Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 8 hours ago
Frog he Would a Wooing Go / Kitty Alone / Mr. Frog / The Wedding of Frog and Mouse / Frog Went A-Courting (Roud No. 16) - Sung by Packie Manus Byrne (1917-2015) of Corkermore, Killybegs, County Donegal, Ireland. From the album "Packie Byrne" (1969) EFDSS LP 1009. Recorded by Sean Davies at the Cecil Sharp House in London, England in 1969.
Notes by Kevin W.:
I put together a playlist of variants of this humorous old song:
youtube.com/watch?v=sGwP70Lh9B0&list=PLVDpl8vHMkO_bU7F1NXLTc9GKpyq_pmy9
There's a nice amount of variation in verses and tunes although the basic story never changes except where it was forgotten or deliberately rewritten.
Len Graham covered Packie Byrne's version on "Ye Lovers All" (1984) Claddagh Records CC41 with Fintan McManus. But he left out several verses and gave the song a happy ending.
The earliest known mention of the song appears in Robert Wedderburn's "The Complaynt of Scotland" (1549) which presents us with the line "The Frog cam to the Myl dur". And on November 21st, 1580, a ballad titled "A Moste Strange Weddinge of the Frogge and the Mouse" was entered in the London Company of Stationers' Register by Edward White.
It wasn't until Thomas Ravenscroft's "Melismata" (1611) that we get a full text and musical notation under the title "The Marriage of Frogge and Movse" which can be seen here:
pbm.com/~lindahl/ravenscroft/songbook/marriage_of_the_frogge_and_the_mouse.html
Song transcription:
A frog set out to woo a mouse,
Fol low de rink a ler ee-o
A frog set out to woo a mouse
And so he went to the mouse's house.
Fol low de rink a ler ee-o,
A-tant ti ra ree a fir rand-e.
Saying, "Young Miss Mouse will ye marry me?"
"I will if my Uncle Rat agrees."
When Uncle Rat came home that noon,
Saying, "Who's been here since I left home?"
"Well, indeed there's been a nice young man,
And I will marry him if I can."
"Well that is very good news my dear,
And we will soon have music here."
Now the first came in was a bumble bee,
With his fiddle upon his knee.
And the next came in was a big black snail,
With his bagpipes on his tail.
And the next came in were two little white dogs,
Dressed in breeches, collars and clogs.
And now that we're all in merry good cheer,
We're going to have some dancing here.
So they tapped it out with their toes and heels,
Sets and hornpipes, jigs and reels.
When little miss wasp got up to sing,
She touched the fiddler with her sting.
Then who came in but a big tomcat,
That caught Miss Mouse and broke her back.
Then poor Mister Frog did croak and moan,
Went sadly home, and lived alone.
Frog he Would a Wooing Go / Kitty Alone / Mr. Frog / The Wedding of Frog and Mouse / Frog Went A-Courting (Roud No. 16) - Sung by Packie Manus Byrne (1917-2015) of Corkermore, Killybegs, County Donegal, Ireland. From the album "Packie Byrne" (1969) EFDSS LP 1009. Recorded by Sean Davies at the Cecil Sharp House in London, England in 1969.
Notes by Kevin W.:
I put together a playlist of variants of this humorous old song:
youtube.com/watch?v=sGwP70Lh9B0&list=PLVDpl8vHMkO_bU7F1NXLTc9GKpyq_pmy9
There's a nice amount of variation in verses and tunes although the basic story never changes except where it was forgotten or deliberately rewritten.
Len Graham covered Packie Byrne's version on "Ye Lovers All" (1984) Claddagh Records CC41 with Fintan McManus. But he left out several verses and gave the song a happy ending.
The earliest known mention of the song appears in Robert Wedderburn's "The Complaynt of Scotland" (1549) which presents us with the line "The Frog cam to the Myl dur". And on November 21st, 1580, a ballad titled "A Moste Strange Weddinge of the Frogge and the Mouse" was entered in the London Company of Stationers' Register by Edward White.
It wasn't until Thomas Ravenscroft's "Melismata" (1611) that we get a full text and musical notation under the title "The Marriage of Frogge and Movse" which can be seen here:
pbm.com/~lindahl/ravenscroft/songbook/marriage_of_the_frogge_and_the_mouse.html
Song transcription:
A frog set out to woo a mouse,
Fol low de rink a ler ee-o
A frog set out to woo a mouse
And so he went to the mouse's house.
Fol low de rink a ler ee-o,
A-tant ti ra ree a fir rand-e.
Saying, "Young Miss Mouse will ye marry me?"
"I will if my Uncle Rat agrees."
When Uncle Rat came home that noon,
Saying, "Who's been here since I left home?"
"Well, indeed there's been a nice young man,
And I will marry him if I can."
"Well that is very good news my dear,
And we will soon have music here."
Now the first came in was a bumble bee,
With his fiddle upon his knee.
And the next came in was a big black snail,
With his bagpipes on his tail.
And the next came in were two little white dogs,
Dressed in breeches, collars and clogs.
And now that we're all in merry good cheer,
We're going to have some dancing here.
So they tapped it out with their toes and heels,
Sets and hornpipes, jigs and reels.
When little miss wasp got up to sing,
She touched the fiddler with her sting.
Then who came in but a big tomcat,
That caught Miss Mouse and broke her back.
Then poor Mister Frog did croak and moan,
Went sadly home, and lived alone.
