Listen to this song.

This song is available Joyce Levine's "Read, Read, Read! Tales of the Singing Librarian"

This song is also available as an Individual Song Download.

Once there was a peddler who sold caps.
He wasn't like an ordinary peddler who kept his goods in a sack;
he wore all the caps on top of his head.
First he had on his own checked cap.
On top of that he had some blue caps;
on top of the blue caps he had some brown caps;
on top of the brown he had some gray caps,
and on the very tippy-top he had some red caps.

And he would go from place to place, calling,
Caps, caps for sale, fifty cents a cap!
Can you sing that with me?
Caps, caps for sale, fifty cents a cap!

But one day he just couldn't sell any caps at all.
No one would buy even a red cap.
He walked so far, and he got so tired and thirsty,
that his song started to sound sad, like this:

Caps, caps for sale, fifty cents a cap!
Can you sing it sadly with me:
Caps, caps for sale, fifty cents a cap!

Well, he finally walked all the way out into the country,
and sat down under a tree, and fell asleep.
But while he was sleeping, SOMETHING HAPPENED to the caps!
When he woke up, he opened his eyes and stretched.
He felt much better.
But then he felt on the top of his head
to make sure the caps were still there.

Uh-oh! Where are the caps?
He looked to the right of him.
No caps!
He looked to the left of him.
No caps!
He looked behind the tree.
No caps!

Finally, he looked up into the tree, and what do you think he saw?
Monkeys! There were monkeys in the tree,
and every monkey was wearing one of his caps!
Some were wearing blue ones,
some were wearing brown,
some were wearing grey ones,
and some were wearing red ones.
And the monkeys were singing:

Chi chi chi,
Chi chi chi,
Chi chi-chi-chi-chi
Chi chi chi,
Chi chi-chi-chi-chi
Chi chi chi,
Chi chi chi chi chi!

The peddler looked at the monkeys and he shook his fist at them.
Then he shouted,
You better give me back my caps!
You better give me back my caps!
I need my caps!

The monkeys looked at him,
and they all shook their little fists and sang back,

Chi chi chi,
Chi chi chi,
Chi chi-chi-chi-chi
Chi chi chi,
Chi chi-chi-chi-chi
Chi chi chi,
Chi chi chi chi chi!

Now the peddler was getting very angry.
He shook both his fists at the monkeys - very hard - can you do that?
And he shouted,
You better give me back my caps!
You better give me back my caps!
I need my caps!

But the monkeys didn't understand.
They did whatever the man did.
So they shook their fists back at him and sang,

Chi chi chi,
Chi chi chi,
Chi chi-chi-chi-chi
Chi chi chi,
Chi chi-chi-chi-chi
Chi chi chi,
Chi chi chi chi chi!

Now the peddlar was really very, very angry.
He shook both his fists and stamped his feet too, and he shouted,
You better give me back my caps!
You better give me back my caps!
I need my caps!

What did the little monkeys do? That's right.
They shook their little fists and stamped their little feet right back.
And they sang,

Chi chi chi,
Chi chi chi,
Chi chi-chi-chi-chi
Chi chi chi,
Chi chi-chi-chi-chi
Chi chi chi,
Chi chi chi chi chi!

Now the peddlar didn't know what to do.
He was so angry that he took off his own checked cap,
and threw it on the floor.
And yes, you're right,
All of the red caps,
And all of the blue caps
And all of the brown caps
And all of the grey caps
Came tumbling out of the tree!

So the peddler put them back on his head:
First his own checked cap, then the blue caps,
then the brown caps,
then the gray caps,
and on the very tippy-top, the red caps.
And he walked slowly, slowly back to town, calling,
Caps, caps for sale, fifty cents a cap!

But what do you think the monkeys did?
Well, they stayed up in the tree, of course, and they said,

Chi chi chi,
Chi chi chi,
Chi chi-chi-chi-chi
Chi chi chi,
Chi chi-chi-chi-chi
Chi chi chi,
Chi chi chi chi chi!

Many thanks to Joyce Levine for permission to display these lyric excerpts.
© 2007 Joyce Levine. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

.

For Read, Read, Read!
Download With Lyrics
Please, Click Here.