Animal Fair is a traditional folk song and children's song.
Contents
As early as 1898, it is attested as being sung by American sailors.
The song was attested in Life magazine in 1941 as a cadence of soft shoe tap dancing.
Lyrics
The version attested in 1898 has the following lyrics:
I went to the animal fair,The birds and the beasts were there,The old baboon by the light of the moonWas combing his auburn hairThe monkey he got drunkAnd fell on the elephant's trunkThe elephant sneezed and went down on his kneesAnd that was the end of the monkey monkey monkey monk...Other versions substituted "the old baboon" (1915) for "the little baboon", while modern recordings use "the big baboon". The Barney and Captain Kangaroo versions changed other lyrics as well.
Recordings
References
Animal Fair (song) Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA