Kitty Alone -- meaning?

Subject: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: Leeder
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 04:35 PM

I recently noticed that a large number of songs, some British, some American, have the phrase "Kitty alone" in the chorus. In none of these songs does the phrase seem to have any relationship to the content of the lyrics. Also, none of the three main songs seems to be relted to the others. Does anyone have any thoughts as to whether there's a core of meaning in "Kitty alone", or is it pure nonsense? If the latter, why would it show up in different songs?

To be specific, it's in:

a song called "Kitty Alone" recorded by Sally Rogers;

a song called "Kitty Alone and I", which Barry Luft recorded; he learned it from an Ed Trickett recording which he no longer has; and

a numbers of songs of the "Mouse's Wedding" family, including "Uncle Rat", on Danú's CD "all Things Considered".

Just curious...

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 05:41 PM

i think it is about a cat that is single.

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 05:56 PM

I shall follow this thread (by myself) with interest...

Kitty

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 07:53 AM

if its in songs with irish root/ connection, the words could be corruption of irish gaelic

see posts about shule aroon

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: Leeder
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 03:58 PM

Decayed Gaelic was of course my first thought. If so, it's curious that it ended up in two American songs as well. Could it be that "kitty alone" is another phrase like "whack fall the day", sort of vitrified nonsense?

Do any of our Irish speakers or other scholars have speculations on what the Gaelic roots of "kitty alone" could be, if in fact it comes from Gaelic?

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: GUEST,Richie
Date: 07 Nov 02 - 10:10 PM

It might come from this early version of Froggie:

There lived a puddy in a well,
Cuddy alone, Cuddy alone
There lived a puddy in a well
Cuddy alone and I

A "cuddy" is a frog.

-Richie

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: Judy Cook
Date: 07 Nov 02 - 10:57 PM

Oh, I do love that Richie! Is a "puddy" a frog as well? Where is that version from?

--Judy Cook

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Nov 02 - 11:01 PM

There's an interesting entry in the Traditional Ballad Index, which links the song to Martin Said to his Man.
-Joe Offer-

---

Martin Said To His Man

DESCRIPTION: The singer says s/he saw various animals performing various activities, some of which are impossible or unlikely (E.g. "Saw a crow flying low"; "Saw a mule teachin' school"). In some versions, the narrator(s) are drunk, competing to tell the tallest tale.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1609 (Deuteromelia; registered as a ballad 1588)
KEYWORDS: contest drink lullaby nonballad nonsense paradox talltale animal bug
FOUND IN: US(Ap,So) Britain(England)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Kinloch-BBook XIV, pp. 50-54, "The Man in the Moon" (1 text)
Randolph 445, "Johnny Fool" (2 texts)
Wyman-Brockway I, p. 22, "The Bed-time Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 136, "Hurrah, Lie!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chappell/Wooldridge I, p. 140, "Martin Said to His Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, HURRALIE* WHOSFOOL*
RECORDINGS:
Martha Hall, "Kitty Alone" (on MMOK, MMOKCD)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Who's the Fool Now?
Old Blind Drunk John
Fooba-Wooba John
Notes: Referred to in Dryden's 1668 play "Sir Martin Mar-all, or the Feign'd Innocence" (act IV). It seems to have been very popular in the century prior to that.
The American versions can generally be told by their narrative pattern, "(I) saw a () (doing something)," e.g. "Saw a crow flying low," "Saw a mule teaching school," "Saw a louse chase a mouse," "Saw a flea wade the sea." - RBW
File: WB022

---

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Instructions

The Ballad Index Copyright 2002 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.

---

Also see Frog's Wedding

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: GUEST,Richie
Date: 07 Nov 02 - 11:14 PM

I posted this already but it fits here also. Here's some info on Kitty Alone from my notes:

Two main sources of Kitty Alone are: "A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go" and "Martin Said to His Man."

A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go: "Froggie Went a Courtin'" The air for this song (which Horace M. Belden believes is the most widely known song in the English language) first appears in Thomas Ravenscroft's "Melismata" (1611). It is an early version of the song ("Froggie Went A-Courtin'") famous in British and American traditional folklore and folksong, of which the earliest appearence was in Wedderburn's "Complaynt of Scotland" (1549) where it is called "The frog cam to the myl dur." Another early version is found in a broadside text of 1580, called "A moste Strange weddinge of the ffrogge and the mowse" (Rollins).

