Old McDonald Had a Farm

	"Old MacDonald Had a Farm"; Roud #745
Written by	Traditional
Published	1917
Written	U.S.A.
Language	English
Form	Nursery Rhyme

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For the science fiction story by Mike Resnick, see Old MacDonald Had a Farm (short story).

"Old MacDonald Had a Farm" is a children's song about a farmer named MacDonald (or McDonald) and the various animals he keeps on his farm. Each verse of the song changes the name of the animal and its respective noise. In many versions, the song is cumulative, with the noises from all the earlier verses added to each subsequent verse.^[1] It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 745.

[edit] Lyrics

In the version commonly sung today, the lyrics allow for a substitutable animal and its respective sound.

Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O.

And on that farm he had a [animal name], E-I-E-I-O,

With a [animal noise twice] here and a [animal noise twice] there

Here a [animal noise], there a [animal noise], everywhere a [animal noise twice]

Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O.

For example, a verse using a cow as an animal, and moo as the cow's sound would be:

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 a moo, everywhere a moo moo

Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O.

Sometimes the 'a' before the animal sound is dropped. Another version similar to the above goes:

Old MacDonald has a farm, E-I-E-I-O.

And on the farm he has a cow, E-I-E-I-O.

Moo moo here, moo moo there

Here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a moo moo

Old MacDonald has a farm, E-I-E-I-O.

[edit] Early versions

In the 1917 book Tommy's Tunes, a collection of World War I era songs by F. T. Nettleingham, the song "Ohio (Old Macdougal Had a Farm)" has quite similar lyrics--though with a slightly different farmer's name and refrain:

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.

The Traditional Ballad Index consider the "Tommy's Tunes" version to be the earliest known version of "Old Macdonald Had a Farm", though it cites numerous variants, some of them much older.[1]

Two of these variants were published in Vance Randolph's Ozark Folksongs in 1980. One was "Old Missouri", sung by a Mr. H. F. Walker of Missouri in 1922, a version that names different parts of the mule rather than different animals:

Old Missouri had a mule, he-hi-he-hi-ho,

And on this mule there were two ears, he-hi-he-hi-ho.

With a flip-flop here and a flip-flop there,

And here a flop and there a flop and everywhere a flip-flop

Old Missouri had a mule, he-hi-he-hi-ho.

A British version of the song, called "The Farmyard, or The Merry Green Fields," was collected in 1908 from a 74-year-old Mrs. Goodey at Marylebone Workhouse, London, and published in Cecil Sharp's Collection of English Folk Songs.

Up was I on my fa-ther's farm

On a May day morn-ing ear-ly;

Feed-ing of my fa-ther's cows

On a May day morn-ing ear-ly,

With a moo moo here and a moo moo there,

Here a moo, there a moo, Here a pret-ty moo.

Six pret-ty maids come and gang a-long o' me

To the mer-ry green fields of the farm-yard.

Perhaps the earliest recorded member of this family of songs is a number from an opera called The Kingdom of the Birds, published in 1719-1720 in Thomas D'Urfey's Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy:

In the Fields in Frost and Snows,

Watching late and early;

There I keep my Father's Cows,

There I Milk 'em Yearly:

Booing here, Booing there,

Here a Boo, there a Boo, every where a Boo,

We defy all Care and Strife,

In a Charming Country-Life.

[edit] Translations

The lyrics have been translated into other languages and modified slightly to fit rhythmic and cultural requirements. It is still sung as a children's song to the same tune. An Egyptian Arabic version of the song exists, with Geddo Ali (Grandpa Ali, Egyptian Arabic: جدو على) being the farmer character. The Italian version is Nella vecchia fattoria. In Spanish it's En la granja de Pepito or En la vieja factoría.

[edit] Argentina (Spanish)

El tío Pepe tenía una granja, iaiaio

en esa granja había un pato, iaiaio

con su "cuac" aquí, "cuac" allá, "cuac" aquí "cuac" allá siempre con su "cuac"

El tío Pepe tenía una granja, iaiaio

en esa granja había una vaca, iaiaio

con su "mu" aquí, "mu" allá, "mu" aquí "mu" allá siempre con su "mu"

El tío Pepe tenía una granja, iaiaio

[edit] Brazil (Portuguese)

O seu McDonald tinha um sitio, iaiao

e neste sitio ele tinha um cachorrinho, iaiao

era "au au" pra ca, "au au" pra la, iaiao

neste sitio ele tinha uma vaquinha, iaiao

era "Mu" pra ca, "Mu" pra la, iaiao

[edit] Chinese (Mandarin)

As with English, many different versions and adaptations exist. The example verse below talks of small chickens and their 'zi zi' sound. Other animals are given different sounds: geese 'gu gu', goats 'mie mie' and dogs 'wang wang'.^{[citation needed]}

Traditional	Simplified	Pinyin	English translation
王老先生有塊地依啊依啊喲他在田邊養小雞呀依啊依啊喲這裡吱吱叫那裡吱吱叫這裡吱　那裡吱到處都叫吱吱王老先生有塊地依啊依啊喲	王老先生有块地依啊依啊哟他在田边养小鸡呀依啊依啊哟这里吱吱叫那里吱吱叫这里吱　那里吱到处都叫吱吱王老先生有块地依啊依啊哟	Wáng lǎo xiānsheng yǒu kuài dì yī a yī a yo tā zài tián biān yǎng xiǎojī ya yī a yī a yo zhèlǐ zhī zhī jiào nàli zhī zhī jiào zhèlǐ zhī, nàli zhī dàochù dōu jiào zhī zhī Wáng lǎo xiānsheng yǒu kuài dì yī a yī a yo	Old Mr Wang had a piece of land E I E I O In the field he raised chicks E I E I O They call 'zhi zhi' here they call 'zhi zhi' there Here 'zhi', there 'zhi' calling 'zhi zhi' everywhere Old Mr Wang had a piece of land E I E I O

[edit] Czech

Jó Mek Donald, ten si žil híja híja hou,

Na svým ranči krávy měl híja híja hou.

Bůbů sem, bůbů tam,

bů sem, bů tam, bů na všechny strany.

Jó Mek Donald, ten si žil híja híja hou,

...

[edit] Egypt (Arabic)

جدو علي يوم الجمعة

بيروح على مزرعته الخضراء

عنده قطة إسمها شطة

ولدت قطة وقطة وقطة

جدو علي قططه تنط

[edit] Finnish

Piippolan vaarilla oli talo,

hiiala, hiiala, hei!

Vaari se hoiteli porsaitansa,

hiiala, hiiala, hei!

Nöf, nöf siellä ja nöf, nöf täällä ja

siellä nöf, täällä nöf, joka puol(el)la nöf, nöf,

hiiala, hiiala, hei!

The animals:

a pig - nöf nöf
a sheep - mää mää
a duck - kvaak kvaak
a horse - ihahahaa ihahahaa
a dog - hau hau
a cat - miau miau

[edit] French

Dans la ferme à Mathurin, hi-aïe-hi-aïe-ho

Y'a des centaines de moutons, hi-aïe-hi-aïe-ho

Y'a des bê par-ci, y'a des bê par-là,

Y'a des bê, y'a des bê, y'a des bê-bê-bê

Dans la ferme à Mathurin, hi-aïe-hi-aïe-ho

Other animals:

canard : coin
chien : waf
vache : meuh

[edit] Hebrew

לדוד משה היתה חווה - איה איה או

ובחווה היתה פרה - איה איה או

מו מו פה, מו מו שם, מו מו מו מו כל הזמן

לדוד משה היתה חווה - איה איה או