There Was an Old Woman Lived Under a Hill

DESCRIPTION: "There was an old woman lived under a hill, And if she isn't gone, she lives there still." Various endings seem to have been grafted on.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1744 (Tom Thumb's Pretty Song Book)
KEYWORDS: home nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes 541, "There was an old woman" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-AnnotatedMotherGoose #4, p. 28, "(There Was an Old Woman)"
Shoemaker-MountainMinstrelsyOfPennsylvania, pp. 303-304, "The Old Woman Under the Hill" (1 text, of floating verses from all over; the general theme is probably closest to "Old Roger is Dead (Old Bumpy, Old Grimes, Pompey)," but the first verse is "There Was an Old Woman Lived Under a Hill," and it ends with the verse about the songbook being back on the shelf and if you want any more you can sing it yourself)
Roud #1613
File: BGMG004

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