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23 May 00 - 03:22 PM (#232607) Subject: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: Max Anyone know where Row, Row, Row Your Boat came from originally or any other neat details about it? I find it to be one of the most important songs in history and can find little about it. - Life is but a dream |
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23 May 00 - 03:31 PM (#232616) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: Vixen I have it on good authority that it dates back to Rome.
Barcam remiga lente in aqua V |
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23 May 00 - 04:16 PM (#232651) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: MMario Levy Sheet music has two sets of lyrics whose choruses are similair lyrically -
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24 May 00 - 01:17 AM (#232912) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: Max I want more here. Doesn't anyone think it odd that one of the most widely known songs ever sung has so little known about it? So little discussion about it? So simple, so common, so universally known, so deep within our musical selves, the first thing that pops in our heads when someone asks for an example of a song sung in the round... so meaningful, so true, and this is all we have to say about it? I am beginning to think that this song was planted by aliens and we were programmed to reject the introspection and research to wonder why. CONSPIRACY! |
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24 May 00 - 02:33 AM (#232937) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: Callie Oh no! Our attempt to infiltrate the earthlings' psyches has been thwarted! -Zoot (from Mars) The Australian version of "Row Your Boat" is called "Kookaburra Sits" - a little longer than "Row" but the melody is similar, and it's the best known Australian round. Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree Merry merry king of the bush is he Laugh kookaburra laugh kookaburra Gay your life must be. I am seeing two dear friends tonight who store all kinds of musical miscellany in their brains, so I will ask about "Row". |
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24 May 00 - 02:40 AM (#232940) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: Mark Cohen Max, you're absolutely right. Somebody somewhere must know something about the history of this song. My money is on Bruce O. Don't give up, though. I asked the same question about Pop Goes the Weasel and a fantastic thread resulted--one that should be in the thread hall of fame. By the way, have you ever sung it backwards? Dream a but is life Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily Stream the down gently Boat your row, row, row. You do the melody backwards, too. It's a little difficult to conceptualize. Remind me at the next HearMe and I'll demonstrate. Never sung it that way as a round, though... Aloha, Mark |
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24 May 00 - 06:29 AM (#232968) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: IanC Best I can find so far, it's by that well known writer "anonymous". If you want some comment on it, however, how about this. Row, Row, Row Your Boat:
A Buddhist Commentary The Mantra
Row, row, row1 your boat,2
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,5 The Commentary 1. Row, row, row. In form and structure this triple repetition of the imperative, row parallels the daily Buddhist invocation of the Three Jewels: "Homage to the Buddha, Homage to the Dharma, and Homage to the Sangha." One could, for example, say "Row for the Buddha, Row for the Dharma, and Row for the Sangha." Texturally, however, the word row is more closely linked to the Sanskrit word gate, which means "to go", and which begins the famous Heart Sutra Mantra: gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha which translates as "Go, go, go perfectly and completely to build the path for enlightenment." Thus, the word row in our text is a shorthand for the Heart Sutra Mantra and may be construed as "I row towards enlightenment." 2. your boat. It is your boat. You built this boat with your karma. It is nobody else's boat. It is nobody else's karma. You are rowing this boat toward enlightenment. It is your karmic stream. 3. Gently. This is a call to go toward enlightenment gently, without force. It is like the gentle observation of your breath in meditation. Furthermore, it beckons us to undertake all actions, thoughts and deeds in gentleness and pure awareness. It should also be mentioned that some Buddhist scholars believe this word to refer to the Taoist/Buddhist concept of wu-wei, "nondoing." 4. Down the stream. The "stream of Life." The daily dharma. The seemingly endless stream of death and rebirth. Your karmic stream. 5. Merrily, merrily… This is a reference to the "merry" or "happy" state experienced in meditation. As Thich Nhat Hanh says, "This happiness arises when we become free of incessant worrying and preoccupation, and from the fact that the body and mind are at ease".1 Thus, a direct result of meditation is the ability to row down the Stream of Life gently and merrily. 6. Life is but a dream. Of course, poetically, "dream" rhymes with "stream". But we might also say that spiritually "dream" and "stream" rhyme. Stream, as we have seen, refers to this life, which is Maya – impermanent and illusory – which is ultimately a Dream. Meditate on the impermanence of all Dharmas.
