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Piano sheet music for kids · Children's song · Level 3: Notes below middle C
Michael Finnegan
Free beginner piano sheet music: C major, 2/4, 8 bars and a pickup. Press Play to hear it on a real piano, slow it down, or hear one hand at a time; click any note to start from there; print it for the music stand.
About this arrangement
The song that begins again, in 2/4. It starts on a pickup, “There”, on the G below middle C, then jumps up to C: “was an old man called” is two quick quavers and three crotchets in C position, and “Fin-ni-gin” tumbles down G, E, D, C. Bar 4 is the hard bar: four quavers for “chin-i-gin The”, B, A, G, G below middle C, so the thumb slides down to the low G and the fingers sit on G, A, B, C, D for that bar and for “Mich-ael” in bar 7. The left hand plays a bass note and a chord on each beat, C and G7.
Practice tip: Say the words out loud at speed first; the rhythm is in them. Practise bar 4 slowly with the thumb on the low G, then jump straight back to C position for “wind came up”.
The words
There was an old man called Michael Finnigin, He grew whiskers on his chinigin, The wind came up and blew them inigin, Poor old Michael Finnigin.
A short history
Michael Finnegan is a nonsense song that goes round and round, each verse ending “begin again” so that the singers do. Nobody knows who wrote it. The earliest printing that has been found is in The Hackney Scout Song Book (London, 1921), and Thomas Wood put it in The Oxford Song Book, Volume 2 (1927), which spread it through British schools; it was still a favourite on the BBC’s Singing Together broadcasts in the 1960s.
In the song, poor old Michael grows whiskers on his chin-i-gin, the wind blows them in-i-gin, and in later verses he goes fishing, barks his shin-i-gin and grows thin-i-gin. The tune is a plain eight bars, a cousin of the Mulberry Bush, and the melody here follows the transcription made from the 1961 Singing Together booklet.
Quick facts
- Tune
- Traditional (English, printed 1921)
- Key
- C major
- Time signature
- 2/4
- Length
- 8 bars and a pickup
- Tempo
- Quickly, crotchet = 112
- Difficulty
- Level 3: Notes below middle C (piece 49 of 201)
- Type
- Children's song
- Hands
- Both: melody in the right hand, chords in the left
- Copyright
- Public domain tune; arrangement by Digital Greenhouse, free for personal and classroom use
Questions and answers
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