Ten Little Indians (John Brown Had a Little Indian)

DESCRIPTION: "John Brown he had a little Indian (x3), One little Indian boy." "One little, two little, three little Indians, four little, five little, six little Indians, Seven little, eight little, nine little Indians, Ten little Indian boys"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1940 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: nonballad Indians(Am.)
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW,So)
REFERENCES (11 citations):
Randolph 594, "John Brown Had a Little Indian" (1 text)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 136, "John Brown Had a Little Injun" (1 text)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 136, "John Brown Had a Little Injun" (1 tune plus a text excerpt)
Henry-SongsSungInTheSouthernAppalachians, pp. 241-242, (no title) (1 short text, consisting of this chorus counted forward then backward; John Brown is not mentioned)
Byington/Goldstein-TwoPennyBallads, p. 106, "John Brown Had Little Indian" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spurgeon-WaltzTheHall-AmericanPlayParty, pp. 137-138, "Meet Hal Way with Your Best Likeness" (1 text, 1 tune, with the verses being from "Meet Half Way (Miss Liking)" but the chorus being "Ten Little Indians (John Brown Had a Little Indian)")
Fuld-BookOfWorldFamousMusic, p. 205, "Drunken Sailor (Monkey's Wedding -- John Brown Had a Little Injun -- Ten Little Injuns)"
Delamar-ChildrensCountingOutRhymes, pp. 45-46, "John Brown Had a Little Indian" (1 text)
Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes, #422, "One little, two little, three little Indians" (1 text)
cf. Baring-Gould-AnnotatedMotherGoose #597, p. 237, "(Tom Brown's)"
ADDITIONAL: Henry Randall Waite, _Carmina Collegensia: A Complete Collection of the Songs of the American Colleges_ first edition 1868, expanded edition, Oliver Ditson, 1876, p. 32, "John Brown Had a Little Injun" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4993
RECORDINGS:
Doreen Elliott, "Old Joe Badger" (on Elliotts01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Drunken Sailor" (tune, floating lyrics)
cf. "Old Brass Wagon" (tune)
cf. "Ten Little Injuns" (chorus)
cf. "Ten Little Indians (II)" (one verse)
NOTES [57 words]: Of the Mother Goose item "Tom Brown's Two little Indians," the Baring-Goulds write, "Whether or not this rhyme inspires the writing of 'Two Little Injuns...' is an interesting speculation." I must say that they are quite close -- close enough that pure coincidence seems unlikely. For more background, see the notes to "Ten Little Injuns." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: R594

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