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.
The words were printed in New York in 1852 as a piece of sheet music called Row, Row Your Boat, or The Old Log Hut, a nostalgic parlor song with a tune nobody sings now. The melody that stuck came almost thirty years later: in 1881 The Franklin Square Song Collection, a school songbook published by Harper and Brothers, printed Row Your Boat as a round and credited the tune to E. O. Lyte, a Pennsylvania schoolteacher who spent forty-four years at the Millersville State Normal School.
It has been a classroom round ever since, sung by two, three or four groups each starting a line behind the last. The entries are marked in the 1881 printing exactly where singers still take them: at "Row", "Gently", "Merrily" and "Life". Words and melody are long in the public domain.
Sung straight, the whole song sits on G until the last line, where D7 lands on "Life" and G on "dream". Sung as a round, stay on G the whole way through: with four groups a line apart, the D7 would clash with whoever is still on "merrily". A gentle 6/8 rocking strum, two pulses to the bar, matches the boat. It is the ideal first song for a child with a ukulele or a beginner who knows one chord, and the round makes it a game: start the second group when the first reaches "Gently" and see how many times round you can get.
Row, Row, Row Your Boat 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, Row, Row, Row Your Boat uses 2 chords: G and D7. 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 Row, Row, Row Your Boat 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.
Another first song: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star chords and lyrics
All the kids' song chord sheets, each one in every key.
Further reading: Row, Row, Row Your Boat (Wikipedia)
