Folk Songs

Hey Diddle Diddle

The most wonderfully surreal nursery rhyme ever written

Sing a Song of Sixpence

Twenty-four blackbirds, a pecked-off nose, and a pocket full of rye

Skye Boat Song

Speed, bonnie boat — carrying the lad born to be King over the sea

The Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomond

A haunting Scottish love song born from the tragedy of Culloden

Who Killed Cock Robin?

The solemn inquest into the death of Cock Robin — one of England's oldest rhymes

All The Pretty Little Horses (Hush-A-Bye)

One of the most hauntingly beautiful lullabies in American tradition

Alouette

The beloved French-Canadian camp song that everyone knows

Down in the Valley

A haunting American folk song of loneliness, longing, and lost love

For Want of a Nail

The ancient proverb-poem about how one small missing thing can cause a kingdom to fall

Frère Jacques / Brother John

The world's most famous round — a medieval French morning bell song

Girls and Boys Come Out to Play

A moonlit invitation to children to come out and play in the street

Irish Lullaby

Toora loora loora — the beloved Irish cradle song sung across generations

Kerry Lullaby

A gentle Irish lullaby from the hills and valleys of County Kerry

Oh Danny Boy

The pipes are calling from glen to glen — and I must bide while you must go

Old King Cole

A merry old soul who called for his pipe, his bowl and his fiddlers three

Puff the Magic Dragon

A dragon who lived by the sea and the boy who grew up

Pussycat, Pussycat

A royal visit and a very small, very distracted cat

See Saw Margery Daw

A penny a day — and only because Jacky can't work faster

She Sells Sea Shells

Sally and her seashells — the greatest tongue-twister in the nursery

Sing a Rainbow

Listen with your eyes and sing every colour you see

Ten Green Speckled Frogs

One by one they jump into the cool pool — then there were none

The Bear Went Over the Mountain

He went over the mountain to see what he could see — the other side

Blow the Man Down

A rousing sea shanty from the golden age of sail

Gaelic Cradle Song

A hauntingly beautiful traditional lullaby from the Gaelic world

In Dublin's Fair City

Sweet Molly Malone and her cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh

Little Liza Jane

A joyful American folk song about the girl down south in Baltimore

Manx Lullaby

Oh hush my lapwing, my little brown bird — a lullaby from the Isle of Man

Oh Dear, What Can the Matter Be?

Johnny's so long at the fair — and he promised blue ribbons

Ride a Toy Horse

Riding to Banbury Cross to hear music wherever she goes

Robin a Thrush

A most unfortunate marriage told in nine comic verses

Sur le Pont d'Avignon

Dancing on the bridge at Avignon — tout en rond

Thy Cradle Is Green

A gentle lullaby with a royal cradle and the wind rocking a baby to sleep

A Frog He Would A Wooing Go

An ancient frog courting a mouse — one of England's oldest ballads

A Sailor Went To Sea Sea Sea

The classic hand-clapping song every playground knows

All Night, All Day (Angels Watching Over Me)

A beautiful African-American spiritual about angels watching over us

Au Claire De La Lune

A French lullaby with the most extraordinary recording history

Bobby Shaftoe

A Scottish lament for a silver-buckled sailor gone to sea

Bright Morning Stars Are Rising

A gentle Appalachian spiritual welcoming the dawn

Camptown Races

Stephen Foster's exuberant American minstrel song about a legendary horse race

Coulter's Candy

A beloved Scottish sweet-shop song that has soothed children for 150 years

Dashing Away With the Smoothing Iron

A cheerful folksong following a young man's admiration through every day of the week

Froggy Went a-Courtin'

The ancient ballad of a frog who woos a mouse — one of the oldest folk songs in existence

Go Tell Aunt Rhody

A gentle American folk song about the death of an old grey goose

In and Out the Windows

A circle dance that weaves through arches as windows and staircases

Kumbaya

Someone's singing, Lord — a gentle song of prayer and togetherness

Michael Finnegan

There was an old man named Michael Finnegan — begin again

Nuts in May

Here we go gathering nuts in May — on a cold and frosty morning

Oh My Darling, Clementine

Lost and gone forever — the miner's daughter who fell into the foaming brine

Pick a Bale of Cotton

Jump down, turn around, pick a bale a day

Shortnin' Bread

Mama's little baby loves shortnin' bread