Traditional · Key of G · Public domain
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This chart is written in G. Tap any key above the chart to see the whole song in that key, with every chord already worked out. To stay in G with different chord shapes, play it capo 3 with the E shapes, or capo 5 with the D shapes, or capo 7 with the C shapes. Singing with a group? Pick the key where the highest note is comfortable for everyone, then print that page.
Old MacDonald started out as Old Macdougal. The first printing of the song as we know it is in Tommy's Tunes, a 1917 London collection of songs sung by British airmen, where "Old Macdougal had a farm in Ohio-i-o" and the animals pile up verse by verse. The idea is far older: a 1706 London stage song called In the Fields in Frost and Snow runs through a farm full of animal noises, and folk song collectors in England wrote down farmyard versions in the decades before the First World War.
The American name and the tune everyone sings arrived on record first. The Sam Patterson Trio cut Old MacDonald Had a Farm in 1925, Gid Tanner and his Skillet Lickers followed two years later, and by 1928 the song was in print with its E-I-E-I-O. Nobody owns it: the words and the melody are traditional and in the public domain, which is why the whole cumulative song is written out here, every animal stacked in the order it arrived.
Three chords in a steady 4/4: G for most of the song, C on "had a" and D on the second "E-I". The animal-sound lines stay on G, however many of them a verse has, so once you have the first verse the rest is memory, not chords. Strum down on each beat, or a bass note and two light strums, and keep it bouncy; children will set the tempo for you. With a group, let the room shout the animal sounds and bring the chords back in on "Old MacDonald". The five verses here (cow, pig, duck, horse, sheep) are the usual set; add any animal you like, the chords never change.
Old MacDonald Had a Farm in other easy guitar keys: key of A, key of C, key of D, key of E, key of F. Every other key is at the top of the chart.
Tap any chord for its diagram, other voicings, and the notes inside it.
In the key of G, Old MacDonald Had a Farm uses 3 chords: G, C and D. The chords sit over the words in the chart above, and tapping a chord name under Chords in This Song opens its diagram.
This chart is in the key of G. The other easy guitar keys for it are the key of A, key of C, key of D, key of E, key of F, each with the whole song rewritten. Pick the key whose chords you know, or the one that sits best for the singers: all twelve are one tap away at the top of the chart, with capo options for keeping the open shapes.
Yes. The words and the melody of Old MacDonald Had a Farm are in the public domain, which is why the full lyrics and chords are published here. You can print this sheet, hand it out, and perform or record the song anywhere without a license.
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All the kids' song chord sheets, each one in every key.
Further reading: Old MacDonald Had a Farm (Wikipedia)
