Frog Went a-Courting

Last updated
"Frog Went A-Courtin'"
Nursery rhyme
Published1549
Songwriter(s) unknown

"Frog Went a-Courtin'" (Roud No. 16; [1] see alternative titles ) is an English-language folk song. Its first known appearance is in Wedderburn's Complaynt of Scotland (1549) under the name "The Frog cam to the Myl dur", though this is in Scots rather than English. There is a reference in the London Company of Stationers' Register of 1580 to "A Moste Strange Weddinge of the Frogge and the Mouse." There are many texts of the ballad; however the oldest known musical version is found in Thomas Ravenscroft's Melismata in 1611.

Contents

Summary

The lyrics involve a frog courting a mouse (Missie Mouse). The mouse is willing to marry the frog, but she must ask permission of Uncle Rat. In other versions such as "King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O" by Chubby Parker, the frog fights and kills Miss Mouse's other suitors (an owl, bat and bumblebee) after they interrupt his proposal. Uncle Rat's permission received, the two work out details of the wedding. Some versions end with a cat, snake or other creature devouring or chasing the couple and wedding guests. Sometimes the frog gets away, but is later swallowed by a duck. Usually, the final verse states that there's a piece of food on the shelf, and that if the listener wants to hear more verses, they have to sing it themselves. [2]

Origin

Spaeth has a note claiming that the original referred to François, Duke of Anjou's wooing of Elizabeth I of England; however, that was in 1579 and the version in Scots had been published thirty years earlier. If the second known version (1611, in Melismata, also reprinted in Chappell) were the oldest, this might be possible — there are seeming political references to "Gib, our cat" and "Dick, our drake." But the Wedderburn text, which at least anticipates the song, predates the reign of Queen Elizabeth by nine years, and Queen Mary by four. If it refers to any queen at all, it would seemingly have to be Mary Stuart. Evelyn K. Wells, however, in the liner notes to the LP Brave Boys; New England traditions in folk music (New World Records 239, 1977), suggests that the original may have been satirically altered in 1580 when it was recorded in the register of the London Company of Stationers, as this would have been at the height of the unpopular courtship.

According to Albert Jack in his book "Pop Goes the Weasel: The secret meanings of nursery rhymes" (pp. 33–37, copyright 2008), the earliest known version of the song was published in 1549 as "The Frog Came to the Myl Dur" in Robert Wedderburn's Complaynt of Scotland. He states that in 1547 the Scottish Queen Consort, Mary of Guise, under attack from Henry VIII, sought to have her daughter Princess Mary (later Mary Queen of Scots), "Miss Mouse", married to the three-year old French Prince Louis – the "frog" – and that the song resurfaced a few years later, with changes, when another French (frog) wooing caused concern – that of the Duke of Anjou and Queen Elizabeth I in 1579. Elizabeth even nicknamed Anjou, her favorite suitor, "the frog".

Another theory traces the song to Suffolk: "Roley, Poley, Gammon and Spinach" refer to four families of Suffolk notables, Rowley, Pole, Bacon and Greene. [a] [ citation needed ]

Recordings

The song has been recorded by Almeda Riddle, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and many other musicians. Folk singer Burl Ives performed perhaps the best known version, one in which Frog and Miss Mousie are wed. Other versions include:

Alternative titles

Lyrics and illustration for "The Frog's Wooing" in The Baby's Opera A book of old Rhymes and The Music by the Earliest Masters The Baby's Opera A book of old Rhymes and The Music by the Earliest Masters Book Cover 18.png
Lyrics and illustration for "The Frog's Wooing" in The Baby's Opera A book of old Rhymes and The Music by the Earliest Masters

Notes

  1. ↑ Although the birthplace of Robert Greene is uncertain, and often theorised as Norfolk, the dramatist is associated with Suffolk through the Norfolk–Suffolk borderland setting of his successful play, Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay . [b]
  2. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Greene, Robert"  . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Citations

  1. ↑ "Frog Went A-courting". Vaughan Williams Memorial Library .
  2. ↑ Norman Cazden (January 1982). Folk Songs of the Catskills. SUNY Press. pp. 524–533. ISBN   9780873955805.
  3. ↑ Moon, Troy (24 May 1991). "Flat Duo Jets come rockin'". Pensacola News Journal. p. 10E.

