The song "Pussy Willows" used to be taught in schools. Some people have written to me about it because their grandparents sang it to them as kids. It’s a sweet little song!
Here are the lyrics to Pussy Willows, with a musical score and midi tune…
Pussy Willows
Pretty pussies down by the brook,
Swinging away to and fro;
On the bending willow boughs
Like pussy cats all in a row.
If I put you down by the fire,
You pussies so cunning and shy,
I wonder if you’ll turn
Into pussy cats by and by?
“Ah, no!” the pussies said,
“We couldn’t and we wouldn’t do that;
We belong to fairy folks
And we are their pussy cats.”
If anyone would like to sing this song for us, please email me or comment below.
Enjoy!
Mama Lisa
Many thanks to Monique Palomares from the French version of Mama Lisa’s World for creating the midi tune.
This article was posted on Friday, March 22nd, 2013 at 8:38 am and is filed under American Kids Songs, Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, England, English, English Children's Songs, Languages, Midis, Music, Musical Scores, Recordings, Recordings of Songs, USA. 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.
August 13th, 2013 at 1:39 pm
My Mother used to sing this to me as her Father sang it to her. I’m 40 now and lost my Mother years ago but I like to think that this as “our song.”
I learned it with some variation on the lyrics but honestly these make more sense. Its a cute little ditty.
March 16th, 2014 at 1:24 pm
My great aunt Nettie had this song for us as we came along, 10 of us siblings. Slightly different words and the tune changed up a bit, but quite obviously the same.
August 6th, 2015 at 1:33 am
My grandmother and mother’s version combined the first and second stanzas and kept the last stanzA as follows
Little pussies down by the brook
Little pussies so cunning and shy
Will you sit by my fireside
And be my pussy cats by and by
Oh no the pussies said
We couldnt and we wouldnt do that
We belong to the fairy folk
And we are their pussy cats
July 22nd, 2016 at 12:21 am
My grandmother sang this song to us with a different tune. I am a new grandma and wanted to sing it for my grandson in remembrance of my grandmother. Thanks for the lyrics!
August 10th, 2016 at 5:32 pm
Thank you for printing the words to this song. My grandmother also sang this song to me. I am a grandmother now, and I want to sing it to my grandchildren also, in remembrance of my grandmother. Thank you for printing this. It is fun to see that others’ grandparents sang this song to them. I wish that there was a youtube video with someone singing this song on it.
Thank you very much!
May 12th, 2024 at 12:09 pm
My grandmother sang this to her grandchildren and I sang it to my son and now he songs it to his kids. I love that I can remember my dear grandmother through this song!