Farmyard Song facts for kids

The "Farmyard Song" (Roud number 544) is a fun, old song about farm animals. It's a special type of song called a cumulative song. This means it adds new parts in each verse, but also repeats the old parts! The song comes from the British Isles, but people also sing it in North America.

What's in a Name?

This song has many different names! Some people know it as:

• "I Bought Me a Cat"
• "I Love My Rooster"
• "I Bought Me a Horse"
• "My Cock Crew"
• "The Green Tree"
• "The Barnyard Song"
• "There Was An Old Man of Tobago"

How the Song Works

The "Farmyard Song" tells a story that grows with each verse. It starts with someone getting an animal, like a rooster or a cat. They feed the animal, often under a tree. Then, the song describes the sound that animal makes.

Building the Song

In the next verse, a new animal is added. But here's the fun part: the song then repeats the sounds of all the animals from the verses before! This pattern continues, making the song longer and more exciting with each new animal.

Different Versions of the Song

People have sung this song for a long time, so there are many different versions.

Old English Versions

In the early 1900s, several versions were known in the Thames Valley area of England. For example, a version collected in Bampton, Oxfordshire around 1916 started like this:

The very first thing my mother bought me,
It was a hen, you may plainly see;
And every time I fed my hen,
I fed her under the tree.

My hen went chick-chack,
My cock went cock-a-te-too;
Here's luck to all my cocks and hens,
And my cock-a-doodle-do.

American Versions

Music experts Loraine Wyman and Howard Brockway found a version called "The Barnyard Song" in Kentucky in 1916. That version began:

I had a cat and the cat pleased me,
I fed my cat under yonder tree.
Cat goes fiddle-i-fee.

Some American versions are a bit different. Instead of repeating sounds in each verse, they list all the animal sounds together at the very end of the song.

Where You Might Hear It

The "Farmyard Song" has been used in many places, from classical music to kids' TV shows!

• The famous composer Aaron Copland included a version called "I Bought Me a Cat" in his 1950 collection, Old American Songs.
• The folk group The Watersons sang "I Went to Market" on their 1981 album, Green Fields.
• Con Greaney sang "My Cock Crew" on his 1991 album, Traditional Singer.
• The children's show Barney & Friends featured "Bought Me a Cat" in their 1992 episode "Down on Barney's Farm".