Sources

  1. Ella Mary Leather, Folk-Lore of Herefordshire (1912/republished 1970), pp. 209–210, "The Frog and the Mouse" (2 texts)
  2. H. M. Belden, Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri Folk-Lore Society (1955), pp. 494–499, "The Frog's Courtship" (7 texts in 3 groups, 2 tunes; several of the texts are short, and IB at least appears to be "Kemo Kimo")
  3. Vance Randolph, Ozark Folksongs (1946–1950), 108, "The Frog's Courtship" (5 texts plus 5 excerpts, 2 tunes)
  4. Vance Randolph, Ozark Folksongs, edited and abridged by Norm Cohen (1982), pp. 139–141, "The Frog's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune—Randolph's 108A)
  5. The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore, Volume Three: Folk Songs from North Carolina (1952), 120, "The Frog's Courtship" (7 texts plus 13 excerpts, 2 fragments, and mention of 5 more; "Kemo Kimo" in appendix)
  6. Arthur Palmer Hudson, Folksongs of Mississippi and their Background (1936), 136, pp. 282–283, "The Frog's Courting" (1 text plus mention of 9 more)
  7. Dorothy Scarborough, A Song Catcher in Southern Mountains (1937), pp. 244–248, "The Frog He Went a-Courting" (3 texts, the first two, with local titles "Frog Went a-Courting" and "Frog Went Courting" and tune on p. 420, are this song; the third item, "The Gentleman Frog", is separate, probably part of the "Kemo Kimo"/"Frog in the Well" family)
  8. Dorothy Scarborough, On the Trail of Negro Folk-Songs (1925), pp. 46–48, "Frog Went a-Courtin'"; p. 48, (no title); pp. 48–50, "Mister Frog" (3 texts, 1 tune)
  9. Paul G. Brewster, Ballads and Songs of Indiana (1940), 42, "The Frog Went a-Courting" (5 texts plus an excerpt and mention of 4 more, 3 tunes—one of them of the "Kitty Alone" type)
  10. Mary O. Eddy, Ballads and Song from Ohio (1939), 44, "The Frog and the Mouse" (5 texts, 2 tunes)
  11. Emelyn Elizabeth Gardner and Geraldine Jencks Chickering, Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan (1939), 189, "The Frog's Courtship" (2 texts plus an exceprt and mention of 5 more, 3 tunes)
  12. Elisabeth Bristol Greenleaf and Grace Yarrow Mansfield, Ballads and Sea Songs of Newfoundland (1933), 40, "The First Come in it was a Rat" (1 text)
  13. Creighton-Senior, pp. 250–254, "The Frog and the Mouse" (3 texts plus 4 fragments, 2 tunes)
  14. Helen Creighton, Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia (original edition 1932; with added postscript 1966), 89, "It Was a Mouse" (1 text, 1 tune)
  15. Helen Creighton, Folksongs from Southern New Brunswick (1971), 83, "The Frog and the Mouse" (1 text, 1 tune)
  16. W. Roy Mackenzie, Ballads and Sea Songs from Nova Scotia (1963), 155, "A Frog He Would a Wooing Go" (1 text, 1 tune)
  17. Helen Hartness Flanders and Marguerite Olney, Ballads Migrant in New England (1953), pp. 11–13, "Gentleman Froggie" (1 text, 1 tune)
  18. Eloise Hubbard Linscott, Folk Songs of Old New England (1939), pp. 199–202, "A Frog He Would a-Wooing Go" (1 text, 1 tune)
  19. Peter Kennedy, Folksongs of Britain and Ireland (1975), 294, "The Frog and the Mouse" (1 text, 1 tune)
  20. W. K. McNeil, Southern Folk Ballads, Volume II (1988), pp. 41–43, "Frog Went a-Courtin" (1 text, 1 tune)
  21. Loraine Wyman and Howard Brockway, Lonesome Tunes: Folk Songs from the Kentucky Mountains, Volume I (1916), I, p. 25, "Frog Went a-Courting" (1 text, 1 tune)
  22. Loraine Wyman and Howard Brockway, Lonesome Tunes: Folk Songs from the Kentucky Mountains, Volume I (1916), II, p. 86, "The Toad's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
  23. Edith Fulton Fowke (Literary Editor) and Richard Johnston (Music Editor), Folk Songs of Canada (1954), pp. 170–171, "A Frog He Would a-Wooing Go" (1 text, 1 tune)
  24. Norman Cazden, Herbert Haufrecht, Norman Studer, Folk Songs of the Catskills (1982), 142, "Missie Mouse" (1 text, 1 tune)
  25. Cecil Sharp & Maud Karpeles, 80 English Folk Songs (1968), 75, "The Frog and the Mouse" (1 text, 1 tune—a composite version)
  26. Carl Sandburg, The American Songbag (1927), p. 143, "Mister Frog Went a-Courting" (1 text, 1 tune)
  27. John Anthony Scott, The Ballad of America (1966), pp. 339–341, "The Mouse's Courting Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
  28. Moses Asch, Josh Dunson and Ethel Raim, Anthology of American Folk Music (1973), p. 32 "King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O" (1 text, 1 tune)
  29. John A. Lomax and Alan Lomax, American Ballads and Folk Songs (1934), pp. 310–313, "Frog Went a-Courtin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
  30. B. A. Botkin, A Treasury of New England Folklore (1965), pp. 571–572, "The Frog in the Spring" (1 text, 1 tune)
  31. B. A. Botkin, A Treasury of Southern Folklore (1949; reprinted 1977), p. 722, "Frog Went a-Courting" (1 text, 1 tune)
  32. Pete Seeger, American Favorite Ballads: Tunes and Songs as sung by Pete Seeger (1961), p. 56, "Froggie Went a-Courtin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
  33. Marcia and Jon Pankake, A Prairie Home Companion Folk Song Book (1988), pp. 48–49, "Froggie Went a-Courting" (1 text)
  34. John Harrington Cox, Folk Songs of the South (1925), 162, "The Frog and the Mouse" (3 texts plus mention of two more including some excerpts, 1 tune)
  35. JHCoxIIB, #22A-E, pp. 174–182, "Mr. Mouse Went a-Courting", "The Frog and the Mouse", "Frog Went a-Courting", "A Frog He Would a-Wooing Go" (3 texts plus 2 fragments, 5 tunes)
  36. Iona and Peter Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (1997), 175, "A Frog He Would a-Wooing Go" (3 texts)
  37. William S. Baring-Gould and Ceil Baring-Gould, The Annotated Mother Goose (1962), #69, pp. 77–79, "(There was a frog liv'd in a well)" (a complex composite with a short version of "Frog Went a-Courting" plus enough auxiliary verses to make an almost complete "Kemo Kimo" text)
  38. William Chappell, Old English Popular Music. Revised by H. Ellis Wooldridge (1893), I, pp. 142–143, "The Wedding of the Frog and Mouse" (1 text, 1 tune)
  39. Fred and Irwin Silber, Folksinger's Wordbook (1973), p. 403, "Frog Went a-Courtin'" (1 text)
  40. W. Bruce Olson, "Broadside Ballad Index: Incomplete Contents Listing of 17th Century Broadside Ballad Collections, With a Few Ballads and Garlands of the 18th Century.", ZN3249, "It was a frog in a well"
  41. Dick Greenhaus & Susan Friedman (editors), "The Digital Tradition", 306, FRGCORT2* PUDDYWL2
  42. Roud Folk Song Index #16

