Over the River and Through the Woods

DESCRIPTION: "Over the river and through the woods To Grandmother's house we go." The family travels (by horse) to Grandmother's (for Thanksgiving)
AUTHOR: Words: Lydia Marie Child (1802-1880)
EARLIEST DATE: 1978
KEYWORDS: nonballad food family
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Pankake/Pankake-PrairieHomeCompanionFolkSongBook, p. 278, "Over the River and Through the Woods" (1 text)
OneTuneMore, p. 6, "Over the River" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Martin Gardner, editor, _Famous Poems from Bygone Days_, Dover, 1995, pp. 41-44, "Thanksgiving Day" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Esther Loizeaux den Breems, "Over the River and Through the Woods" (Fragment: Piotr-Archive #448, recorded 01/25/2023)
NOTES [116 words]: Obviously primarily a popular song, sustained by recordings and print versions, and with no relevance outside the U.S. But the fact that it has been sung by so many families in cars implies that it is at least a marginal folk song. It has certainly undergone some evolution; the original is a dozen stanzas long, and I can't recall ever seeing some of the verses, such as that about "Old Jowler," before. And the first verse mentions going to GrandFATHER's house, not GrandMOTHER's.
Author Lydia Maria Child sounds like a rather formidable character, a feminist and an abolitionist. She wrote poetry, novels, and non-fiction, and founded an early children's magazine, Juvenile Miscellany. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: PHCFS278

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