The Paraphrase (Homage to the Buddha, Homage to the Dharma, Homage to the Sangha.)
Aware of your karmic stream,
Happily, happily, happily, When chanted, this mantra is cyclical, its beginning and end are One. In form, it is like the Wheel of Samsara. In practice, it can be chanted endlessly until you boat reaches the Other Shore, the Shore of Enlightenment. from Breathe! You Are Alive: Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing by Thich Nhat Hanh, Parallax Press, 1990. Copyright Todd Barton 1993 Cheers!IanC |
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24 May 00 - 09:13 AM (#233020) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: MMario Max the songs in Levy are both from the 1850's. I don't know if "row,row,row" was around then and they were taken FROM it, or whether it was derived from them. I haven't been able to find a date on anything regarding "row, row, row" |
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24 May 00 - 09:28 AM (#233024) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: jeffp Harry Fox will probably tell you that copyright is held by one of their clients and everybody in the world owes them $10,000 in penalties for singing it without paying royalties. jeffp |
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24 May 00 - 09:32 AM (#233025) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: MMario actually - two of the sites I looked at they had copyright notices on the song. however I doubt it would hold up in court. |
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24 May 00 - 09:40 AM (#233028) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: IanC Thanks, Mmario The choruses here are certainly the stuff. I'm wondering, though if they have not been included in the song because they're already well known. This is the case with a number of modern songs I've found over the internet whilst looking for info today. What I can say is that Lewis Carroll was obviously familiar with the rhyme in 1872 since he refers to it, in his usual slightly oblique way in the epilogue to "Through The Looking Glass (and What Alice Found There). The reference is in the last verse. EPILOGUE TO "THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS" Lewis Carroll
A BOAT, beneath a sunny sky
Children three that nestle near,
Long has paled that sunny sky:
Still she haunts me, phantomwise
Children yet, the tale to hear,
In a Wonderland they lie,
Ever drifting down the stream -- Cheers!IanC |
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24 May 00 - 10:24 AM (#233060) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler I have it on good authority (he means he's making it up for the sake of a feeble joke) that it was known to the ancient Greeks who used to float their soldiers across rivers on inflated goatskins. Hence "Row, row, row your goat" which was misheard when song collectors came around... RtS |
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24 May 00 - 11:49 AM (#233124) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: GUEST,me rounds being what they are, and songs so ingrained that they last nearly forever (sumer is acumen in, e.g) but, did you know that you can sing "amazing grace" to the gilligan's island theme? (and vice versa) |
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24 May 00 - 12:00 PM (#233131) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: catspaw49 Takes on a whole diffent meaning doesn't it? try the reverse....Gilligan to Grace.........The thing sounds almost tragic and legit!! Spaw |
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24 May 00 - 12:03 PM (#233136) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: MMario I have no way to prove it, but "sumer is a cumin in", by virtue of the way it is spelled, by *MY* belief fell out of usage for a long time....or else we would be singing "SUMMER IS A-COMIN'IN" - the language just hasn't updated, yet most other rounds and nursery songs seem to have a gazillion variants. |
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24 May 00 - 01:14 PM (#233184) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: GUEST,me of course there's Ezra Pound's parody... first line sings winter is acumen in, lludhe sing goddamn straineth mush and raineth slush and how the wind doth slam ..grins mischievously.. |
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24 May 00 - 01:22 PM (#233190) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: Mrrzy I always thought my sister made that up! The Loud Sing Goddamn, I mean. Hah! I can hardly wait for this info, sounds fascinating. The idea of it must be aliens and we are also programmed not to think about it reminds me of a sci-fi short story I read somewhere (Niven?) about chocolate manhole covers, where there is a guy whose only goal seemed to be to foment interesting conversations (like this one) as a means of selecting humans bright enough to go do outer space stuff... and one of the things he gets people thinking about is chocolate manhole covers. Anyway, if we all disappear after solving this one, we'll know why! |