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at</span> Folk song from Yorkshire, England

"On Ilkla Mooar Baht 'at" is a folk song from Yorkshire, England. It is sung in the Yorkshire dialect, and is considered the official anthem of Yorkshire. It is sung to the hymn tune "Cranbrook", composed by Thomas Clark in 1805; while according to Andrew Gant, the words were composed by members of Halifax Church Choir "some 50 years after Clark wrote his melody", on an outing to Ilkley Moor near Ilkley, West Yorkshire. It is classified as numbers 2143 and 19808 in the Roud Folk Song Index.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Allen (song)</span> Traditional ballad

"Barbara Allen" is a traditional folk song that is popular throughout the English-speaking world and beyond. It tells of how the eponymous character denies a dying man's love, then dies of grief soon after his untimely death.

<i>Anthology of American Folk Music</i> 1952 compilation album by various artists

Anthology of American Folk Music is a three-album compilation, released in 1952 by Folkways Records, of eighty-four recordings of American folk, blues and country music made and issued from 1926 to 1933 by a variety of performers. The album was compiled from the experimental film maker Harry Smith's own personal collection of 78 rpm records.

"The Daemon Lover" – also known as "James Harris", "A Warning for Married Women", "The Distressed Ship Carpenter", "James Herries", "The Carpenter’s Wife", "The Banks of Italy", or "The House-Carpenter" – is a popular ballad dating from the mid-seventeenth century, when the earliest known broadside version of the ballad was entered in the Stationers' Register on 21 February 1657.

"The Farmer in the Dell" is a singing game, nursery rhyme, folksong, and children's song. It probably originated in Germany and was brought to America by immigrants. From there, it spread to many other nations and is popular in a number of languages. It is Roud Folk Song Index number 6306.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">On Top of Old Smoky</span> Traditional song

"On Top of Old Smoky" is a traditional folk song of the United States. As recorded by The Weavers, the song reached the pop music charts in 1951. It is catalogued as Roud Folk Song Index No. 414.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Raggle Taggle Gypsy</span> Traditional folk song

"The Raggle Taggle Gypsy" (Roud 1, Child 200), is a traditional folk song that originated as a Scottish border ballad, and has been popular throughout Britain, Ireland and North America. It concerns a rich lady who runs off to join the gypsies (or one gypsy). Common alternative names are "Gypsy Davy", "The Raggle Taggle Gypsies O", "The Gypsy Laddie(s)", "Black Jack David" (or "Davy") and "Seven Yellow Gypsies".

Willie O Winsbury is a traditional English-language folk ballad. The song, of which there are many variants, is a traditional Scottish ballad that dates from at least 1775, and is known under several other names, including "Johnnie Barbour" and "Lord Thomas of Winesberry".

