Over the River and Through the Woods

This is an online fiddle lesson for the tune "Over the River and Through the Woods." BluegrassDaddy.com is your best source for Bluegrass, Old Time, Celtic, Gospel, and Country fiddle lessons!

Genre: Holiday
Skill Level: Beginner
Key of A

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Video #1: Here is a video of me performing the fiddle tune "Over the River and Through the Woods."

This is an online fiddle lesson for the tune "Over the River and Through the Woods." BluegrassDaddy.com is your best source for Bluegrass, Old-Time, Celtic, Gospel, and Country fiddle lessons!

This is an online fiddle lesson for the tune "Over the River and Through the Woods." BluegrassDaddy.com is your best source for Bluegrass, Old-Time, Celtic, Gospel, and Country fiddle lessons!

This is an online fiddle lesson for the tune "Over the River and Through the Woods." BluegrassDaddy.com is your best source for Bluegrass, Old-Time, Celtic, Gospel, and Country fiddle lessons!

This is an online fiddle lesson for the tune "Over the River and Through the Woods." BluegrassDaddy.com is your best source for Bluegrass, Old-Time, Celtic, Gospel, and Country fiddle lessons!


"The New-England Boy's Song about Thanksgiving Day", also known as "Over the River and Through the Wood", is a Thanksgiving poem by Lydia Maria Child. Written originally as a poem, it appeared in her Flowers for Children, Volume 2, in 1844. It celebrates her childhood memories of visiting her Grandfather's House. Lydia Maria Child was a novelist, journalist, teacher, and wrote extensively about the need to eliminate slavery.

The poem was eventually set to a tune by an unknown author. The song is sometimes presented with lines about Christmas, rather than Thanksgiving. Although the modern Thanksgiving holiday is not normally associated with snow, New England in the early 19th century was enduring the Little Ice Age, a colder era with earlier winters. (wikipedia.org)


Over the River and Through the Woods

Over the river and through the woods 
To Grandmother's house we go.
The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh 
Through the white and drifted snow.
Over the river and through the woods, 
Oh, how the wind does blow.
It stings the toes and bites the nose 
As over the ground we go.

Over the river and through the woods 
To have a full day of play.
Oh, hear the bells ringing ting-a-ling-ling, 
For it is Thanksgiving Day.
Over the river and through the woods,
Trot fast my dapple gray;
Spring o'er the ground like a hunting hound, 
For this is Thanksgiving Day.

Over the river and through the woods
And straight through the barnyard gate.
It seems that we go so dreadfully slow
It is so hard to wait.
Over the river and through the woods,
Now Grandfather's cap I spy.
Hurrah for fun; the pudding's done; 
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie.