Row, row, row your boat life is but a dream meaning

3 August 2021, 20:46

Life is but a dream. Picture: Alamy

We unpack the history and origins of the wholesome, actions-based nursery rhyme.

‘Row Row Row Your Boat’ is a nursery rhyme, and a fun singalong song with accompanying actions.

The idyllic lyrics depict a journey that makes you into the protagonist, rowing a boat nice and serenely down a stream. Life is dreamy.

But who wrote the song, and where did it come from? Let’s row on and find out…

Read more: What are the lyrics and meaning of ‘Hey Diddle Diddle’?

What are the origins of ‘Row Row Row Your Boat’?

Like many traditional children’s folk songs and nursery rhymes, the original author is unknown.

The earliest publication of the song found in history is from 1852, and American teacher and textbook author Eliphalet Oram Lyte has a name credit next to the publication of the song in the 1881 Franklin Square Song Collection. Lyte’s version has the tune most widely known today, whereas previous versions have a different melody.

The song is accompanied by actions – usually participants sitting opposite one another, holding hands, and ‘rowing’ backwards and forwards together to mimic the lilting boat – that teach babies and young children coordination and communication skills.

It can also be sung as a round, with four or more singers joining in every time a new line is sung, creating some nice four-part harmony.

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What are the full lyrics of ‘Row Row Row Your Boat’?

‘Row Row Row Your Boat’ has just one stanza, with four lines:

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream

Other versions of the lyrics can be created off the cuff, and many of these have been passed on and stuck over time. You may have come across other words, including the fun versions that bring various animals in, below:

Row, row, row your boat
Gently up the creek
If you see a little mouse
Don’t forget to squeak!

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
If you see a crocodile
Don’t forget to scream!

Row, row, row your boat
Gently to the shore
If you see a lion
Don’t forget to roar!

What is the meaning of ‘Row Row Row Your Boat’?

It’s a wholesome adventure, and many people have put their own spins on the depth of the song’s meaning over time.

The positive messages of rowing on determinedly, the gentleness of the stream, the merriment of it all, and the dreaminess of life lend themselves irresistibly to revealing a deeper meaning in ‘Row Row Row Your Boat’ – a meaning that revolves around keeping going, staying focused, having a positive outlook and keeping things in perspective.

This guy went viral a few years ago discussing just that.

Whether a simple song to teach children communication and coordination, or a rhyme with a deeper meaning, it’s an undeniably catchy, uplifting little tune, perfect for keeping young‘uns entertained.

"Row, Row, Row Your Boat"
Row, row, row your boat life is but a dream meaning
Nursery rhyme
Published1852
Songwriter(s)Eliphalet Oram Lyte

"Row, Row, Row Your Boat" is an English language nursery rhyme and a popular children's song, often sung in a round. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19236.

Bing Crosby included the song in a medley on his album 101 Gang Songs (1961). Crosby also used the song as part of a round with his family during his concert at the London Palladium in 1976. The performance was captured on the album Bing Crosby Live at the London Palladium.

Lyrics[edit]

The most common modern version is often sung as a round for up to four voice parts (

Row, row, row your boat life is but a dream meaning
play (help·info)). A possible arrangement for SATB is as follows:

SopranoAltoTenorBass
Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream. Row, row, row your boat,
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Gently down the stream. Row, row, row your boat
Life is but a dream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Gently down the stream. Row, row, row your boat
Life is but a dream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Gently down the stream.
Life is but a dream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.
The text above is often sung multiple times in succession to allow for the different voices to interweave with each other, forming four-part harmony.

Melody[edit]

[1]

Row, row, row your boat life is but a dream meaning

Origins[edit]

The earliest printing of the song is from 1852, when the lyrics were published with similar lyrics to those used today, but with a very different tune. It was reprinted again two years later with the same lyrics and another tune. The modern tune was first recorded with the lyrics in 1881, mentioning Eliphalet Oram Lyte in The Franklin Square Song Collection but not making it clear whether he was the composer or adapter.[2]

Legacy and Alternative Versions[edit]

The nursery rhyme is well known, appearing in several films, e.g. Star Trek V, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Manos: The Hands of Fate. People often add additional verses, a form of children's street culture, with the intent of either extending the song or (especially in the case of more irreverent versions) to make it funny, parody it, or substitute another sensibility for the perceived innocent one of the original. In Bean, Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) and Peter MacNicol (David Langley) also used this parody singing in the film.[3] Don Music, a muppet character in Sesame Street, changed the lyrics to feature a car instead of a boat.[4][5][6]

Versions include:

Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
If you see a crocodile,
Don't forget to scream.

and

Row, row, row your boat,
Underneath the stream.
Ha-ha, fooled you!
I'm a submarine.

and

Row, row, row your boat,
Gently to the shore.
If you see a lion,
Don’t forget to roar.

and

Row, row, row your boat,
Gently around the bath.
If you see a large giraffe,
Don’t forget to laugh.

and

Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the river.
If you see a polar bear,
Don’t forget to shiver.

and

Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Throw your teacher overboard,
And listen to her scream.[7]

and

Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Try to make it back to shore,
Before your boat sinks.

and

Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the creek.
If your boat fills with water,
Then you've got a leak.

Notes and references[edit]

  1. ^ Gilbert DeBenedetti. "Row Row Row Your Boat sheet music" (PDF). Retrieved September 9, 2022.
  2. ^ Studwell, S. M. (1997). The Americana Song Reader. New York: Haworth Press. p. 82. ISBN 0-7890-0150-0.
  3. ^ Johnson, B. & Cloonan, M. (2009). Dark Side of the Tune: Popular Music and Violence. Aldershot: Ashgate. p. 98. ISBN 1-4094-0049-2.
  4. ^ "10 Muppets Kicked Off Sesame Street". BuzzFeed Community. November 30, 2010. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  5. ^ "What Ever Happened to Don Music?The Sesame Workshop Blog". www.sesameworkshop.org. Sesame Workshop. April 8, 2013. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  6. ^ Reeseman, Bryan (August 21, 2012). "Sesame Street's Don Music: The Original Headbanger – Attention Deficit Delirium". www.bryanreesman.com. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  7. ^ Lightfoot, C. (1997). The Culture of Adolescent Risk-Taking Culture and Human Development. New York: Guilford Press. p. 78. ISBN 1-57230-232-1.

When did Row, Row, Row Your Boat come out?

2005Row Row Row Your Boat / Releasednull