The History of the Tune “Go tell Aunt Rhody" Around the World

Written by Sadao Mazuka in Japan.

The tune to “Go Tell Aunt Rhody” comes from Europe in the 18th century. It has travelled all over the globe, from France, to the US, to Japan. Here’s a breakdown of the route it’s taken…

1752 (France) – Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau composed the original tune to “Go Tell Aunt Rhody”. Rousseau’s tune was written for his one-act opera Le devin du village (“The Village Soothsayer”). It can be found in Scene 8 – “Pantomime”. You can hear it in the video below at 2:01.

1773 (England) – A version of the tune can be heard in the hymn “Lord, Dismiss Us with Thy Blessing” by British theologian, pastor and hymn-writer John Fawcett (1740 – 1817). It’s one of the tunes used for this hymn – Sicilian Mariners is the other tune.

You can hear the version of this hymn with the tune of “Go Tell Aunt Rhody” in the video below.

Around 1812 (England) – Johann Baptist Cramer published the tune as a piano etude called “Rousseau’s Dream”. You can hear it below.

Around 1840 (Germany) – The tune was used for education in Kindergarten. In this version of the tune, it was called the “Greenville Hymn”.

(Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel; world first founder of Kindergarten)

Around 1850? (USA) – “Go Tell Aunt Rhody”

1851 (England) – London; Used for a song of gymnastics in Kindergarten. We believe this version of the tune was called the “Greenville Hymn”.

1872 (Japan) – Margaret Griffis introduced this tune in her education of Kindergarten. Margaret Clark Griffis (1838 – 1913) was the sister of American, William Elliot Griffis (1843 – 1928).

(Reference: “The Role of Margaret Griffis in Women’s Education during the Meiji Period in Japan”.)

1881 (Japan) – Used for a song called “Miwataseba” or “Looking Around (at the scenery)”.

1913 (USA) -Words to the American song “Go Tell Aunt Rhody” collected for the 1st time by Cecil Sharp.

1947 (Japan) – “Musunde Hiraite” ; mainly used in Kindergarten.

If anyone else knows of any songs around the world that use the tune to “Go Tell Aunt Rhody”, please share it with us in the comments below. Thanks for sharing the time-line of “Go Tell Aunt Rhody” Sadao!

-Mama Lisa