The origin of the "Kitty Alone" text is based on the "Frog in the Spring/Frog in the Well" songs which is the "Puddy in the Well" offshoot of "Froggie Went A Courtin':"

There lived a puddy in a well,
Cuddy alone, Cuddy alone
There lived a puddy in a well
Cuddy alone and I

There lived a puddy in a well
And a mousie in a mill
Kickmaleerie, cowden down
Cuddy alone and I.

Through a folk metamorphosis "Cuddy" could easily have become "Kitty." Here is a version of Kitty Alone:

Here's a verse from "The Frog" in the Well:"

There was a frog lived in a well,
Kitty alone, Kitty alone;
There was a frog lived in a well;
Kitty alone and I!

There was a frog lived in a well,
And a merry mouse in a mill.
Cock me cary, Kitty alone,
Kitty alone and I!


Martin Said to His Man: In a long note on this song Professor G. L. Kittredge shows that the "Old Blind Drunk John" songs derive from "a famous old English song, 'Martin Said to His Man,' and entered in the Stationers' Register in 1588." It is a lying song—"I saw a louse run a mouse.... I saw a squirrel run a deer.... I saw a flea kick a tree..., in the middle of the sea." One Scottish version cited says, "Four and twenty Hilandmen chasing a snail," etc.
Referred to in Dryden's 1668 play "Sir Martin Mar-all, or the Feign'd Innocence" (act IV). It seems to have been very popular in the century prior to that. The American versions can generally be told by their narrative pattern, "(I) saw a ( ) (doing something)," e.g. "Saw a crow flying low," "Saw a mule teaching school," "Saw a louse chase a mouse," "Saw a flea wade the sea."

Here's an example of the Martin Said to His Man- Kitty Alone:

Saw a crow a-flying low
Kitty alone, kitty alone.
Saw a crow a-flying low,
Kitty alone, alone.
Saw a crow a-flying low
And a cat a-spinnin' tow.
Rock-a-bye baby bye, rock-a-bye baby bye.

These are the two basic different types of Kitty Alone, the first relates to "Froggie/Kemo Kimo" type songs, the second "Buck-Eye Jim/Johnny Fool" type songs.

I will look for the Puddy version and post it.

-Richie

Subject: Lyr Add: PUDDY IN A WELL (from MacColl & Seeger)
From: GUEST,Richie
Date: 07 Nov 02 - 11:19 PM

Here's one version by MacColl & Seeger:

PUDDY IN A WELL

There lived a puddy in a well,
Cuddy alone, Cuddy alone
There lived a puddy in a well
Cuddy alone and I

There lived a puddy in a well
And a mousie in a mill
Kickmaleerie, cowden down
Cuddy alone and I.

Puddy he'd a wooin' ride
Sword and pistol by his side.

Puddy cam' to mouses wonne (dwelling)
Mistress mouse are you within?

Yes, kind sir I am within
Saftly do I sit and spin.

Madam I am come tae woo
Marriage I must have of you.

Marriage I will grant ye nane
'Till Uncle Rottan he comes hame.

Uncle Rottan's now come hame
Fye gar busk (to make ready) the bride alang.

Lord Rottan sat at the heid o' the table
Because he was both stout and able.

Wha' is that sits next the wa'?
But lady mouse baith jimp and sma'.

Wha is that sits next ty the bride?
But the sola (dirty) puddy wi' his yellow side.

Syne cam' the dewk but and the drake
The dewk took the puddy and gart (made) him squaik.

Then in there came the guid grey cat
Wi' a' the kittens at her back.

The puddy he swam doon the brook
The drake he catched him in his fluke.

The cat he pu'd Lord Rottan doon
The kittens they did claw his crown.

But Lady mouse baith jimp and sma'
Crept into a hole beneath the wa'
'Squeak', quo' she, 'I'm well awa!'

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: Judy Cook
Date: 07 Nov 02 - 11:23 PM

Thanks!

