The Golden Song Book

Golden Press was famous for its Little Golden Books, which first appeared in 1942.
Numberless preschool and grade school children grew up reading these books.
It was only natural that the publishers would put out a "big" book of children's songs.

The Golden Song Book came out in 1945.
Its subtitle was "56 Favorite Songs And Singing Games."
It did indeed contain that many songs, 11 of which were accompanied
by instructions for children to make the song into a game.

The author was listed as Katharine Tyler Wessells.
She collected songs from several sources and wrote arrangements,
including harmonizing many melodies that were already well known.

Many of the songs are settings of Mother Goose nursery rhymes.
Six of them have melodies written by James Willam Elliott many years before:
SEE SAW MARGERY DAW
I LOVE LITTLE PUSSY
JACK HORNER
SING A SONG OF SIXPENCE
JACK AND JILL
RIDE A COCK-HORSE
The pictures were by Gertrude Elliot, who illustrated many of the Golden Books.
(I do not believe she is the same as the actress Gertrude Elliot.)

~ FURTHER READING ~

The initial offering of Little Golden Books included about a dozen titles.
Some of them are now available as iPhone apps.
They include "The Little Red Hen" and "The Poky Little Puppy."
As the saying goes, "Everything old is new again."