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24 May 00 - 03:24 PM (#233250) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: Jacob B Not chocolate manhole covers - chocolate covered manhole covers. Get a really big pan, melt the chocolate in it, carefully put in the manhole cover, turn once, and let cool. I never read the Niven story, but I was in an amateur press association for a while with the guy that story was about. He was talking about Coin-Operated Vampires at the time. |
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24 May 00 - 09:02 PM (#233442) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: sophocleese There's also "Plumber is icumen in, bloody big to do...." Without wanting to be too much of a killjoy I think "Row, row, row your chocolate covered manhole cover" lacks the snap and zing of "Row row row your boat". Just my personal opinion of course for what its worth. I think Roger the skiffler was closest to the origins of the song when he mentioned the greeks floating their soldiers on inflated goatskins. They had learned the song of course from Charon who sang "Row row row your ghost gently down the stream, drearily, drearily, drearily, dreaily life was but a dream." |
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24 May 00 - 11:01 PM (#233492) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: Chocolate Pi and does it tie in to "La Vida es un Sueno" by Pedro Calderon de la Barca, major play in the siglo de oro of Spanish drama? there's a speech in there that goes, (with accent marks that won't show up here) Que es la vida? Un frensi. Que es la vida? un ilusion. And re: chocolatecovered manhole covers: yeah, it's a Niven story. The title is simply "What do you do with a Chocolate-Covered Manhole Cover?" It came up recently a few years ago when the April 1st edition of TechTalk, the MIT student newspaper, pubilshed an article stating that the campus was switching over from the People's Republic of Cambridge Ruble to the MIT $UNIT, which was any circular object more than 1 ft in diameter, and was broken up into 2 pi subunits of radians. Chocolate Pi (calclating couloumbic potential for hydrogen flouride) |
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25 May 00 - 03:57 AM (#233598) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: Song Dog I respect all the opinions I've read here. But, if you really want to know. The very first time that the words " Row, Row, Row, your boat", were uttered, was during the early exploration of the Upper Niagra River By two european explorers. While rowing gently down the stream, Herman, who was in the bow, suddenly stood up when he thought the water vanished ahead of them. Then as he franticly spun the boat around, he shouted to his companion, Horus, Who owned the boat, "ROW, ROW, ROW, YOUR BOAT" *BG* from *BD* |
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25 May 00 - 04:10 AM (#233599) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler Soph, love the Charon version ,wish I'd said that (I will now!) RtS :oD |
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25 May 00 - 07:08 PM (#233941) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: Mrs.Duck My son is very round . At the age of about 5 hours and considerably less round he earnt the nickname Boats due to the fact that being called Rowan I began singing "Row row row" looked at him and said "You're boats mate!" |
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25 May 00 - 08:01 PM (#233967) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: Cap't Bob Arther Godfrey ~ years ago, did an interesting take on this song. I had it on a 78 back in the 50's. It went something like this:
Row, Row, Row your boat up the river St. Lawrence
Left the one I love on one of those thousand islands That's about all the words I can remember. Cap't Bob |
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26 May 00 - 01:08 AM (#234085) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: Mark Cohen So, Max, is this thread creepy enough for you? And we still don't have an answer. Me, I'll go with the alien theory. If you listened really carefully in the scene at the end of the final X-Files episode where Mulder meets his fellow abductees, you could hear coming out of the pure white light an odd voice softly singing "Row, row, row your boat" (Or maybe it was "Paul, Paul, Paul is Dead"...) Aloha, Mark |
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26 May 00 - 01:00 PM (#234330) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: GUEST,Mrr The only versions I knew as a child were Row Row Row your boat gently down the stream, putt putt putt putt out of gasoline - and - Row row row your boat gently down the stream, ha ha fooled you I'm a submarine. Nothing even vaguely scatological - maybe that's why I still live on this planet... |
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26 May 00 - 01:07 PM (#234336) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: SINSULL We had a second verse:
Hoe, hoe, hoe your row Also had a different Kookaburra;
Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree Suspect the third grade teacher took some liberties with both. Folk process, no? |
