Darina wrote:
Hello!
I was just reading a story about a goat eating everything and it reminded me of the song “Bill Grogan’s Goat” ( I think that is the name of it). Does anyone know where I can find the lyrics?
This is a traditional Scout song. Each line is sung and then repeated by the group. Here are the lyrics:
Bill Grogan’s Goat
Bill Grogan’s goat,
Was feeling fine.
Ate three red shirts,
Right off the line.Bill took a stick,
Gave him a whack,
And tied that goat,
To the railroad track.The whistle blew,
The train grew nigh,
Bill Grogan’s goat,
Was doomed to die.He heaved a sigh,
Of awful pain,
Coughed up the shirts,
And flagged the train!
Enjoy!
Lisa
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17 Responses to “Lyrics to “Bill Grogan’s Goat””
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January 18th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
Lisa,
THANK YOU! I can’t wait to share this with my students tomorrow! I really didn’t think that anyone else but me remembered this silly song.
September 28th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Lisa, I recall that there was also one final verse omitted above:
The engineer was awful sore,
He climbed in the cab and slammed the door.
The whistle blew, he rang the bell,
And knocked Bill Grogan’s goat right straight to —-
Way down upon a Swanee River,
That’s where the dead goats lie.
October 6th, 2011 at 5:07 pm
we sang that at camp, the second part of the song is as follows – Bill Grogans goat not a chicken but a goat, was feeling fine not sad but fine, stole 3 red shirts not sox but shirts, right off the line not a rope but a line, Bill took a stick not a rope but a stick,gave him a whack not a smack but a whack and tied him to not one but two the railroad track not a road but a track, the whistle blew not red but blew the train drew nigh not far but nigh, Bill Grogans goat not a chicken but a goat was doomed to die not live but die, he gave a moan not a groan but a moan of awful pain not of joy but of pain, coughed up those shirts not sox but shirts and flagged the train, not a plane but a train,,,,,
April 9th, 2013 at 9:20 pm
Amazing how we learned this in like first grade. Kind of a depressing story. Didn’t understand it at all.
July 8th, 2017 at 3:42 pm
Another version is called Old Hogan’s Goat.
January 21st, 2019 at 5:03 pm
According to an old music book of children’s song, here is the complete song:
Bill Grogan’s goat was feeling fine, ate 3 red shirts from off the line.
Bill took a stick, gave him a whack and tied him to the railroad track.
The whistle blew; the train drew nigh. Bill Grogan’s goat was doomed to die!
He gave 3 groans of awful pain, coughed up those shirts, flagged down the train!
The engineer stopped the train in time, took Bill’s red shirts, washed off the grime.
He untied Bill’s goat from the railroad track and took him to Bill Grogan’s shack.
He wore those shirts; they fit just fine. And chugged away on the railroad line.
Bill feeds his goat with special care, lest he should eat his underwear!
March 11th, 2019 at 3:07 pm
Thanks to everyone! My father sang this to all babies, starting with my generation. (I’m now 88)
My granddaughter has just acquired 4 goats, one of which just delivered 2 kids. I’ve shared this with her and waiting for her response. Regards, PRW
February 15th, 2020 at 7:02 am
My dad used to gather us kids Friday nights and we would climb up on their beds and sing many songs. This was one of them. I couldn’t remember all the words. Now 55+ years later the song popped in my head and I couldn’t remember all the words. Thank you for this. Brings back such beautiful memories!!
February 29th, 2020 at 9:03 pm
I am so glad I found this. I was working on my genealogy records, and in my folks’ folder, I had written the words to this song as my dad sang it to me very often, mind you, this was over 60 years ago. Googled this and I am grateful to JC who wrote January 2019, those lyrics were the ones my dad sang to me. But I never heard the verse after “And flagged the train”. Thank you for that.
March 17th, 2020 at 6:01 am
Loved singing this song when I was a kid too, and even now. I’m 75 and am very glad to have found all the lyrics to Bill Grogan’s Goat. Have no grandchildren, only granddogs!
June 27th, 2020 at 5:23 pm
This is a fun song that was in one of the Thomson music books when I was taking piano lessons as a child. My siblings and I sing this song at our extended family reunions…by request! This reunion includes four generations. Now that I am nearly 90, my great grandchildren want me to sing it for them! What fun!
September 30th, 2020 at 4:25 am
We sang this song in the 1950s with a slight mod. I grew up in the city of Bombay…
“The Bombay goat
was feeling fine,
ate 3 red shirts,
right off the line.”
The rest is just the same & no last verse about the engineer. Probably because we learnt it in Kinder-garden.
They may have officially changed the name to Mumbai, but the local Marathi speaking people had problems pronouncing “B” and always said Mumbai, B is a difficult consonant to pronounce for many peoples. In Greek the second letter is not pronounced Beta but Vita.
April 28th, 2021 at 11:13 pm
Very curious! My childhood version went like this:
There was a man named Nathan Stone,
And he had a goat that he called his own.
Now this here goat got to feeling fine
Ate 6 red shirts right off the line.
When Nathan saw what the goat had done
He said, Now goat, your time has come.
So he took him down to the railroad track
And tied him so he couldn’t come back.
And the engine came,
and the whistle blew
And that poor goat
Knew his time was due.
* (Next (last) verse added by me for the sake of my grandkids…)
But the engineer saw him on the track
He stopped the train
(OR: He untied the goat)
And he took him back
To Nathan Stone
Who loved the goat, that he called his own.
-_-_-_-_-
Has anyone else ever heard the Nathan Stone version???
May 20th, 2021 at 2:20 am
We have a beautiful wooden goat fashioned in the ancient Greek recumbent style and painted as if reclaimed from the sea covered all over with verdigrie (green) and with golden horns. In trying to conjure up a name for him i recalled a story from my childhood. But it was Paddy McGinty’s Goat in my version. Thanks.
October 9th, 2021 at 4:06 am
When we sang it, it was Old Hogan’s Goat and Coughed up the shirts and flagged the train was the end.
November 12th, 2021 at 12:08 pm
Here is the version our entire camp used to sing down by the lake during campfire night.
Bill Grogan’s Goat
was feeling fine
ate three red shirst
from off the line
Bill took a stick
gave him a whack
and tied him to
the railroad tracks
The whistle blew
the train drew nugh
Bill Grogan’s goat
was sure to die
He let out three groans
of aweful pain
coughed up the shirts
and flagged the train
The engineer
came out to see
what in the heck
this thing could be
And when he saw
twas a billy goat
took out his knife
and slit his throat
When he got to heaven
Saint Peter said
dear billy goat
where is your head
I do not know
I cannot tell
for all I know
………it could be way down yonder in the cornfield
……… without a shirt !
March 8th, 2024 at 5:51 am
I remember mom singing this song when I was a kid. She has been gone for 30 years now and was just short of 60 when she passed on. I always wondered just how old this song really is.
It does bring back good memories of mom. she really liked to sing.