Row, Row, Row Your Boat

DESCRIPTION: "Row, row, row your boat, Gently down the stream, Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1852 (broadside, LOCSheet sm1852 511180)
KEYWORDS: nonballad campsong | round
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 412, "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" (1 text)
Fuld-BookOfWorldFamousMusic, pp. 475-476, "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"
Harbin-Parodology, #332, p. 82, "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" (1 text, 1 tune)
Rodeheaver-SociabilitySongs, p. 120, "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" (1 text, 1 tune)
Zander/Klusmann-CampSongsNThings, p. 68, "Row Your Boat" (1 text, 1 tune)
Zander/Klusmann-CampSongsPopularEdition, p. 33, "Row Your Boat" (1 text)
BoyScoutSongbook1997, p. 30, "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" (1 text, 1 tune)
National-4HClubSongBook, p. 28, "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" (1 text, 1 tune, with "Chew, Chew, Chew Your Food" as a second verse)
OneTuneMore, p. 38, "Row Your Boat" (1 text, 1 tune)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, pp. 128, 191, 394, 422, 435, 442, 447, "Row Your Boat" (notes only)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1852 511180, "The Old Log Hut" or "Row, Row Your Boat," Firth, Pond and Co. (New York), 1852; also sm1853 710040, sm1853 531440, "Row, Row Your Boat" or "The Old Log Hut" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Glub, Glub, Glub Your Boat (File: ACSF436G)
Rheumatism (File: ACSF255R)
Perfect Posture (File: Paro339)
Row, Row, Row Your Boat (Throw Your Teacher Overboard) (Pankake/Pankake-PrairieHomeCompanionFolkSongBook, p. 93)
Propel, Propel, Propel Your Craft (Pankake/Pankake-PrairieHomeCompanionFolkSongBook, p. 208; cf, Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 128)
How, How, How D'ye Do? (Harbin-Parodology, #176, p. 48)
Chew! ("Chew, chew, chew your food, Gently through the meal") (Harbin-Parodology, #261, p. 65; cf. Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 436)
Come to League ("Come, come, come to League, Bring your chum along") (Harbin-Parodology, #326, p. 81)
Cheer Up ("Cheer up (someone), cheer up (someone), Smile a while, smile a while") (Rodeheaver-SociabilitySongs, p. 121)
Black-Eyed Susan ("Black-eyed Susan, Black-eyed Susan, How are you, how are you?") (Rodeheaver-SociabilitySongs, p. 121)
NOTES [134 words]: 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.
The early texts don't entirely resemble the round we sing today. The version in Dime-Song-Book #8, for instance, has two verses, the first beginning "Down by the river our log hut stands, Where father and mother once dwell...." It's a nostalgia song. The round that we usually sing it the chorus, and runs "Row, row, row, your boat, Gently down the stream, All that's past is gone, you know, The future's but a dream." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: FSWB412C

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