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15 Apr 03 - 12:28 AM (#933671) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: Joe Offer You know, I don't think we gave Max a straight answer to his question. I think the least I can do is post the entry from the Traditional Ballad Index. All the best to you, Max. -Joe Offer- Row, Row, Row Your BoatDESCRIPTION: "Row, row, row your boat, Gently down the stream, Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream."AUTHOR: unknown EARLIEST DATE: 1852 (sheet music) KEYWORDS: nonballad FOUND IN: US REFERENCES (2 citations): Silber-FSWB, p. 412, "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" (1 text) Fuld-WFM, pp. 475-476, "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" SAME TUNE: Row, Row, Row Your Boat (Throw Your Teacher Overboard) (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 93) Propel, Propel, Propel Your Craft (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 208) Glub, Glub, Glub Your Boat (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 213) Notes: Fuld reports that this text, with a different tune, was published in sheet music form in 1852; this version had music by R. Sinclair, but the words were unattributed (said to be sung by "Master Adams of Kunkels Nightingale Opera Troupe"). Another melody was published in 1854; the common melody was first published in 1881, with a credit (not necessarily of authorship) to E. O. Lyte. - RBW File: FSWB412C Go to the Ballad Search form The Ballad Index Copyright 2003 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle. |
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15 Apr 03 - 12:35 AM (#933678) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: Joe Offer Here's the entry from Fuld's Book of World-Famous Music (1966, 1971) This song is apparently American, and perhaps of minstrel origin. Almost the common words, but to a different melody, appear in Row, Row Your Boat, or The Old Log Hut, copyrighted Oct. 4, 1852, by Firth, Pond & Co., 1 Franklin Square, New York, N.Y. First edition: Engraved. Front cover states that the song was sung by Master Adams of Kunkels Nightingale Opera Troupe, ascribes the music to R. Sinclair, the price is 25cents and there are two agents. m. on pp. 2—5. p.n. 1768. Back cover blank. LC(CDC— deposited Oct. 12, 1852, at the Clerk's Office, Southern District, New York, and Dec. 3, 1852, at Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.) and JF. The same words to a different but unfamiliar melody were copyrighted Dec. 13, 1854, under the title Gently down the Stream by Berry & Gordon, New York, N.Y., referring to Ceo. Christy and Wood's Minstrels; LC(CDC) and JF. The common music, and the common words, appear for the first time in The Franklin Square Song Collection, selected by J. P. McCaskey, published in New York, N.Y., in 1851. The music and words are at p. 69; E. 0. Lyte's name is given as the composer or adapter of the music and words. In the first edition of this work, deposited at LC on Aug. 27, 1881, vol. I is not mentioned on the covers or title page, and there is no reference to 1884 on the verso of the title page. Also at JF. The song is a round or canon. |
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15 Apr 03 - 12:55 AM (#933688) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: Joe Offer Look what I found at the Levy Sheet Music Collection: Title: Gently Down the Stream Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: Words & Music by Nelson Kneass. Publication: New York: Berry & Gordon, 297 Broadway, 1854. Performer: Songs composed by & for Geo. Christy and Wood's Minstrels & Sung by them at their Hall, 444 Broadway Down by the river our log hut stands, Where father and mother once dwelt And the old door latch that was worn by our hands And the church where in prayer we knelt Years, years have passed since that happy time And the river is rolling along And the rippling sound on the mossy bank Is singing the same old song: Chorus: Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream All that's past is gone, you know, the future's but a dream Row, row, row, gently down the stream Row, row, row, gently down the stream There stands the tree we used to climb, And the mill with its rolling din; And the old wharf boat, there it used to float, Where the school boys used to swim. Still the old hut is standing there, And the river is rolling along; And the birds and the bees, the blossoms, the trees, Are singing the same old song. CHORUS There is a version from 1852, with the same first verse and chorus, different tune, and no second verse. The 1852 song is attributed to R. Sinclair. The title of the 1852 song was "Row, Row, Your Boat, or, the Old Log Hut." Note that according to Fuld, the common lyrics and tune were first published in 1851 - you'll find those common lyrics in the Digital Tradition and in the Folksinger's Wordbook (silber & Silber). Yes, MMario, I know you alluded to the 1850's songs way up top - but you didn't post them. Gonna post the tunes? -Joe Offer- Lots of parodies on this page (click). Click here for more legible sheet music at the American Memory Collection, Library of Congress. |