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Nov 02 - 11:27 PM

OK, so I'm thoroughly confused. I think maybe we're talking about two "Kitty Alone" songs, the frog one and the one that's riddles or oxymorons or something like that. Is that what you're getting at, Richie? I've never heard a "Kitty Alone" song that has anything to do with frogs, but I've sure read a lot about this frog/cat relationship.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: GUEST,Richie
Date: 07 Nov 02 - 11:33 PM

In the earlier post I should have said a "Puddy" is a frog.

Tolman and Eddy document another group of texts from the Scottish tradition that contain a "Cuddy alone" burden or variation such as "Kitty alone." The origin or meaning of this burden remains a mystery. From David G. H. Parsons The History of "The Frog's Courtship": A Study of Canadian Variants.


-Richie

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: Judy Cook
Date: 07 Nov 02 - 11:40 PM

We'll never know, but perhaps the burden "Cuddy alone" refers to poor froggie's single state that so burdens him (so to speak) that he throws himself into a strange and ultimately fatal relationship.

Perhaps the "Cuddy alone and I" implies that the singer sees himself to be in a similarly lone and perilous position.

But probably not.

--Judy Cook

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: GUEST,Richie
Date: 07 Nov 02 - 11:46 PM

Joe- You're not the only one who's cornfused. Froggie relates to many songs. Here's one way Froggie relates to Buck-eye/Limber Jim:

FROGGIE

A frog he would a-wooing go
A-too-re-lal, a-too-re-lal,
He went into Miss Mouse's hall
And there he loudly rapped and called,
He said, Miss Mouse, are you within?
She said, I sit and spin.

From Mrs. Ford Kent of New York

BUCK-EYE JIM

Chorus: Buck-eyed Jim, you can't go
Go weave and spin, you can't go
Buck-eyed Jim

The "weave and spin" line is similar.

Even the Carter Family song I posted (Kitty and I) is related in a round about way to Froggie.

-Richie

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: denise:^)
Date: 08 Nov 02 - 08:40 PM

Just clicked on the "Frog's Wedding" link--funny, but I was looking for the words to the "Kemo, Kimo" chours just the other day, and never thought of looking here! (I guess I didn't think of Digitrad for children's music)--

ANYWAY, the "click to play" link isn't working...

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: GUEST,Richie
Date: 08 Nov 02 - 08:48 PM

Denise- Here are a few different choruses of "Kemo." I've got more is you need them or a specific chorus.

Teemy tim-o in the land of neo Pharoah said a rat trap peeny winkle timey doodle rattle buggy rat trap peenie winkle tie me oh

Kemo kimo, dare awa Ma high, ma ho Rump sump sack a nickels Poop-dag, nip-cat Polly won't you kimeo.

Karo, Karo, give to Flayro, Flaro Flaro, Flaaaa-rooooo, Aaaaaany wink-ee flemm-ee doodle yellow bug to my rat-trap a bottom-itchy Kai-m-bo.

Hello naro he's my caro, Hello caro narrow, Ring ting bottom ditty boat around Ring ting bottom and a kymo.

Kero kiro gilt and garo Kero kiro karo Rap jack pennywhinkle flammydoodle yellow buckle Rain down bonny mish ki-me-oh.

Tim a rang tang bottom tim a kimo come a nedro, Keep my caro rum a tum bum stumpy tum dido bodey, Round tim a rang tang bottom a my kimo.

Karo kiro daro boys M'haim M'home M'hime Boomasicle lopasicle along came knick knack sing song kitty wont you kie me oh.

-Richie

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: denise:^)
Date: 08 Nov 02 - 09:27 PM

Wow...that's a lot of kemos... ;^)

I've heard a local folk group sing the "kemo" chorus to "Froggy went a-courtin'"--but they were quite secretive when I asked about it!

I guess I can fit any of these into it, and just make it my own, huh?

Then *I* can be secretive when they ask me!

denise:^)

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: GUEST,Richie
Date: 08 Nov 02 - 09:37 PM

Denise-

I'm starting a lyric site:Click here

Thanks in part to the super researchers here at Mudcat, I've got 25 versions of "Kemo Kimo" so far. I've also got many in my library that I will put on after I finish putting versions on from the web.

Hope it helps,

-Richie

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: denise:^)
Date: 08 Nov 02 - 09:44 PM

Oh! I was just at your site earlier this evening!

