If you Google this phrase, you’ll find lots of references to both the day and the traditional song. I’ve found versions of the song by Hank Williams, Sr. (go to Disk 2; if you click on the link, you can listen to a Windows Media version of the song), Ricky Nelson, and Louis Armstrong. You can hear an instrumental, dixieland version of the song here. You can see one version of the lyrics here.

Of course, my immediate thought, fueled by at least three square dance afterparties (see this story), was the song “There’s a Hole In My Bucket”.

Neither song is really suitable for a square dance singing call (“My Bucket’s Got a Hole In It” is usually done too fast, “There’s a Hole in My Bucket” is a waltz). I looked for a MIDI version of “My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It” online, but couldn’t find anything. If I were a musician, it would be easy enough to arrange a singing call version; it’s a pretty straight-forward blues-y type song.

Calls with the word “Bucket”
There are four:

• Bucket of Worms – Burleson 138
• Bucket of Minnows – Burleson 1506
• Hinge the Bucket – Burleson 2147
• Kick the Bucket – Burleson 3269

None of them are what I look for in a “theme” call: they’re not quick and easy teaches. Hinge the Bucket is probably the easiest:

From lines of four: All partner hinge, arm turn 3/4 where those facing out trade to end in facing lines.

This would be trivial for an Advanced floor, but I think a weak MS/Plus floor would have problems with the hinge/cast off 3/4 combo…plus I’d need to workshop “half a trade” (which I would use instead of partner hinge, which isn’t on the MS or Plus lists).

I suppose I could write a call for the occasion, but I prefer to use “real” calls; to me, it makes it more amusing that someone else actually wrote a call that works for the “special day”.