Fire in Mokum, fire in Mokum
Current lyrics of the children's song
Look over there! Look over there!
Fire fire! Fire fire!
And there is no water
Was there even a fire?
The question that deserves an answer: is this children's song about a real fire that took place in our city? There is no conclusive answer, but it is generally assumed that this is not the case. The song is in fact a loose translation of an English song about a fire that destroyed most of London in 1666. That one was quite clearly a serious fire. Incidentally, the song about London is in turn a copy of the original, which came about in Scotland 100 years earlier.
Not enough water
In the old days, small fires in the city could usually be tackled quite well with water from the canals. So it is interesting that the last line of the song claims there is not enough water, something Amsterdam has never really been short of. It could be a mistranslation of the song about London, whose last line is "Pour on water, pour on water" . While this could be translated as 'Gooi er water op' (throw water on it), a word like 'Poor' could also be translated as 'Arm', in other words a shortage. It will remain an assumption, as there is no proof.
Keep it simple
Okay, one more fun fact then. Our eastern neighbours took a much easier approach to making their own version. In Germany the song goes like this:
Guten Morgen, Guten Morgen,
Good Morning, Good Morning,
Buenos dias, buenos dias,
Buon giorno, buon giorno.
