Old MacDonald Had a Farm

In the 1917 book Tommy's Tunes, a collection of World War I era songs by F. T. Nettleingham,[2] the song "Ohio" has quite similar lyrics—though with a slightly different farmer's name and refrain:

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

And on that farm he had some dogs. E-I-E-I-O,

With a bow-wow here, and a bow-wow there,

Here a bow, there a wow, everywhere a bow-wow.

This version lists eight species of animal: some dogs (bow-wow), some hens (cluck cluck), some ducks (quack quack), some cows (moo moo), some pigs (oink oink), some cats (meow meow), a goat (baa baa) and a donkey (hee-haw).[3]

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 from an opera called The Kingdom of the Birds, 1706, by Thomas D'Urfey:

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.

The lyrics have been translated from English into other languages and modified slightly to fit rhythmic and cultural requirements. In most languages below, it is still sung as a children's song to the same tune.

• In Afrikaans the song is called Ou Oom Klasie het ‘n plaas (meaning “Old Uncle Claus has a farm”).[4]
• An Egyptian Arabic version of the song exists, with Geddo Ali (in Egyptian Arabic: جدو على, meaning "Grandpa Ali") as the farmer character.
• In Armenian, there is a translation under copyright by Karenn Presti published in 2017's My First Armenian Songbook.
• In Chinese, there are several versions of the song with same tune. The most popular is Wáng lǎo xiānshēng yǒu kuài dì (in Chinese: 王老先生有块地, meaning "Old Mr. Wang had some land").
• In Czech, it is Strýček Donald farmu měl (meaning "Uncle Donald had a farm").
• In Danish, it is Jens Hansen havde en bondegård (meaning "Jens Hansen had a farm").[5]
• In Finnish, it is Piippolan vaarilla oli talo (meaning "Grandpa Piippola had a house").[6]
• In French, it is Dans la ferme de Mathurin (meaning "In Mathurin's farm").[7]
• In German, it is Onkel Jörg hat einen Bauernhof (meaning "Uncle Jörg has a farm").[8] An alternative version is Old MacDonald hat 'ne Farm (short for eine Farm), keeping the English name of the farmer, and translating the rest quite literally (meaning "Old MacDonald has a farm").
• In Hebrew, it is LaDod Moshe hayta chava (in Hebrew: לדוד משה הייתה חווה, meaning "Uncle Moses had a farm"). This version was translated by Avraham Broshi.[9]
• In Italian, it is Nella vecchia fattoria (meaning "In the old farm"). The farmer is Zio Tobia (meaning "Uncle Tobias").[10]
• In one Japanese version, it is Yukai-na Makiba (in Japanese: ゆかいな牧場, meaning "Happy farm"). Ichiro, Jiro, and Saburo are the farmers who have animals.
  • In another Japanese version, it is Makku no Ojisan (in Japanese: マックのおじさん, meaning "Old man Mac"), sounds playfully like the Western version.
  • In Kansai Japanese, there is a parody song called Osaka Umaimon no Uta (in Japanese: 大阪うまいもんの歌, meaning "Yummy foods in Osaka") made by an Osakan puppet play troupe in 1993.
• In Korean, it is Geulae geulaeseo (in Korean: '그래 그래서', meaning "Yes, so"). In this version, the farmer "Old Mr. Park" has a farm and animals.
• In Malay, it is Pak Atan Ada Ladang (meaning "Uncle Atan had a farm").
• In Persian, it is پیرمرد مهربون (meaning "Kind old man").
• In Polish, it is Stary Donald farmę miał (meaning "Old Donald had a farm") or Pan McDonald farmę miał (meaning "Mr. McDonald had a farm").
• In Portuguese, the most common version is Na quinta do tio Manel (meaning "On the farm of Uncle Manel"), with alternate versions being Seu Lobato tinha um sítio (meaning "Mr. Lobato had a site") or even O velho McDonald tinha uma fazenda (meaning "Old MacDonald had a farm").
• In Russian, unofficial variation:"Дед МакДональд напевал И-ай,и-ай,О!" Translated by Leonid Zuborev cyril.: Леонид Зуборев[11]
• In Serbian, it is, "Na salašu dede mog" (meaning "On my grandpa's farm").
  • In another Serbian version, it is Стари Мек Доналд има фарму (meaning "Old Mac has a farm").
• In Slovene, it is Na kmetiji je lepo (meaning "On a farm it is beautiful"). It can be a children's song, but in some versions of the song, the lyrics have been made from childish into vulgar, like a drinking song.
• Some Spanish versions include En la granja de Pepito (meaning "On Pepito's farm"), El Viejo MacDonald tenía una granja (meaning "Old MacDonald had a farm"), El granjero tenía un campo (meaning "The farmer had a field"), or En la vieja factoría (meaning "In the old factory").[12]
• In Swedish, it is Per Olsson hade en bonnagård (meaning "Per Olsson had a farm").
• In Turkish, it is Ali Baba'nın Bir Çiftliği Var (meaning "Ali Baba has a farm").
• In Ukrainian, it is Дід Іван корівку має (meaning "Uncle Ivan has a cow").
• In Urdu, it is عبد اللہ کا تھا ایک گاؤں (meaning "Abdullah had a village").

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.[13] There have been versions by such well-known artists as Frank Sinatra (Capitol, 1960), Elvis Presley (in his movie Double Trouble), Nat King Cole, and Ella Fitzgerald (on her 1967 Verve album Whisper Not).[14][15][16] Bing Crosby included the song in a medley on his album Join Bing and Sing Along (1959) A variant was used in a 1952 campaign ad for Adlai Stevenson II's unsuccessful campaign for President with slightly altered lyrics promoting the Stevenson campaign's appeal to farmers.[17] The song is played (with some cast participation) in the 1951 movie The Lavender Hill Mob.[18]

During a performance at the 2014 Ultra Music Festival in Miami, electronic musician deadmau5 played a remix of the Martin Garrix song "Animals" that had its drop changed to follow the tune of the song.[19]

• List of animal sounds
• Mary Had a Little Lamb