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15 Apr 03 - 02:20 AM (#933715) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: masato sakurai "Lyte, a teacher at Millersville, Pa., was born in Lancaster County, Pa., in 1842 and died there in 1913." (Fuld, 5th ed., 2000, p. 476) This round was introduced into Japan as "Funako" [boatman], and was contained in a school song book (1884) edited by the Ministry of Education. ~Masato |
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21 Apr 04 - 10:32 PM (#1167508) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: harpgirl Here is the song from recent SingOUt. It is beautiful and easy to singa and play: Row your boat Sing Out! The Folk Song Magazine, Winter, 2004, by R. Sinclair, Debby McClatchy "Row Your Boat" is a sentimental mid-19th century parlor song that eventually gave way to the popular round with the similar title and chorus. (The round appeared for the first time in The Franklin Square Song Collection in 1881.) Also, known as "The Old Log Hut," the song was first published in 1852 with R. Sinclair cited as the composer. In 1854 the same words to a different melody were copyrighted by Berry and Gordon under the title "The Future's But a Dream." Debby McClatchy learned "Row Your Boat" from the singing of original Coon Creek Girl Lily May Ledford. In his song notes to Lily May's Gems: Rare Concert and Studio Recordings 1968-1983, Ron Pen writes that Lily probably learned the song from sheet music in Renfro Valley Barndance producer John Lair's extensive music library. The version printed here includes Debby's original third verse ("Our Children ...") and is on her newest album, Chestnut Ridge (Trails End #2003; available from R.R. 1, Box 74, Roaring Spring, PA 16673; Ph: 530-389-2120). Down by the river, the old log hut stands Where Mamma and Daddy once dwelt And the old oak latch that was worn by the hands And the church where in prayer they knelt CHORUS: Row, row, row your boat Gently down the stream For all that is past is over, you know, And the future is but a dream Time and its rapid remorsefulless plan Has furrowed our brows with care And the icy touch of its withered hand Has slivered our locks of hair CHORUS Our children have grown and have children of their own I hear their voices echo still And the old rocking horse sits quiet on the porch As we listen to the wishful whippoorwill CHORUS Tall grass is growing over the master's grave But the river keeps rolling on And the birds and the bees from the blossoms and the trees Keep singing this same old song CHORUS For all that is past is over, you know, And the future is but a dream COPYRIGHT 2004 Sing Out Corporation COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group 1 Click to Play tune from Sing Out! |
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22 Apr 04 - 02:18 AM (#1167623) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: JennieG There was a humorous TV ad here a year or 2 back - imagine Olympic Games athletics running track, unknown sprinter from tiny country blitzes everyone else on the track and wins - commentator turns to gofer and says "fetch the tape for the national anthem for Robota" and guess what song comes over the loudspeaker! I can remember the ad but not the product being advertised. Cheers JennieG |
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05 Nov 06 - 04:24 PM (#1876959) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: Jim Dixon The Library of Congress American Memory Collection has this, dated 1852, a bit older than the version posted by Joe Offer. I put the differences in boldface. OR THE OLD LOG HUT AS SUNG BY MASTER ADAMS OF KUNKELS NIGHTINGALE OPERA TROUPE Music by R. SINCLAIR. Composer of BEN BOLT etc. Down by the river our log hut stands, Where father and mother once dwelt, And the old door latch that was worn by our hands, And the church where in prayer we knelt. Years, years have passed since that happy time, And the river is rolling along, And the rippling sound on the mossy bank Is singing the same old song: CHORUS: Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream. All that's past is gone, you know; the future's but a dream. Row, row, row, your boat, gently down the stream. All that's past is gone, you know; the future's but a dream. There stands the tree we used to climb, And the mill with its rolling din; And the old wharf boat, there it used to float, Where the school boys used to swim. High grass grows on the master's grave And the river keeps rolling along; And the birds and the bees, the blossoms, the trees, Are singing the same old song: CHORUS |
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11 Nov 11 - 03:23 AM (#3254792) Subject: RE: Origins of Row, Row, Row Your Boat From: Max I'm still working on this now almost 12 years later... here's some translations:
Czech Danish Persian French German Greek Hungarian Korean Latin Norwegian Spanish Spanish Turkish Polish Japanese Klingon
King Friday XIII's version (Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood) |