Sammy Sing-Song

I jotted down some of Sammy's words as he played with trains this evening:

"Oh me, oh my, oh me, oh my, OH ME, OH MY!"

"Buff, Buffer! Buff, Buffer! RrrrrrrRrrrrrRrrrrr…

"We did it, we did it, we did it!"

"Buffed the train!"

"That's Thomas."

"Green, green, orange, brown, red, blue!"

"Accidents happen, Accidents haaaappppeeen, ACCIDENTS HAAPPPEENN!"

"Nya, Nya, NYA, nya, nya, nya" (from a Japanese children's song about a lost kitten.)

"Puffer stop, PUFFER STOP, PUFFFFFFEEERRRRRRRR SSTTTOOOOOOOPPP!"

You may detect a pattern. Repetition is important. So is the addition of emphasis, which tends to grow with the repetition. But what I find utterly impossible to transcribe is the nascent musicality of much of his running monologue. Sometimes he's television theme song. Sometimes he's operatic. Sometimes he's punk. Actually, he's a lot of punk. But he loves to introduce a playful tonality and rhythm into all kinds of everyday communication, from "Chocolate!" to "No Baff!"