# Skidamarink
**Skidamarink**, also sung as **Skinnamarink**, is a children's song built around a nonsense word and the refrain "I love you," performed with a set of hand gestures in preschools and family concerts. It began as a 1910 Broadway novelty number and became best known as the signature closing song of the Canadian children's trio [Sharon, Lois & Bram](https://www.edgepedia.org/sharon-lois-and-bram).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| First published | 1910, as sheet music titled "Skid-dy-mer-rink-adink-aboomp" (Means I Love You)[1](https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=2749) |
| Writers | Lyrics by Felix F. Feist, music by Al Piantadosi[1](https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=2749) |
| Original venue | Charles Dillingham's Broadway production of the musical comedy *The Echo*, 1910[1](https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=2749) |
| Meaning | The title word is gibberish with no formal definition; the chorus translates it as "I love you"[2](https://supersimple.com/article/what-does-skidamarink-mean/) |
| Signature version | Recorded by Sharon, Lois & Bram on their 1978 debut *One Elephant, Deux Elephants* and used to close every episode of *The Elephant Show*[3](https://www.sesayarts.com/sharon-and-bram/) • [4](https://toronto.citynews.ca/2015/04/23/six-memorable-hits-by-canadian-childrens-group-sharon-lois-bram/) |
| Common spellings | Skidamarink, Skinnamarink, Skinnymarink, Skiddymerink, and others[2](https://supersimple.com/article/what-does-skidamarink-mean/) |
## The 1910 original
The song was written for the 1910 Broadway production *The Echo*, produced by Charles Dillingham, with lyrics by Felix F. Feist and music by Al Piantadosi[1](https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=2749). The sheet music in the Lester S. Levy Collection carries two titles: the cover reads "Skiddy-Mer-Rink-A-Doo" Means "I Love You," while the first page reads "Skid-dy-mer-rink-adink-aboomp" (Means I Love You)[1](https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=2749). A Library of Congress copy of the sheet music prints the same chorus, "Skid-dy-mer-rink-a-dink-a-boomp, Skid-dy-mer-rink-a-doo, means I love you"[5](https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/public/music/musihas-100008464/musihas-100008464.pdf).
The original number was a two-verse comic story song, not the bare chorus sung today. Its verses describe a crocodile chief on "Boola Boola Isle" who loves a sea-nymph, Queen of the Gay White Wave, and fends off a rival suitor, King Fish Kokomo; the chorus, sung in the chief's praise, is the part that survived[1](https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=2749). Because the title is gibberish, the song has accumulated many spellings over the decades[1](https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=2749).
## Path to the modern version
Between Broadway and the preschool classroom, the song passed through mid-century popular entertainment. A song-history notes that it was popularized by [Jimmy Durante](https://www.edgepedia.org/jimmy-durante) in the 1950s and endured, becoming well known in its "Skinnamarink-a-dinky-dink" form on Canadian television in the 1980s[6](https://riverofsong.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Skinnamarinky.pdf).
**Sharon, Lois & Bram.** The Canadian trio formed in Toronto in 1978, and the song entered their repertoire by chance: Lois Lilienstein learned it from a cousin of hers in Chicago in the summer of 1978 and brought it to the group, who placed it unremarkably in the middle of their debut album *One Elephant, Deux Elephants*. They decided to end their first concert with it, and the audience response was strong enough that they closed every performance with it from then on[3](https://www.sesayarts.com/sharon-and-bram/). A performance of the song, with its cheerful hand movements, closed every episode of their CBC series *[The Elephant Show](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-elephant-show)* (1984 to 1988, later airing on [Nickelodeon](https://www.edgepedia.org/nickelodeon) in the United States until 1994)[4](https://toronto.citynews.ca/2015/04/23/six-memorable-hits-by-canadian-childrens-group-sharon-lois-bram/) • [7](https://broadcasting-history.ca/skinnamarink-tv/). "Skinnamarink" became the trio's signature song, and their second television series, *Skinnamarink TV* (aired on CBC from October 1, 1997 to November 23, 1999, and on The Learning Channel), was named after it[4](https://toronto.citynews.ca/2015/04/23/six-memorable-hits-by-canadian-childrens-group-sharon-lois-bram/) • [7](https://broadcasting-history.ca/skinnamarink-tv/).
The trio's association with the song outlasted the shows. They were appointed to the [Order of Canada](https://www.edgepedia.org/order-of-canada) in 2002, and they ended every concert with "Skinnamarink" as an anthem of love and friendship; after Lilienstein's death in 2015, Sharon Hampson and Bram Morrison continued performing as Sharon and Bram[3](https://www.sesayarts.com/sharon-and-bram/). In 2018 the song became a picture book, *Sharon, Lois & Bram's Skinnamarink*, with extra verses written by Sharon's daughter Randi Hampson, because the chorus alone was too short to fill the book[3](https://www.sesayarts.com/sharon-and-bram/).
## The song today
The modern version consists almost entirely of the chorus and a verse of affection running through the day: "I love you in the morning, and in the afternoon, I love you in the evening, and underneath the moon"[8](https://nurseryrhymes.info/skidamarink/). Children typically perform it with gestures, pointing to their eyes for "I," crossing their hands over their hearts for "love," and pointing outward for "you"[8](https://nurseryrhymes.info/skidamarink/). The word itself has no formal definition; it functions as a rhythmic, made-up hook[2](https://supersimple.com/article/what-does-skidamarink-mean/). Contemporary children's performers such as Super Simple Songs and CoComelon have recorded versions, and the song remains a fixture of parent-child music classes and school performances[2](https://supersimple.com/article/what-does-skidamarink-mean/) • [9](https://www.riseupsinging.org/songs/skidamarink-skinnamarink).
## References
1. [Origins: Skinnamarink (Feist & Piantadosi, 1910), Mudcat Cafe, including sheet music from the Lester S. Levy Collection](https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=2749)
2. [What does "Skidamarink" mean? Super Simple](https://supersimple.com/article/what-does-skidamarink-mean/)
3. [Leaving the stage but filling the page: Sharon and Bram present Skinnamarink at Word on the Street, Sesaya Arts Magazine](https://www.sesayarts.com/sharon-and-bram/)
4. [Six memorable hits by Canadian children's group Sharon, Lois & Bram, CityNews Toronto](https://toronto.citynews.ca/2015/04/23/six-memorable-hits-by-canadian-childrens-group-sharon-lois-bram/)
5. ["Skiddy-Mer-Rink-A-Doo Means 'I Love You'", Library of Congress sheet music](https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/public/music/musihas-100008464/musihas-100008464.pdf)
6. [Skinamarinky dinky dink, River of Song](https://riverofsong.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Skinnamarinky.pdf)
7. [Skinnamarink TV, The History of Canadian Broadcasting](https://broadcasting-history.ca/skinnamarink-tv/)
8. [Skidamarink: Lyrics, Meaning & Video, NurseryRhymes.info](https://nurseryrhymes.info/skidamarink/)
9. [Skidamarink (Skinnamarink), Rise Up Singing](https://www.riseupsinging.org/songs/skidamarink-skinnamarink)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Compositions and songs › Children's, novelty, parody, and traditional children's songs › Nursery rhymes and traditional children's songs*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license