Yes, it helps, and thanks!

denise:^)

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Nov 02 - 09:53 PM

I believe there was a porn-star   with the euphemism "Kitty Galore"

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: GUEST,Richie
Date: 08 Nov 02 - 10:00 PM

"Pussy" Galore, just ask Sean Connery.

-Richie

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Nov 02 - 10:59 PM

Kitty ain't alone no more, no more,
Kitty ain't alone no more.
How in the world can the old folks tell,
Kitty ain't alone no more

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 23 Jun 04 - 02:06 AM

CUDDY
Possibly derived from the Persian word 'gudda' or the Hindustani 'ghudda', a cuddy is a horse - not a thoroughbred racehorse, though, but a more workaday quadruped. A joiner's sawhorse was often referred to as a cuddy, and a gymnasium horse was also a cuddy to schoolchildren. To give a child a 'cuddy-back' is to carry the child on your back. An old childhood rhyme used to go - 'Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, haud the cuddy till I get on!'

I can't find any definition of "cuddy" that makes it a frog. The above is Scots; presumably the same for Geordie. Other sites say that a cuddy can be a donkey, too.

Cuddy is also the diminutive for the name "Cuthbert".

Here's an interesting analysis (from Sandy Fleming, on a linguist's listerve, via Google, here):

There was a frog lived in a well, Kitty alone, kitty alone, There was a frog lived in a well, There was a frog lived in a well, Kitty alone and I! And a farce mouse in a mill, Cock me cary, kitty alone, Kitty alone and I.

Eckenstein says that "the origin and meaning of this burden remains obscure", which I find interesting because in the Scots all the "nonsense" phrases have perfectly clear meanings, even if not in context:

There dwalt a puddy in a well, Cuddy alane, cuddy alane, There dwalt a puddy in a well, Cuddy alane an I! There dwalt a puddy in a well, An a moosie in a mill, Kickmaleerie, cowdin doun, Cuddy alane an I.

cuddy - a donkey, or a derogatory term for a horse alane - alone kickmaleerie - any flimsy, insignificant thing cowdin doun - to "cowd" in Scots means "to float or rock gently on the waves", so for example "cowdin doun the burn" is floating gently downstream with a rocking motion.

I'd suggest that the English version is older, the terms having become obscure, and the Scots have replaced the obscure terms with real Scots words they'r familiar with (cock me cary -> kickmaleerie, kitty -> cuddy). Does this make sense?

---

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: Tracey Dragonsfriend
Date: 23 Jun 04 - 08:53 AM

Hmm... in Norfolk (in the UK) a puddy is a cat, short for puddy-tat, derived from pussy-cat.
And the horse-holding rhyme is "Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, haud the dickey till I get on", as a dickey is a horse in old Norfolk dialect.
The only way I can remember hearing cuddy is as an alternative to cubby, ie cuddy-hole, a small, snug place.
Wonderful stuff, language!

But I don't remember hearing any of these songs, I'm afraid...


Cheers
Tracey Dragonsfriend
Scorch's Pyrography

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 23 Jun 04 - 12:12 PM

Yeah, I didn't the other definition of "cuddy" that I found was a small, low-headroom cabin in a boat (usually up in the bow). That would fit with your Norfolk small, snug space (not sure which might have come first - the boating usage, or the more general!).

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 23 Jun 04 - 12:13 PM

...didn't mention the other definition...

is what I meant, of course!

~ B in T

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 23 Jun 04 - 01:13 PM

Cuddy, cudeigh. Old Scottish, in print from 1450. A night supper, thus having dinner alane-alone.
See OED for examples.

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 23 Jun 04 - 01:21 PM

Ahh! Except the "and I" seems to make less sense then, Q... ?

~ Becky

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: Megan L
Date: 23 Jun 04 - 01:22 PM

Puddy could it be from puddock a tadpole? always thought a cuddy was a horse as in:

Mathew mark luke and john haud the cuddy till I get on.

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 23 Jun 04 - 03:12 PM

A cuddy is a cudaigh, originally a boy, I think (transmuted to English in the usage 'caddy' for a golfer's helper), and now used for a harmless poor decent sort of a fellow.

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 23 Jun 04 - 09:14 PM

Dinner and I (alone)?   

Shoving all this nonsense aside, the solution is simple- You have read one version too few (or Q has read one too many).

