| "Down by the Bay" | |
| Type: | Traditional folk song |
| Genre: | Children's song |
| Written: | Unknown |
| Published: | Greece or England |
"Down By the Bay" is a traditional children's song of uncertain origin.
The actual origin of "Down by the Bay" is uncertain as it shares the melody with other songs. One of these is a Greek folk song called "Γιαλό, γιαλό" ("γιαλό" meaning "bay" or "seaside") exists with this same melody.[1] It is an Ionian Cantada, a style of folk music that originated in the late 19th century. In the modern era, this song may be best attributed to Armenian-Canadian singer-lyricist Raffi, and appears on his 1976 album Singable Songs for the Very Young as his signature song. In an interview with the Vulture Newsletter, Raffi described it as being "An old, old song", saying that "It may have been a World War I song... It came from England."[2]
It has gained popularity as a campfire song among the Scouting Movement in Britain. Another version of the song is "Down by the Sea." The chorus from this was used by the folk band, Fiddler's Dram, in their song "Johnny John."[3]
The song lyrics are usually as follows:
Usually, the insertion lyrics follow some kind of variation of the question "Did/(Have) you ever see(n) a _____ _____ing a _____?", with the first and last blank rhyming. For example:
The song can be ended with the following line:
Each of the rhyming lines is followed by the ending line: