Old MacDonald Had a Farm

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

"Old MacDonald Had a Farm"
Song
Language	English
Written	U.S.A.
Published	1917
Songwriter(s)	Traditional

"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. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 745.

Lyrics

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

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

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

And on that farm he had a cow, EE-I-EE-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, EE-I-EE-I-O.

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

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

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

Moo moo here, moo moo there

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

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

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.

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. In Portuguese, "Seu Lobato tinha um sítio" or even O velho McDonald tinha uma fazenda (literally "Old MacDonald Had a Farm"). In Slovene version Na kmetiji je lepo (literally: On a farm it is beautiful), at least in some versions of the song, the lyrics have been made from childish into vulgar, like a drinking song.

Recordings

The oldest version listed in The Traditional Ballad Index is the Sam Patterson Trio's "Old MacDonald Had a Farm," released on the Edison label in 1925. This was followed by a version by Gid Tanner & His Skillet Lickers, "Old McDonald Had a Farm" (Columbia Records, 1927) and "McDonald's Farm" by Warren Caplinger's Cumberland Mountain Entertainers (Brunswick Records, 1928). In 1954, the composition was arranged for accordion sextet and recorded for RCA Thesaurus transcriptions by John Serry, Sr. in the United States. [2] Sophie Ellis-Bextor has performed a short excerpt of the song live. Other popular versions are by Frank Sinatra, Harry Connick Jr., Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald (on her Verve recording Whisper Not)., Flatt & Scruggs, The Three Stooges, Sesame Street cast, Gene Autry, The Kelly Family and Nikki Yanofsky. The multi-platinum selling Kidsongs version recorded "A Day At Old MacDonald's Farm" for video and CD release in 1985.

See also

• List of animal sounds