I Had a Little Rooster (Farmyard Song)

DESCRIPTION: The singer enjoys the company of various animals, e.g. "I had a little rooster by the barnyard gate, And that little rooster was my playmate, And that little rooster went Cock-a-doodle-doo...." And so forth, cumulatively, for various animals
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1849 (Halliwell)
KEYWORDS: animal cumulative nonballad farming humorous chickens sheep horse dog
FOUND IN: Britain(England(All),Scotland(Aber)) Ireland US(Ap,SE,So) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (36 citations):
Randolph 352, "I Bought Me a Rooster" (4 texts, 2 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen-OzarkFolksongs-Abridged, pp. 290-291, "I Bought Me a Rooster" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 352A)
McNeil-SouthernMountainFolksong, pp. 126-129, "I Bought Me a Cat" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnold-FolkSongsofAlabama, p. 126, "Greenwood Trees" (1 fragment, 1 tune); p. 140, "Had a Little Rooster" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 124, "Barnyard Song" (1 text plus3 excerpts and mention of 2 more)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 124, "Barnyard Song" (3 tunes plus text excerpts)
Morris-FolksongsOfFlorida, #219, "The Farmyard" (1 text)
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 192, "The Farmyard" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wyman/Brockway-LonesomeSongs-KentuckyMountains-Vol1, p. 6, "The Barnyard Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Williams-FolkSongsOfTheUpperThames, pp. 284-285, "Here's Luck to All My Cocks and Hens" (1 text) (also Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Ox 202)
Reeves-TheEverlastingCircle 42, "Farmyard Song" (1 text)
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 297, "I Bought Myself a Cock" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hamer-GarnersGay, pp. 66-67, "I Had a Little Cock" (1 text, 1 tune)
Palmer-EnglishCountrySongbook, #115, "I Went to Market" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gainer-FolkSongsFromTheWestVirginiaHills, pp. 164-165, "The Barnyard Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roberts-SangBranchSettlers, #100, "The Cat Played Fiddie on My Fee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thomas-DevilsDitties, pp. 156-157, "The Barnyard" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 218, "The Farmyard" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp/Karpeles-EightyEnglishFolkSongs 78, "The Farmyard" (1 text, 1 tune -- a composite version)
Karpeles-TheCrystalSpring 117, "I Had a Little Cock" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gentry/Smith-ASingerAmongSingers, #60, "The Farm Yard" (1 text, 1 tune)
Richardson/Spaeth-AmericanMountainSongs, p. 77, "Bought a Cow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig/Duncan8 1666, "I Bocht a Hennie" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #159, p. 2, "I Haed a Hennie" (1 text)
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 230, "Fiddle-I-Fee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chase-AmericanFolkTalesAndSongs, pp. 171-174, "Fiddle-i-Fee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Newell-GamesAndSongsOfAmericanChildren, #48, "My Household" (1 short text)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 387, "I Had a Rooster" (1 text)
Messerli-ListenToTheMockingbird, pp. 21-24, "Bought Me a Cat" (1 text)
Montgomerie/Montgomerie-ScottishNurseryRhymes 13, "(I had a wee cock and I loved it well)" (1 text)
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, Dan Patterson, "A Sheaf of North Carolina Folksongs," Vol. IV, No. 1 (Jul 1956), pp. 28, "I Had a Little Rooster" (1 text, 1 tune)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 392, "I had a rooster (cat) and my rooster pleased me" (notes only -- although they include some quite unusual variants)
SongsOfAllTime, p. 73, "Barnyard Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, ROOSTR2 (I HAD A WEE COCK), ROOSTR3 (BOUGHT ME A CAT), ROOSTR4 (I HAD A ROOSTER), ROOSTR5 (LITTLE ROOSTER)
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Popular Rhymes of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1870 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 31-32, "My Cock, Lily-Cock" ("I had a wee cock, and I loved it well, I fed my cock on yonder hill")
Robert Chambers (Edited by Norah and William Montgomerie), Traditional Scottish Nursery Rhymes (1990 selected from Popular Rhymes) #15, pp. 18-19, ("I had a henny")
Roud #544
RECORDINGS:
George Blackman, "I Bought Myself a Cock" (on FSB10)
John Curtis, "Farmyard" (on NFMLeach)
Maud Long, "Fiddle-I-Fee" (AFS; on LC14)
Jamesie McCarthy, "Kerry Cock" (on IRClare01)
Marieo Perkins, "I Love My Rooster" (on JThomas01)
Pete Seeger, "Bought Me a Cat" (on PeteSeeger03, PeteSeegerCD03); "I Had a Rooster" (on PeteSeeger08, PeteSeegerCD02)
Asher Sizemore & Little Jimmie, "My Little Rooster" (Bluebird B-5495, 1934)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Le Marche des Animaux (The Animal Market)" (theme and structure)
File: R352

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