Brothers Four recorded this English folk song “Frogg” in 1961 and hit US #32
“Frog Went A-Courtin'” is an English language folk song. Its first known appearance is in Wedderburn’s Complaynt of Scotland (1548) under the name “The frog came to the myl dur”, though this is in Scots rather than English. There is a reference in the London Company of Stationer’s Register of 1580 to “A Moste Strange Weddinge of the Frogge and the Mouse.” There are many texts of the ballad, however the oldest known musical version is in Thomas Ravenscroft’s Melismata in 1611.
Frog rides to ask Miss Mouse to marry him. She is willing but must ask permission of Uncle Rat. Other versions such as “King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O” by Chubby Parker, Frog fights and kills Miss Mouse’s other suitors (an owl, bat and bumblebee) after they interrupt his proposal. Uncle Rat’s permission received, the two work out details of the wedding. Some versions end with a cat, snake or other creature devouring the couple and wedding guests. Sometimes Frog gets away, but is later swallowed by a duck. See “Frog Went A-Courting” at Wikisource for one version of the lyrics. The notes on this song in Cazden et al. constitute probably the best succinct summary available on variants of this piece.
Spaeth has a note claiming that the original version of this was supposed to refer to the François, Duke of Anjou’s wooing of Elizabeth I of England. If the second known version (1611, in Melismata, also reprinted in Chappell) were the oldest, this might be possible — there are seeming political references to “Gib, our cat” and “Dick, our Drake.” But the Wedderburn text, which at least anticipates the song, predates the reign of Queen Elizabeth by nine years, and Queen Mary by four. If it refers to any queen at all, it would seemingly have to be Mary Stuart. Evelyn K. Wells, however, in the liner notes to the LP Brave Boys; New England traditions in folk music, suggests that the original may have been satirically altered in 1580 when it was recorded in the register of the London Company of Stationers, as this would have been at the height of the unpopular courtship. In the booklet that accompanies Bruce Springsteens Seeger Sessions CD, claims to have traced it back to Scotland in 1549
The song has been heard by many people (as “Froggie Went A-Courtin'”) in the 1955 Tom and Jerry cartoon Pecos Pest, which uses a version arranged and performed by Shug Fisher, in character as “Uncle Pecos.” In Pecos Pest, Jerry’s Uncle Pecos stays with him while getting ready for a television appearance, and continues to pluck Tom’s whiskers to use as guitar strings throughout the cartoon. It is an improvised version with many lyrics that are unintelligible, and many changed. For example, he stutters and gives up when he tries to say “hickory tree” and says “way down yonder by the–,” stammers out the names of several types of trees, finally settling (ironically) on “eucalyptus”. He also mentions while continuing the music “That’s the hard part right in there, n-n-n-n-nephew!” and “there’s a yodel in thar somewhar, but it’s a little too high f’r me.” Some refer to this song as “Crambone” as it is repeated at the end of many lines and said more clearly than the other words in this version. For example the line is “Froggie went a-courtin’ he did ride/Crambone.” Fisher, in character as Pecos, delivers the coda with a glottal stutter on the letter c. Woody Guthrie’s version used “Hey-hey,” and Bob Dylan’s version used “uh-huh” in the same way after several lines.
By The Brothers Four
Lyrics
This is a story about a hip frog. And we’re gonna pick up on it now and he’s on his way out to do some shuckin’ and jivin’. You’ll be able to tell right away that he’s a big mover.
Frogg went a-courtin’ and he did go, un-huh
Frogg went a-courtin’ and he did go, un-huh
Frogg went a-courtin’ and he did go
To the Coconut Grove for the midnight show, un-huh un-huh un-huh
Mollie Mouse was the hat-check girl, woo-woo
he knew it all the time
Mollie Mouse was the hat-check girl, woo-woo
Mollie Mouse was the hat-check girl
He thought he’d give this chick a whirl, woo-woo, woo-woo, woo-woo
He sauntered up to Mollie Mouse’s side, un-huh
the direct approach
He sauntered up to Mollie Mouse’s side, un-huh
When he got up to Mollie Mouse’s side
He whispered “Mollie will you be my bride?” un-huh un-huh un-huh
Not without my Uncle Rat’s consent, uh-uh
her uncle wrestles on TV
Not without my Uncle Rat’s consent, uh-uh
Not without my Uncle Rat’s consent
I wouldn’t marry the President, uh-uh uh-uh uh-uh
Well, she said “That’s it, Clyde, better hit the road, farewell”
That’s it, Clyde, better hit the road, goodbye”
“That’s it, Clyde, better hit the road”
“You ain’t no frog you’re a horned toad, farewell, goodbye, adios”
Farewell, goodbye, adios
[spoken: You know, I believe that,uh, any more verses to this song would be anticlimactic; think we ought to end it]
Farewell, goodbye, adios
[spoken: Hey, ain’t you gonna let me finish up?]
Farewell, goodbye, adios
[spoken: Aw, shut up, I’m your leader]
[spoken: No, no hands, no hands]
FADE:
[spoken: Auf Wiedersehen]
Farewell, goodbye, adios
Farewell, goodbye, adios