"WALTZING WITH BEARS " Stories, Folktales, Folklore, Fairy Tales, Legends, Myths, History, Nursery Rhymes, Fantasy & Facts Story Lovers World The Story Lovers World home page is at: http://www.story-lovers.com To add to the category below, please e-mail jackie@storyloversworld.com

	"WALTZING WITH BEARS" SONG Scroll down or click on your choice below • Online links to information - "Waltzing With Bears" • SOS: Searching Out Stories/Info - "Waltzing With Bears" ~~Advice/References - Storytellers, Teachers, Librarians

ONLINE LINKS TO MORE INFORMATION AND PRODUCTS - "WALTZING WITH BEARS"

Online links are in blue and underlined. Click on them to get more information.
Short descriptions included for your convenience and to save you research time.

• http://waltzingwithbears.com/
"Waltzing With Bears" pattern

• http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiBEARWLTZ.html
"Waltzing With Bears" song lyrics adapted from Dr. Seuss

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7NeyXUUlLE
YouTube rendition by Marty Brandon

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzptru9pK9E
YouTube rendition "Uncle Walter Goes Waltzing With Bears"

• http://everything2.com/title/Waltzing%2520with%2520Bears
Another version of the lyrics to "Waltzing With Bears"

• http://dragon.sleepdeprived.ca/songbook/songs9/S9_72.htm
Another version of the lyrics by Peter Blood and Annie Patterson from "Rise Up Singing"

• http://www.scoutorama.com/song/song_display.cfm?song_id=44
This version of the lyrics is from Scoutorama

• http://cdbaby.com/cd/sandyc3
This album is by Sandy Cash and is availabale from CDBaby

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SOS: SEARCHING OUT STORIES AND INFORMATION ABOUT "WALTZING WITH BEARS"
Advice, Discussion and References from Storytellers, Teachers and Librarians
(excerpts from Storytell posts plus original research)

Book titles and online links are in blue and underlined. Click on them to get more information.
To use this song, get permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain.
In performance, always credit your sources.
Storytell posts are listed chronologically as they are received by Story Lovers World.

1) "Waltzing with Bears" is a very popular song in Pittsburgh, and is played almost every week on Saturday Light Brigade, a local radio show. Hardly a week goes by when we don’t get multiple requests for “Waltzing With Bears." This loveable song has been a Saturday Light Brigade favorite for many years and we thought you’d enjoy knowing more about it. This information is taken directly from their website at
http://www.slbradio.com

The history of the song is somewhat controversial. Most trace its origins to a Dr. Seuss composition called "My Uncle Terwilliger Waltzes with Bears" from The Cat in the Hat Songbook/If I Ran the Zoo/Dr. Seuss Sleepbook with words by Dr. Seuss and music by Eugene Poddany. Songwriter Dale Marxen claims it is an original composition.

The version of "Waltzing With Bears" usually played on the radio is sung by Nan Hoffman. It appears on her "Rise Like a Star" album. The album is not available in local stores, but is available by writing to Nan at 9736 Transit Rd., East Amherst, NY 14051 or by calling 716/689-7252.

Other versions are on these albums:
-- Rosalie Sorrels, What Does It Mean to Love? (1994)
-- Gordon Bok, Ann Mayo Muir, and Ed Trickett, The First Fifteen Years, Vol. 2 (1994)
-- Kevin Roth, Daddysongs (1992)
-- Tommy Makem, Rolling Home (1990)

Bookstores still carry The Cat in the Hat Songbook/If I Ran the Zoo/Dr. Seuss Sleepbook and the Carnegie Library in Oakland had a Dr. Seuss record album featuring "My Uncle Terwilliger Waltzes With Bears" with much the same tune and words we’re used to!


2) It also turns up on Janice Buckner's album "There are Many Ways to Tell a Story" (Moonlight Rose MR310-2, cassette pre-release 1991, CD reissue 2001). This one's unusual in that the album also has a karaoke version (!). Further details should be up at
http://janicebuckner.com/


3) Mike Anderson has also recorded it.
http://www.dulcimerguy.com


4) The Midnight Special playlist (www.midnightspecial.org) includes the prefered version in Chicago:
Lui Collins: "Waltzing With Bears" (Dale Marxen, based on Dr. Suess) North of Mars, Molly Gamblin CD1002


5) Sue Trainor: "Golfing with Hares" (Marxen/Trainor) In A Closeup, no label (PO Box 412, Columbia, MD 21045).


6) There's a good version of "Waltzing with Bears" by Bayou Seco on their CD "Use it Again," produced by Big Spartan Music of Albuquerque in 1999. In fact, it's the only version I've ever heard - I live in the UK and fortunately for us, Bayou Seco tour here every year, and nearly always play it, especially if you ask them.
http://www.bayouseco.com/content/use-it-again-buvette-2004
Janet G. 5/30/09
http://www.gyford.com/janet

7) This is Dale E. Marxen, the songwriter for "Waltzing With Bears". I am currently living in Croatia, and my address is:

Dale E. Marxen
Nova Cesta 154, K1-3
10000 Zagreb, Croatia

Telephones:
In Zagreb: 385 01 309 4602 (home) or 385 098 930 3017 (mobile)
Skype Name: Dale E. Marxen
email address: demarxen@email.t-com.hr

Royalty checks should be mailed to the following US address:

Dale E. Marxen
C/O Vida Sabeti
979 Arapahoe Circle
Louisville, CO 80027

Please note that my song, "Waltzing With Bears", was determined by the US Copyright office in 1986 to be a unique song, and not an adaptation of the Dr. Seuss song, "My Uncle Terwiliger Waltzes With Bears". At the time of copyright, the publisher, Robbie Clement at Tomorrow River Music, sent both songs in to the copyright office, and that was their determination. For further information, feel free to contact the original publisher, Robbie Clement at:

Tomorrow River Music
PO Box 165, Cambridge, WI, United States
(608)423-3095, (608)423-9884 fax

Best wishes, and I would also be glad to hear from you via any of the above methods.
Sincerely,
Dale Marxen

Dale Marxen 1/11/10

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Created 2003; last update 1/11/10