Penelope wrote, "This song is not a common song. I mean there are special babys' songs we sing when babies or toddlers are restless. We call them 'taxtarismata'. The word can't be translated I'm afraid. We put the baby in our lap and we clap his/her hands (while listening to the song) or hold him and make movements so that he/she stops crying. There are a lot of such songs and they are all traditional."

Notes

*"Dah dirdi and dah dirdo" are sounds only - with no meaning

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Transliteration

Palamakia peksete
Ke o babas too erhete
Ke too ferni katiti
Kooloorakia sto kharti

Palamakia peksete
Ke i manoola erhete
Na to parei agalia
To mikrooli tis pedhia

Palamakia, palamakia
Pezoon ola ta pedhakia
Palamakia ke khoro
dakh dirdi
ke dakh dirdo

"e" as in "red"
"h" in "erhete" like "ch" in German "ich"
"x" as "ch" in Scottish "loch"
"dh" as in "the", "this"

*****

Pauline wrote, "I am English and live in Greece. My children grew up with these songs so here is my version of this traditional children's song adapted into English

Clap clap clap your hands and play,
Daddy is on his way,
Is he bringing something with him?
Yes, a little bag of cookies

Clap clap clap your hands and play,
Mummy is on her way,
She gathers the children into her arms,
and cuddles them

Clap clap clap your hands and play,
All the children are playing,
Clapping and dancing,
Tra la la, tra la la ......

Thanks and Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Nick Fantridakis for contributing the transliteration of this song. Many thanks also to Penelope Karagouni for translating it and contributing the original spelling. Thanks to Pauline for the alternate English version.

Ευχαριστώ πολύ!