Listen
Arrangement: Ian J. Watts / Mike Wilbury · Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks
Lyrics
Horsey, horsey, don't you stop,
Just let your feet go clippetty clop.
Your tail goes swish
And the wheels go round,
Giddy up, we're homeward bound.
Farmer Grey's got a one horse shay,
He takes to town on market day.
Coming home when the lights are low,
He sings his song as away they go.
You don't need the whip, no goodness knows,
You don't need the whip, so I'll take a doze.
We ain't in a hustle, we ain't in a bustle,
So don't go tearing up the road.
We ain't in a hurry, we ain't in a flurry,
And we ain't got a heavy load.
Horsey, horsey, don't you stop,
Just let your feet go clippetty clop.
Your tail goes swish
And the wheels go round,
Giddy up, we're homeward bound.
Traditional lyrics — public domain. Arrangement © Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks.
History & Background
History & Origin
"Horsey, Horsey" was written by Ralph Butler and Desmond O'Connor, published in 1938, and became an immediate hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Unlike most nursery rhymes, it has a known authorship and a specific moment of origin in the music hall tradition of the late 1930s.
The song captures a world that was already disappearing when it was written: the world of the horse-drawn vehicle, of Farmer Grey taking his shay to market, of a journey home measured in the rhythm of hooves rather than engine revolutions. By 1938, motor cars were well established on British roads, and the song already carried a gentle nostalgia for the clip-clop pace of an earlier era.
The charm of the song lies partly in its perspective. The singer is talking directly to the horse — not commanding it, but in gentle conversation, reassuring it that the whip won't be needed, acknowledging that there is no hurry, no heavy load. It is a song of companionship between human and animal, of a journey without urgency.
The onomatopoeic "clippetty clop" perfectly captures the sound of hooves on a road, and has made the song a perennial favourite with young children who delight in making the sound themselves.
