Row, row, row your boat - wikipedia Row, row, row your boat `` Row, Row, Row Your Boat '' Sheet music Nursery rhyme Published 1852 `` Row, Row, Row Your Boat '' is an English language nursery rhyme and a popular children 's song. It can also be an `` action '' nursery rhyme, whose singers sit opposite one another and `` row '' forwards and backwards with joined hands. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19236. Contents 1 Lyrics 2 Origins 3 Additional or alternative verses 4 Notes and references Lyrics The most common modern version is often sung as a round for four voice parts ( play ( help info ) ). A possible arrangement for SATB is as follows : Soprano Contralto Tenor Bass Row, row, row your boat, Gently down the stream. Row, row, row your boat, Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Gently down the stream. Row, row, row your boat, Life is such a dream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Gently down the stream. Row, row, row your boat, Life is such a dream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Gently down the stream. Life is such a dream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream. The text above is often sung multiple times in succession to allow for the different voices to interweave with each other, forming four - part harmony. Origins It has been suggested that the song may have originally arisen out of American minstrelsy. The earliest printing of the song is from 1852, when the lyrics were published with similar lyrics to those used today, but with a very different tune. It was reprinted again two years later with the same lyrics and another tune. The modern tune was first recorded with the lyrics in 1881, mentioning Eliphalet Oram Lyte in The Franklin Square Song Collection but not making it clear whether he was the composer or adapter. Additional or alternative verses People often add additional verses, a form of children 's street culture, with the intent of either extending the song or ( especially in the case of more irreverent versions ) to make it funny, parody it, or substitute another sensibility for the perceived innocent one of the original. In Bean, where Rowan Atkinson ( Mr. Bean ) and Peter MacNicol ( David Langley ) also used this parody singing in the film. Versions include : Row, row, row your boat, Gently down the stream. If you see a crocodile, Do n't forget to scream. And : Row, row, row your boat, Gently down the stream. Throw your teacher overboard And listen to her scream. Notes and references Jump up ^ Studwell, S.M. ( 1997 ). The Americana Song Reader. New York : Haworth Press. p. 82. ISBN 0 - 7890 - 0150 - 0. Jump up ^ Johnson, B. & Cloonan, M. ( 2009 ). Dark Side of the Tune : Popular Music and Violence. Aldershot : Ashgate. p. 98. ISBN 1 - 4094 - 0049 - 2. Jump up ^ Lightfoot, C. ( 1997 ). The Culture of Adolescent Risk - Taking Culture and Human Development. New York : Guilford Press. p. 78. ISBN 1 - 57230 - 232 - 1. Nursery rhymes ( list ) `` A-Tisket, A-Tasket '' `` Baa, Baa, Black Sheep '' `` Did You Ever See a Lassie ? '' `` Hey Diddle Diddle '' `` Hickory Dickory Dock '' `` Hot Cross Buns '' `` Humpty Dumpty '' `` I 'm a Little Teapot '' `` It 's Raining, It 's Pouring '' `` Jack and Jill '' `` Little Bo Peep '' `` Little Boy Blue '' `` Little Miss Muffet '' `` Mary Had a Little Lamb '' `` Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary '' `` Old King Cole '' `` Old MacDonald Had a Farm '' `` Old Mother Hubbard '' `` Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe '' `` Peter Piper '' `` Polly Put the Kettle On '' `` Poor Mary '' `` Pop Goes the Weasel '' `` Pussy Cat Pussy Cat '' `` Rain Rain Go Away '' `` Roses Are Red '' `` Rub - a-dub - dub '' `` Simple Simon '' `` Sticks and Stones '' `` The Grand Old Duke of York '' `` The Queen of Hearts '' `` Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star '' `` Two Little Dickie Birds '' Clapping `` A Sailor Went to Sea '' `` Down Down Baby '' `` Mary Mack '' `` Miss Susie '' `` Miss Lucy '' `` Pat - a-cake '' `` Pretty Little Dutch Girl '' `` Pease Porridge Hot '' Counting `` Duck, duck, goose '' `` Eeny, meeny, miny, moe '' `` One, Two, Buckle My Shoe '' `` One, Two, Three, Four, Five '' `` This Old Man '' `` Tinker, Tailor '' Finger - plays `` Five Little Monkeys '' `` Itsy Bitsy Spider '' `` Little Robin Redbreast '' `` Round and round the garden '' `` This Little Piggy '' Games `` London Bridge '' `` The Muffin Man '' `` Mulberry Bush '' `` Oranges and Lemons '' `` Ring a Ring o ' Roses '' `` The Farmer in the Dell '' Riddle `` As I was going to St Ives '' Lullabies `` Hush, Little Baby '' `` Rock - a-bye Baby '' Rounds `` Ding Dong Bell '' `` Frère Jacques '' `` Kookaburra '' `` Row, Row, Row Your Boat '' `` Scotland 's Burning '' `` Three Blind Mice '' Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Row,_Row,_Row_Your_Boat&oldid=798284791 '' Categories : 1852 songs American nursery rhymes Children 's songs Roud Folk Song Index songs Rounds ( music ) Hidden categories : Articles with hAudio microformats Talk Contents About Wikipedia Dansk Français മലയാളം Slovenščina 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 1 September 2017, at 00 : 59. 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Question: where did row your boat song come from
Answer: American minstrelsy