"Old MacDonald Had a Farm" is a children's song and nursery rhyme about a farmer named MacDonald and the various animals he keeps on his farm. Each verse of the song changes the name of the animal and its respective noise. In many versions, the song is cumulative, with the animal sounds from all the earlier verses added to each subsequent verse. For example, the verse uses a cow as an animal and "moo" as the animal's sound. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 745.
Early versions
In the 1917 book Tommy's Tunes, a collection of World War I era songs by F. T. Nettleingham, the song "Ohio" has quite similar lyrics—though with a slightly different farmer's name and refrain: This version lists eight species of animal: some dogs, some hens, some ducks, some cows, some pigs, some cats, a goat and a donkey. The Traditional Ballad Index consider the Tommy's Tunes version to be the earliest known version of "Old Macdonald Had a Farm", though it cites numerous variants, some of them much older. Two of these variants were published in Vance Randolph's Ozark Folksongs in 1980. One was "Old Missouri", sung by a Mr. H. F. Walker of Missouri in 1922, a version that names different parts of the mule rather than different animals: A British version of the song, called "The Farmyard, or The Merry Green Fields," was collected in 1908 from a 74-year-old Mrs. Goodey at Marylebone Workhouse, London, and published in Cecil Sharp's Collection of English Folk Songs. Perhaps the earliest recorded member of this family of songs is a number from an opera called The Kingdom of the Birds, published in 1719–1720 in Thomas D'Urfey's Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy:
Translations
The lyrics have been translated from English into other languages and modified slightly to fit rhythmic and cultural requirements. In most languages below, it is still sung as a children's song to the same tune.
In Afrikaans the song is called Ou Oom Klasie het ‘n plaas.
An Egyptian Arabic version of the song exists, with Geddo Ali as the farmer character.
In Armenian, there is a translation under copyright by Karenn Presti published in 2017's My First Armenian Songbook.
In Chinese, there are several versions of the song with same tune. The most popular is Wáng lǎo xiānshēng yǒu kuài dì.
In German, it is Onkel Jörg hat einen Bauernhof. An alternative version is Old MacDonald hat 'ne Farm, keeping the English name of the farmer, and translating the rest quite literally.
In Hebrew, it is LaDod Moshe hayta chava. This version was translated by Avraham Broshi.
In Italian, it is Nella vecchia fattoria. The farmer is Zio Tobia.
In one Japanese version, it is Yukai-na Makiba. Ichiro, Jiro, and Saburo are the farmers who have animals.
* In another Japanese version, it is Makku no Ojisan, sounds playfully like the Western version.
In Polish, it is Stary Donald farmę miał or Pan McDonald farmę miał.
In Portuguese, the most common version is Na quinta do tio Manel, with alternate versions being Seu Lobato tinha um sítio or even O velho McDonald tinha uma fazenda.
In Russian,unofficial variation:"Дед МакДональд напевал И-ай,и-ай,О!" Translated by Leonid Zuborev cyril.: Леонид Зуборев
In Serbian, the song, with very different lyrics but the same melody, is Svako jutro jedno jaje organizmu snagu daje.
In Slovene, it is Na kmetiji je lepo. It can be a children's song, but in some versions of the song, the lyrics have been made from childish into vulgar, like a drinking song.
Some Spanish versions include En la granja de Pepito, El Viejo MacDonald tenía una granja, El granjero tenía un campo, or En la vieja factoría.
