"She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain"

No personal notes.

"She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain", also sometimes called simply "Coming 'Round the Mountain", is an American folk song often categorized as children's music. It is a derivation of a negro spiritual known as When the Chariot Comes.

Although the first printed version of the song appeared in Carl Sandburg's The American Songbag in 1927, the song is believed to have been written during the late 1800s. The song was based on an old Negro spiritual titled "When the Chariot Comes", which is sung to the same melody. During the 19th century it spread through Appalachia where the lyrics were changed into their current form. The song was later sung by railroad work gangs in the Midwestern United States in the 1890s. The song's style is reminiscent of the call and response structure of many folk songs of the time, where one person would shout the first line and others repeat.

Lyrics

She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes, (when she comes).
She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes, (when she comes).
She'll be coming 'round the mountain, she'll be coming 'round the mountain,
She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes, (when she comes).

The same structure is repeated with the following verses:

She'll be ridin' six white horses when she comes, etc.

Oh we'll all come out to meet her when she comes, etc.

We will kill the old red rooster when she comes, etc.

We'll be havin' chicken and dumplings when she comes, etc.

We'll all be shoutin' "Halleluja" when she comes, etc.

She'll be comin' down a road that's five miles long, etc.

* In the UK, especially with the elderly, it is common for the lyrics "She'll be wearing pink pyjamas when she comes" and "Singing ey, ey, yippee, yippee, ey. Singing ey, ey, yippee, yippee, ey. Singing ey, ey, yippee, yippee ey, ey, yippee, ey, ey, yippee, yippee, ey." to be sung.

* A Scottish children's song to this tune features the lyrics:

    Oh ye cannae shove yer granny off a bus
    No ye cannae shove yer granny off a bus
    No ye cannae shove yer granny, 'cause she's yer mammy's mammy,
    Ye cannae shove yer granny off a bus!