Farmyard Song (I), The

DESCRIPTION: "When I was a farmer, a farmer's boy, I looked after my master's farm." The song cumulatively covers the animals: "A gee-back here and a whoa-back there. "Here's a baa, there's a baa baa baa baa.. baying everywhere," and so on
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1972 (Gardham-EastRidingSongster)
KEYWORDS: cumulative animal farming
FOUND IN: Britain(England(All))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 310, "When I Was a Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardham-EastRidingSongster 13, pp. 17, 47, "The Farmyard Song" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Karpeles-TheCrystalSpring 92, "The Farmyard" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #887
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Old McDonald Had a Farm" (theme)
NOTES [66 words]: Are the pieces listed here really distinct from "Old MacDonald Had a Farm"? It's not immediately obvious. The British and American versions are often very distinct, but there are intermediate versions, e.g. in Randolph. There may well be mixture with "Old MacDonald" and maybe "The Swapping Boy" as well; indeed, early versions of the Index lumped this with "Old MacDonald." Best to check both. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: Gard013

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