "down", sit down. On "half-way up", stand up with knees bent. Repeat the song a number of times, getting faster. To totally confuse everyone, reverse the actions (e.g. sit down on "up", stand up on "down"!)

---

Version Two
(actions indented in brackets)

Thanks to Jean Reid, who posted this version to the Guiding Mailing List.

Start the girls out in two lines, facing each other.

The Grand Old Duke of York, he had ten thousand men

        (first pair at the top of the line hold hands and side-slide down the centre of the two lines eight steps)

He marched them up to the top of the hill and he marched them down again

        (first pair side-slide back to their starting position eight steps)

And when they were up, they were up

And when they were down they were down,

And when they were only half-way up they were neither up nor down

        (First pair separates and each goes down the outside of their line, followed by the rest of the girls in that line, meets at the bottom and forms an arch with their original partner. The rest of the line(s) meet up with their partner at the bottom, hold hands and go under the arch and back up to form two lines again. This makes the first pair now the last pair of the lines. The song continues and the idea is to have all the actions complete and the next first set ready to start when the song repeats.)

Version Three
(actions indented in brackets)

The Grand Old Duke of York

(march on the spot during this line)

He had ten thousand men

(march on the spot)

He marched them up to the top of the hill

(keep marching and stretch up really tall)

And he marched them down again.

(march down, until you are squatting, or duck walking)

And when they were up they were up

(gradually get taller again, until tiptoed)

And when they were down they were down

(go down till you are duck walking again)

And when they were only half way up,

(go half way up, and march crouched over)

They were neither up nor down.

(when you say up, jump up and when you say down, squat down)