" Old MacDonald Had a Farm " is a children's song about a farmer by the name of MacDonald and the various animals that live on his farm. In each verse, a new animal is mentioned and the sound made by this animal sounds. In many versions, in each couplet, not one animal makes sounds, but the sounds of all those mentioned earlier are summarized [1] . The song "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" is included in the Rhodes Folk Songs Index numbered 745.
Early versions
Tommy's Tunes , a 1917 music book , which is a collection of World War I songs, has the song “ Ohio (Old Macdougal Had a Farm)” with very similar lyrics, but slightly different farmer’s name and chorus:
- Old Macdougal had a farm in Ohio-io,
- And on that farm he had some dogs in Ohio-io,
- With a bow-wow here, and a bow-wow there,
- Here a bow, there a wow, everywhere a bow-wow.
- And on that farm he had some dogs in Ohio-io,
The Traditional Ballad Index online database considers this song from Tommy's Tunes to be the earliest known version of Old Macdonald Had a Farm [1] .