Old Abram Brown is an old nursery rhyme. In some versions, he’s called Old Grimes. Some people sing this rhyme as a song for Halloween. Here are the lyrics and a YouTube video…
Old Abram Brown is Dead and Gone
Old Abram Brown is dead and gone,
You’ll never see him more;
He used to wear a long brown coat,
That buttoned down before.
About the rhyme: According to The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, "Old Abram Brown" is from a mummers’ play. The mummers would go around from house to house in disguise and perform plays. Mumming goes back to the Middle Ages and was extremely popular in Great Britain. It was often done at specific times of the year, like Easter, Christmas and All Souls Day (near Halloween). Mummers’ plays often involved the killing and resuscitation of one of the characters.
This article was posted on Wednesday, October 13th, 2010 at 11:01 am and is filed under Countries & Cultures, Customs and Traditions, England, English Nursery Rhymes, Halloween, Halloween Songs, Holiday Songs, Holidays Around the World, Ireland, Mummers Plays, Mumming, Nursery Rhymes, Nursery Rhymes about Halloween, Nursery Rhymes about Holidays, Old Abram Brown, Scotland, United Kingdom, USA, YouTube. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
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