Featured Remix
The Duck Song
in 5 Languages
Bryant Oden's classic children's song, sent on a journey through Acehnese, Dutch, Acholi, Belarusian, and Arabic. The duck still wants grapes. Mostly.
March 2026 · By Jeremy Lemley
Translation path:
English
→
Acehnese
→
Dutch
→
Acholi
→
Belarusian
→
Arabic
→
English
Few songs are as relentlessly cheerful — or as structurally repetitive — as The Duck Song by Bryant Oden. A duck. A lemonade stand. An unreasonable fixation on grapes. It's simple, it's catchy, and it turns out to be a brilliant stress test for a translation chain.
One of our users ran it through five languages and shared the result with us. The bones of the story survive — the duck still shows up, the man still sells lemonade, grapes are still somehow the point. But the details have been wonderfully scrambled. The duck changes gender twice. "Waddle, waddle" becomes panting. "Adiós" becomes "Thank you." And by the final verse, nobody is entirely sure what anyone is selling.
Read the original and the remix side by side below.
Highlighted passages show where the meaning drifted furthest from the original.
🎵 Original Lyrics
🔀 After the Mixer
Verse 1
A duck walked up to a lemonade stand
He said to the man running the stand
"Hey! Bum-bum-bum, got any grapes?"
The man said, "No, we just sell lemonade
But it's cold, and it's fresh, and it's all home-made
Can I get you a glass?"
The duck said, "I'll pass"
The duck went upstairs to the lemonade stand. "Hey! Poom poom poom, turn around?" she said to the man who ran the stand. "No, we only sell lemonade," said the man. "But it's cold and fresh and homemade. Can I have a glass?" "I'll just keep going," said the duck.
Waddle interlude
Then he waddled away
Waddle, waddle
'Til the very next day
Bum-bum-bum-bum, bum da-dum
She walked slowly, slowly, until the next day. Poom poom poom, poom da-dum.
Verse 2
When the duck walked up to the lemonade stand
He said to the man running the stand
"Hey! Bum-bum-bum, got any grapes?"
The man said, "No, like I said yesterday
We just sell lemonade, okay?
Why not give it a try?"
The duck said, "Goodbye"
As soon as the bird got into our tavern, he said to the man who ran the stand, "Hey! Poom poom, grapes, okay?" "Do you want some fruit, grapes? Why don't you try some?" said the duck. "See you later," said the duck.
Waddle interlude
And then he waddled away
Waddle, waddle
Then he waddled away
Waddle, waddle
Then he waddled away
Waddle, waddle
'Til the very next day
Bum-bum-bum-bum, bum da-dum
And he walked away panting, panting. Then he walked away panting until the next day. Poom-poom-poom-poom, poom da-dum.
Verse 3
When the duck walked up to the lemonade stand
He said to the man running the stand
"Hey! Bum-bum-bum, got any grapes?"
The man said, "Look, this is getting old
I mean, lemonade's all we've ever sold
Why not give it a go?"
The duck said, "How about, no?"
When my duck Poom got to the lemonade stand, he said, "Am I a man?" I mean, we sell lemonade. "Why don't we give it away for free?" said the duck. "No, why?"
Waddle interlude
Then he waddled away
Waddle, waddle
And then he waddled away
Waddle, waddle, waddle
Then he waddled away
Waddle, waddle
'Til the very next day
Bum-bum-bum-bum, bum da-dum
Then she went, and went, and went. And went, and went, and went, louder and louder. And as she went, she went. Boom-boom-boom-boom, boom-doo-doo.
Verse 4 — The Threat
When the duck walked up to the lemonade stand
And he said to the man running the stand
"Hey! Bum-bum-bum, got any grapes?"
The man said, "That's it! If you don't stay away, Duck
I'll glue you to a tree and leave you there all day stuck
So don't get too close!"
The duck said, "Adiós"
When the duck reached the man, "Boom run, boom stop?" said the man. "That's enough!" said the man. "If you don't move away, duck, I'll hang you from a tree and leave you there all day. So don't come too close!" "Thank you," said the duck.
Verse 5 — The Twist
When the duck walked up to the lemonade stand
And he said to the man running the stand
"Hey! Bum-bum-bum, got any glue?"
"What?"
"Got any glue?"
"No, why would I? Oh!"
"And one more question for you
Got any grapes?"
And out she went. Boom boom boom, do you have any preferences? "With honey?" "No, why with me? Oh!" "And one last question: Do you have grapes?"
The Resolution
And the man just stopped
Then he started to smile
He started to laugh
He laughed for a while
He said, "Come on, duck, let's walk to the store
I'll buy you some grapes
So you won't have to ask anymore"
So they walked to the store
And the man bought some grapes
He gave one to the duck, and the duck said
"Hm, no, thanks, but you know what sounds good?
It would make my day
Do you think this store
Do you think this store
Do you think this store has any lemonade?"
And the man was silent. He laughed for a moment. "I'll buy some grapes so he doesn't go back to..." he said, not believing the birdsong. "Oh, and birds, don't they sound delicious?" That would make me happy. Do you think this store sells lemonade?"
Final waddle
Then he waddled away
Waddle, waddle
And then he waddled away
Waddle, waddle, waddle
And then he waddled away
Waddle, waddle, waddle
'Til the very next day
Bum-bum-bum-bum, bum da-dum
And she kept crying over and over, until the next day.
The July 2026 Rerun — New Chain, New Duck
We couldn't resist a rematch. Same first verse, fresh path: Japanese → Acholi → Hmong → Lao → Georgian. The mixer returned:
“The Australian said, ‘Hello! Hey, do you have any grapes?’ The man replied, ‘No, we only have lemonade. But it's cold, fresh, and homemade. Would you like a drink?’ The Australian said, ‘No, thank you,’ and walked away. He walked away, walked away.”
Yes — the duck became an Australian, and we can prove exactly where. Hmong translated “duck” as os. Lao, not recognizing it, transliterated it as ອອສ (“oss”). Georgian looked at “Oss” and decided it was short for Aussie. Three perfectly reasonable machines, one international incident. Run the exact same chain yourself →
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The Duck Song was written by Bryant Oden. Translation Mixer is not affiliated with or endorsed by the artist.
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