"Mrs. McGrath" is an Irish folk song set during the Peninsular War of the early 19th century. The song tells the story of a woman whose son enters the British Army and returns seven years later having lost his legs to a cannonball while fighting against Napoleon presumably at the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro. The general theme of the song is one of opposition to war. Along with "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye", it is one of the most graphic of all Irish folk songs that deal with sickness and injuries caused by warfare. Irish folk song collector Colm Ó Lochlainn described "Mrs. Grath" as "known to every true born citizen of Dublin". It was very popular among the Irish Volunteers in the years leading up to the 1916 Rising and has been recorded by many singers and folk groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Two Sisters (folk song)</span> Traditional song

"The Two Sisters" is a traditional murder ballad, dating at least as far back as the mid 17th century. The song recounts the tale of a girl drowned by her jealous sister. At least 21 English variants exist under several names, including "Minnorie" or "Binnorie", "The Cruel Sister", "The Wind and Rain", "Dreadful Wind and Rain", "The Bonny Swans" and the "Bonnie Bows of London". The ballad was collected by renowned folklorist Francis J. Child as Child Ballad 10 and is also listed in the Roud Folk Song Index. Whilst the song is thought to originate somewhere around England or Scotland, extremely similar songs have been found throughout Europe, particularly in Scandinavia.

The Famous Flower of Serving-Men or The Lady Turned Serving-Man is a traditional English language folk song and murder ballad. Child considered it as closely related to the ballad "The Lament of the Border Widow" or "The Border Widow's Lament".

"Unusually, it is possible to give a precise date and authorship to this ballad. It was written by the prolific balladeer, Laurence Price, and published in July 1656, under the title of The famous Flower of Serving-Men. Or, The Lady turn'd Serving-Man. It lasted in the mouths of ordinary people for three hundred years: what a tribute to the work of any writer, leave alone the obscure Laurence Price. Oral tradition, however, has made changes. The original has twenty-eight verses and a fairy-tale ending: “And then for fear of further strife, / he took Sweet William to be his Wife: / The like before was never seen, / A Serving-man to be a Queen”. – Roy Palmer, A Book of British Ballads

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fair Margaret and Sweet William</span> Traditional song

"Fair Margaret and Sweet William" is a traditional English ballad which tells of two lovers, one or both of whom die from heartbreak. Thomas Percy included it in his 1765 Reliques and said that it was quoted as early as 1611 in the Knight of the Burning Pestle. In the United States, variations of Fair Margaret were regarded as folk song as early as 1823.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Our Goodman</span> Song

"Our Goodman" is a Scottish and English humorous folk song. It describes the efforts of an unfaithful wife to explain away the evidence of her infidelity. A version of the song, "Seven Drunken Nights", was a hit record for The Dubliners in the 1960s.

<i>Frog Went A-Courtin</i> (book) 1955 picture book by John Langstaff

Frog Went A-Courtin' is a book by John Langstaff and illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky. Released by Harcourt, it was the recipient of the Caldecott Medal for illustration in 1956. It is based on the folk song "Frog Went A-Courting." In 1961, Weston Woods Studios made an iconographic version of the story produced and directed by Morton Schindel, narrated by the author with music by Arthur Kleiner, culminating in a sing-along, sung by the story's narrator. In 2007, the film has been remade with narration and music by Jack Sundrud and Rusty Young.

"The Cutty Wren" and its variants such as "The Hunting of the Wren" are traditional English folk songs. The origins and meaning of the song are disputed. It is number 236 in the Roud Folk Song Index.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Butcher's Boy (folk song)</span> American folk song

"The Butcher’s Boy" or "The Butcher Boy" is an American folk song derived from traditional English ballads. Folklorists of the early 20th century considered it to be a conglomeration of several English broadside ballads, tracing its stanzas to "Sheffield Park", "The Squire's Daughter", "A Brisk Young Soldier", "A Brisk Young Sailor" and "Sweet William " and "Died for Love".

"Pretty Saro" is an English folk ballad originating in the early 1700s. The song died out in England by the mid eighteenth century but was rediscovered in North America in the early twentieth century, where it had been preserved through oral traditions. Cecil Sharp and later folklorists and proponents of the folk revival helped keep songs such as "Pretty Saro" alive well into modern times.

Frederick R. "Chubby" Parker (1876–1940) was an American old-time and folk musician and early radio entertainer.

"One Morning in May" is an English folk song which has been collected from traditional singers in England and the USA and has also been recorded by revival singers. Through the use of double-entendre, at least in the English versions, it tells of an encounter between a grenadier and a lady.

Ellen Stekert is an American academic, folklorist and musician. Stekert is a Professor Emerita of English at the University of Minnesota and a former president of the American Folklore Society.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.