Father Abraham

DESCRIPTION: Motion song. "Father Abraham had (many) sons, And many sons had Father Abraham. I am one of them, and so are you, So let's all praise the Lord! Right am!" Repeat, adding motions for left arm, right foot, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 2014 (Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs)
KEYWORDS: father children nonballad campsong
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 517, "Father Abraham Had Seven Sons" (notes only)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Father Abraham Had Many Sons
NOTES [122 words]: Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs gives this the title "Father Abraham Had Seven Sons." It seems more common to say that he had "many sons," but we do have a list of Abraham's sons:
- Ishmael, by his slave Hagar (Genesis 16, etc.)
- Isaac, by first wife Sarah/Sarai (Genesis 21, etc.), who was Abraham's primary heir
- Six sons by his second wife Keturah: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, Shuah (Genesis 25:1-6), who were secondary heirs.
Thus Abraham had *eight* sons. This leads me to suspect that the original did indeed read "seven sons," and then someone counted and changed it.
A German recording, "Adam Hatte Sieben Schne," obviously transfers the song from Abraham to Adam -- but the number of Adam's children is unknown. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.3
File: ACSF517A

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