The Ants Go Marching One By One

"The Ants Go Marching One By One"
Nursery rhyme
Written	USA
Published	1897
Songwriter(s)	Traditional
Composer(s)	Patrick Gilmore
Lyricist(s)	Robert D. Singleton

"The Ants Go Marching One By One" (also known as "The Ants Go Marching"), is a popular nursery rhyme , folksong, and children's song, sung to the tune of the Irish anti-war song Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye. It may be derived through the American Civil War song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home", which borrowed its tune from the Irish folk song. (The Ants Go Marching was subsequently also the ant army's marching song in the movie Antz.) Another commonly sung children's song is "The Animals go in Two by Two" (based around the Noah's Ark story) sung to the same melody.

Lyrics

At this time the author and publisher are unknown, but the lyrics to both songs are often sung as:

The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching one by one,
The little one stops to suck his thumb
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching two by two, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching two by two, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching two by two,
The little one stops to tie his shoe
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching three by three, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching three by three, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching three by three,
The little one stops to climb a tree
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching four by four, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching four by four, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching four by four,
The little one stops to shut the door
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching five by five, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching five by five, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching five by five,
The little one stops to take a dive
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching six by six, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching six by six, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching six by six,
The little one stops to pick up sticks
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching seven by seven, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching seven by seven, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching seven by seven,
The little one stops to pray to heaven
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching eight by eight, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching eight by eight, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching eight by eight,
The little one stops to shut the gate
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching nine by nine, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching nine by nine, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching nine by nine,
The little one stops to check the time
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching ten by ten, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching ten by ten, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching ten by ten,
The little one stops to say "THE END!"
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Origins

Irish-American bandleader Patrick Gilmore wrote the lyrics to "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" during the American Civil War. Its first publication was deposited in the Library of Congress on September 26, 1863, with words and music credited to "Louis Lambert"; copyright was retained by the publisher, Henry Tolman & Co., of Boston. Why Gilmore published under a pseudonym is unclear, but popular songwriters of the period often employed pseudonyms to add a touch of romantic mystery to their songs. Gilmore is said to have written the song for his sister Annie as she prayed for the safe return of her fiancé, Union Light Artillery Captain John O'Rourke, from the Civil War, although it is not clear if they were already engaged in 1863; the two were not married until 1875.

Gilmore later acknowledged that the music was not original but was, as he put it in an 1883 article in the Musical Herald, "a musical waif which I happened to hear somebody humming in the early days of the rebellion, and taking a fancy to it, wrote it down, dressed it up, gave it a name, and rhymed it into usefulness for a special purpose suited to the times."

The melody was previously published around July 1, 1863, as the music to the Civil War drinking song "Johnny Fill Up the Bowl". A color-illustrated, undated slip of Gilmore's lyrics, printed by his own Boston publisher, actually states that "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" should be sung to the tune of "Johnny Fill Up the Bowl". The original sheet music for "Johnny Fill Up the Bowl" states that the music was arranged (not composed) by J. Durnal. There is a melodic resemblance of the tune to that of "John Anderson, My Jo" (to which Robert Burns wrote lyrics to fit a pre-existing tune dating from about 1630 or earlier), and Jonathan Lighter has suggested a connection to the 17th-century ballad "The Three Ravens".

"When Johnny Comes Marching Home" is also sung to the same tune as "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" and is frequently thought to have been a rewriting of that song. "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" was not published until 1867, however, and it originally had a different melody.

"When Johnny Comes Marching Home" was immensely popular and was sung by both sides of the American Civil War. It became a hit in England and Ireland as well and was eventually lyrically rewritten and became the related tune "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye".

Quite a few variations on the song, as well as songs set to the same tune but with different lyrics, have appeared since "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" was popularized. The alleged larcenous tendencies of some Union soldiers in New Orleans were parodied in the lyrics "For Bales", to the same tune. A British version appeared in 1914 with a similar title, "When Tommy Comes Marching Home". The 1880 U.S. presidential election campaign featured a campaign song called "If the Johnnies Get into Power," which supported the Republicans James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur against the "Johnnies" (Democrats Winfield S. Hancock and William H. English).

While the exact origin for the song "The Ants Go Marching One By One" is unknown, A version recorded in 1896 in Maryland recorded from a college commencement resembles the common modern version:

The bloody ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
The bloody ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
The bloody ants go marching one by one,
This little one stops to suck his thumb
But they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The song can also be found in early musical publications such as the book Caden and Maria (1897), where it is referred to as [the classic] "The Marching Ants".

Lyrics as described in 1897 as being from the 'classic' "The Marching Ants":

Oh, The blooming ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
The blooming ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
The blooming ants go marching one by one,
That little one stops to suck his thumb
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rainstorm, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The Washington Post reported a blooded ant in 1901 that was said as:

The blooded ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
The blooded ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
The blooded ants go marching one by one,
The little one stops to see the sun
They all go marching down to the ground
To get out the blasted rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The lyrics are credited to Robert D. Singleton, and can be heard in the 1990 Barney special Campfire Sing-Along.

Score

Recordings and Pop Culture

The Dave Matthews Band recorded "Ants Marching" which was a title just like the children's song. The song has been recorded by various popular artists such as:

• Stevie Wonder
• Katy Perry
• Nina Simone
• Usher
• The Beatles
• Queen
• Raffi
• Lady Gaga
• Carly Simon
• Patsy Biscoe
• K. Michelle

"The Ants Go Marching One By One" predates Barney and the Backyard Gang's version. It was used to sing this song as kids at camp, back in the early to mid 1980s. It was later used in the SpongeBob SquarePants episode Plankton's Army. The song has been used in various television shows such as Family Guy, The Simpsons, South Park, Barney and Friends, Dora the Explorer, The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show, Peppa Pig, Bluey, Blue's Clues, Bubble Guppies, Classic Caillou Gets Grounded, Caillou, Hey Arnold, Arthur, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, The Muppet Show, and Sesame Street.

This song is prominently used in the films Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Die Hard With a Vengeance, Cromwell, When Pigs Can Fly and Chicken Run.

YouTube Videos

These YouTube videos has uploaded such as:

• Turtle Interactive
• The Kiboomers
• Little Baby Bum
• Cocomelon
• English Singing
• Super Simple Songs
• Lingokids

See also

• List of nursery rhymes
• List of children's songs

External links

• The Ants Go Marching lyrics at National Institutes of Health website
• The Animals Go in Two by Two lyrics Archived 2023-12-06 at the Wayback Machine
• Behind the Deeper Origin of the Nursery Rhyme, “Ants Go Marching”