Very popular was the ballad, "The Frog in the Cock'd Hat;" several versions in the Bodleian Collection. A dated copy is 1802-1819, but it is at least 200 years older.
Taking up the story at the point where Mrs. Mousie and Mr. Frog (and a rat he met on the way) are drinking beer, in glee and merry making:

As they were in glee and merry making,
Heigho said Rowley,
A cat and her kittens came tumbling in.

With a rowley powley
Gammon and spinnage*
O heigho said Anthony Rowley.

The cat she seized the rat by the crown,
Heigho said Rowley,
The kittens they pulled the little mouse down.

With a rowley powley etc.

This put Mr Frog in a terrible fright,
Heigho said Rowley,
He took up his hat and wish'd them good night.

With a rowley powley etc,

As froggy was crossing over a brook,
Heigho said Rowley,
A lilly white duck came and gobbled him up.

With a rowley powley etc.

So here is an end of one, two and three,
Heigho said Rowley,
The rat, the mouse and little Froggy.

With a rowley powley etc.

Now who is left? The cat, of course, and the duck. Now, no duck will feel safe with a cat around (or is it vice versa?) so of course we have KITTY ALONE!
Along comes a Geordie folkie and presto! Cuddy Alane is in the song.
*spinnage = spinach.

Harding B 11(981), Bodleian Collection, "The Frog in the Cock'd Hat" (ca 1802-1819- the song probably approaching 200 years in age at this time).

Older version in Melismata, 1631, The Marriage of the Frogge and the Movse (with simple score):
When supper they were at,
Humble dum, humble dum,
The frog, the mouse and even the rat,
Tweedle, tweedle twino [so much for Keemo Kimo]
Then in came gib out cat,
Humble dum, humble dum,
And catcht the mouse even by the backe,
Tweedle, tweedle, twino. Etc.,
leading to much the same conclusion, Dicke, "our drake" getting the frog and the rat running away. Kitty alone!

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 23 Jun 04 - 11:20 PM

Hmm! I like it, Q! Could be an exercise in explaining the inexplicable, but I like it!

~ B in T

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: Ferrara
Date: 24 Jun 04 - 02:32 PM

Old age is so --- what? what's the word I was trying to remember???? :-)

When I was MUCH younger, I thought I heard/read a song called "Kitty Allein," allein being German for Alone. Then later people sang "Kitty alone, Kitty alone," after the second line and "kitty alone, allein" as the final refrain. I thought they were anglicizing an older version. Apparently not?

What? Anyone ever heard this or heard of it?

The "Cuddy alone" explanation sounds absolutely right but -- what about kitty allein?

Rita F who just keeps gettin' fuzzier-minded.... sigh....

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone? Or is it 'Get thee along'?
From: GUEST,Scott G.
Date: 13 Mar 16 - 07:07 PM

·
OK, so this thread is almost 14 years old... with the last entry coming up on 12 years old. Never having heard any of this before, I'm interested anyway (many of my relatives are or were musicians - both parents and one grandfather were actually music teachers). I just heard a version of ''Uncle Rat'' (by Danú or Altan; not sure which) on WKSU radio's 'Folk Alley' here in northeastern Ohio, couldn't understand the lyrics, looked 'em up and eventually ended up here.

All of the above is interesting and seems very well researched. Listening to the song's ''Kitty alone, kitty alone'' lyric, I thought they were saying, ''Get thee along, get thee along''. In this case ''Get thee along and I '' would suggest, 'On your way and me as well'.

Any possibility that the portions of these songs in question started out as such and were just mistranslated by generations of folk singers picking up the variations solely by oral tradition? 'Puddy alone' makes sense in the above examples, but 'Kitty alone' does not.

~Scott from Ohio

·

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 14 Mar 16 - 03:22 AM

Probably been mentioned before but a "cuddy" according to Chambers Scots Dictionary is "a simpleton, or fool" which makes perfect sense in context.

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: GUEST,David Usher
Date: 09 Jan 20 - 04:00 AM

My favorite version of this tune on a Fox Hollow record from 1967 sung by the Young-Uns ttps://www.discogs.com/Various-Pitter-PoonRain-Come-Doon-Vol-I/release/11848547

According to the typed notes that came inside the above record the group consists of Bill Schwartz, Mike Donk, and Bob Lucas from Holland, Michigan. There are perhaps 4 more talented voices singing harmony not identified in the liner notes. There rendition of this tune is haunting.

