The History Behind the Old McDonald

Have you ever wondered what is the history behind some famous nursery rhymes?

Today we made a small survey for you about one of our favorite nursery rhyme-The “Old McDonald!

Here’s what we found out!

The first versions of this song appeared in 1917 and was originally called “Old MacDougal”

The song “Old MacDougal” went something like this:

Old MacDougal had a farm in Ohio-i-o,
And on that farm he had some dogs in Ohio-i-o,
With a bow-wow here, and a bow-wow there,
Here a bow, there a wow, everywhere a bow-wow.

There was one other that was called “Old Missouri” from 1922 according to the bookOzark Folksongs, by Vance Randolph in 1980.

There are also other versions or variants which were published that date back even further than 1917. Take for example “The Farmyard” dating to 1908. This went like this:

Up was I on my father’s farm
On a May day morning early,
Feeding of my father’s cows
On a May day morning early,
With a moo moo here and a moo moo there,
Here a moo, there a moo, Here a pretty moo.
Six pretty maids come and gang along o’ me
To the merry green fields of the farm-yard.

 

Let’s Sing Along!!

Lyrics

Old MacDonald Had A Farm Lyrics:
Old MacDonald had a farm (E-I-E-I-O),
And on that farm he had a cow (E-I-E-I-O),
With a Moo Moo here and a Moo Moo there,
Here a Moo there Moo everywhere a Moo, Moo.
Old MacDonald had a farm (E-I-E-I-O),

And on that farm he had a sheep (E-I-E-I-O),
And on that farm he had a pig (E-I-E-I-O),
And on that farm he had some ducks (E-I-E-I-O),
And on that farm he had a horse (E-I-E-I-O),
Old MacDonald had a farm (E-I-E-I-O),

 

Source: “History of Old MacDonald.” History of Old MacDonald. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Sept. 2013.

If you want to read more detail then check out wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_MacDonald_Had_a_Farm

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