I’ve been having a lot of fun researching the history of the popular song Frog Went A Courtin’. There are many versions. It originated in Scotland over 450 years ago. There’s also a well-known British version called A Frog He Would A-wooing Go, which I’ve written about previously.
This song has also traveled around Canada and throughout the US. Along the way, many versions have cropped up – some with different tunes and names. One is called King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O, while another is called Sing Song Kitty (Won’t You Ki-Me-O).
I think it would be interesting to collect and post different versions on Mama Lisa’s World. If you know any versions of King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O or Sing Song Kitty, or any interesting variations of Frog Went A Courtin, please comment below.
We always welcome recordings if you’d like to sing it!
Thanks!
Lisa
This article was posted on Saturday, May 12th, 2007 at 6:06 pm and is filed under A Frog He Would A-wooing Go, American Kids Songs, Australia, British Children's Songs, Canada, Canadian Children's Songs, Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, England, English, Frog Went A courtin', King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O, Languages, Questions, Sing Song Kitty, There Was a Frog Lived in the Well, United Kingdom, 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.
151 Responses to “The Many Versions of Frog Went A Courtin’”
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April 24th, 2024 at 4:00 pm
Hi, Molly here, (aka “Molly Mouse”)… My mom sang this song to me over my whole life, (we’re from East Grand Rapids, Michigan & I was born in 1961). I think she must have listened to The Brothers Four 1961 version “Frogg” because the line she sang the most was: “Molly Mouse was a Hatcheck Girl Uh Huh”… Being that my name is Molly, she subsequently nicknamed me Molly Mouse, and it stuck, (& to this day my siblings, relatives, and friends all still call me Molly Mouse, & I get called everything from Molly Mouse, to Mouse, to Mouser), etc. She is in heaven now, but I can still hear her singing this version of the song to me clearly, (it’s burned into my brain)… Funny, she also sang tons of other songs to us, including lots of fraternity songs that she remembered from her time as a student at The University of Michigan, where she frequented all the frat parties back in 1946, (in fact, she met my dad at one). Many of the songs she sang were from the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity (aka FIGI), and ironically the Brothers Four folk group was formed by 4 Phi Gamma Delta members at The University of Washington, (hence their name: “Brothers Four”), etc. She also sang lots of Phi Delta Theta fraternity songs, and I laugh now because I ended up becoming a Sweetheart to Phi Delta Theta fraternity when I was in college, (because my sorority was affiliated with the Phi Delts)… I still have all my greek jerseys & tees saved from college, and one of them has the nickname “Mouse” on the back… Fun stuff, good times!!