I put this song temporarily on dropbox.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cosgfbje26lsenm/Fox%20Hollow%2067%20-%20Young%20Uns%20-%20Kitty%20Alone%20%28DSP-FX%29.mp3?dl=0&fbclid=IwAR2ybxpP2pa767L0gBR895-x_PkXQh8LTN3aTqrmRqjZd7WTtMAzotjuq0I

If its not there when you see this pls email me at [e-mail] and I'll send you the mp3.
The words different from any other version i have seen. They are more transcendental than the kiddie versions out there.

The words "kitty alone and I" appears to have been extracted from a poem by William Blake.
https://books.google.com/books?id=p-yaJajW3kEC&pg=PA459&dq=blake+%22kitty+alone%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwilveWmjPbmAhWRGM0KHd_3AloQ6AEwAHoECAMQAg#v=onepage&q=blake%20%22kitty%20alone%22&f=false

The record discography is here:

I did find a version with one of the Fox Hollow verses in the book Acoustic Music Source Book By RICHARD L. MATTESON, JR but the tune is slightly different from the Fox Hollow version
https://books.google.com/books?id=11vTdsx_zZIC&pg=PA130&dq=saw+a+crow+flying+low&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi-zpnkjfbmAhXSB80KHcciCcAQ6AEwAHoECAYQAg#v=onepage&q=saw%20a%20crow%20flying%20low&f=false

There is a Mother Goose version but not similar
https://books.google.com/books?id=ekhHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA74&dq=%22kitty+alone+and+I%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjR35GBkPbmAhXSKs0KHZtODPEQ6AEwAHoECAAQAg#v=onepage&q=%22kitty%20alone%20and%20I%22&f=false

There is an almost identical unattributed version here but the last line of the chorus is different:
http://www.timpoe.com/songs/kitty.html

I saw one version where "Kitty alone and I" was converted to "Kitty along the line" (the tragic risk of learning by ear).

Verses:

Saw a crow flying low
Saw a crow flying low
Saw a crow flying low
and a cat spinning tow
Kitty alone and I
Rock-a-my-ree

Way up yonder 'bove the sun
Way up yonder 'bove the sun
Way up yonder 'bove the sun
Eagle flies when his work is done
Kitty alone and I
Rock-a-my-ree

Way up yonder 'bove the moon
Way up yonder 'bove the moon
Way up yonder 'bove the moon
Bluebird lives in a silver spoon
Kitty alone and I
Rock-a-my-ree

Big old owl in a tree
Big old owl in a tree
Big old owl in a tree
Just as sleepy as he can be
Kitty alone and I
Rock-a-my-ree

Repeat #1

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Jan 20 - 04:04 AM

Correction to typos in the above


Verses:

Saw a crow flying low
Saw a crow flying low
Saw a crow flying low
and a cat spinning tow
Kitty alone and I
Rock-a-my-ri-ree

Way up yonder 'bove the sun
Way up yonder 'bove the sun
Way up yonder 'bove the sun
Eagle flies when his work is done
Kitty alone and I
Rock-a-my-ri-ree

Way up yonder 'bove the moon
Way up yonder 'bove the moon
Way up yonder 'bove the moon
Bluebird lives in a silver spoon
Kitty alone and I
Rock-a-my-ri-ree

Big old owl in a tree
Big old owl in a tree
Big old owl in a tree
Just as sleepy as he can be
Kitty alone and I
Rock-a-my-ri-ree

Repeat #1

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: RTim
Date: 09 Jan 20 - 11:26 AM

Kitty Alone - is a single persons cabin at Pinewoods Camp, Massachusetts.....

Tim Radford

Subject: RE: Kitty Alone -- meaning?
From: Mo the caller
Date: 10 Jan 20 - 08:22 AM

"Kitty Alone - is a single persons cabin at Pinewoods Camp, Massachusetts.....

Tim Radford "
And Pat Shaw named a dance after it which was published in his Pinewoods collection, to raise money for the camp. Lots of Folk weeks held there.