Row, Row, Row Your Boat

About this arrangement

The words were printed in 1852 and the tune everyone sings as a round came in 1881. This one is in 6/8 time: two big beats in a bar, each worth a dotted crotchet (dotted quarter note), which gives it its rocking feel. The left hand plays one bass note and one chord per bar, one on each big beat. “Merrily, merrily” is the moment the right hand jumps up to the C above, then walks back down.

Practice tip: Feel it in two, not six: “Row, row” is one note on each big beat. Say “mer-ri-ly” to get the three quavers even.

The words

Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

A short history

The words were first printed in 1852, in an American collection, to a different tune. The melody everyone sings as a round was written by Eliphalet Oram Lyte and published in The Franklin Square Song Collection in 1881.

It is a round: a second singer can start when the first reaches “gent-ly”, a third when the second does, and the parts fit because nearly every bar sits on the same chord.

The rocking 6/8 rhythm, two big beats in a bar, is the same one as in sea shanties and lullabies, and this is usually a child’s first piece in that time signature.

Quick facts

Tune

Traditional (American; tune by Eliphalet Oram Lyte, 1881)

Key

C major

Time signature

6/8

Length

8 bars

Tempo

Gently rocking, dotted crotchet = 60

Difficulty

Level 4: Up to the C above (piece 126 of 201)

Type

Round

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