This is the song that came to mind when I read the thread title. I was just listening to it on the way to work late last week.

Ruth Crawford Seeger also has a song in her Animal Folk Songs for Children book called The Little Black Bull that has "Long Time Ago" as the Chorus.

LITTLE BLACK BULL / HOOSEN JOHNNY

The little black bull came down the meadow,
Hoo-sen John-ny, Hoo-sen John-ny
The little black bull came down the meadow,
Long time ago.

Long time ago.
Long time ago.
The little black bull came down the meadow,
Long time ago.

First he paw and then he bellow,
Hoo-sen John-ny, Hoo-sen John-ny
First he paw and then he bellow,
Long time ago.

He whet his horn on a white-oak sapling,
Hoo-sen John-ny, Hoo-sen John-ny
He whet his horn on a white-oak sapling,
Long time ago.

Long time ago.
Long time ago.
He whet his horn on a white-oak sapling,
Long time ago.

He shake his tail, he jar the meadow, etc.

He paw the dirt in the heifers' faces, etc.

It's a great song, very pretty (despite the words). It's on an album that the Seeger kids did of their mom's songs of the same name (Animal Folk Songs For Children).

JAB