A-Hunting We Will Go

For the Goodies episode, see Hunting Pink.

"A-Hunting We Will Go"
Song
Published	1777
Composer(s)	Thomas Augustine Arne

A variant of the melody

"A-Hunting We Will Go" is a popular folk song and nursery rhyme composed in 1777 by English composer Thomas Arne. Arne had composed the song for a 1777 production of The Beggar's Opera in London.

The a- is an archaic intensifying prefix; compare "Here We Come A-wassailing/Here We Come A-caroling" and lyrics to "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (e.g., “Six geese a-laying”).

Lyrics

A-hunting we will go,
A-hunting we will go
Heigh-ho, the derry-o,
A-hunting we will go.

A-hunting we will go,
A-hunting we will go
We'll catch a fox and put him in a box
And never let him go

(Modern versions often change the last line to “And then we’ll let him go”.)

Each consequent verse gets modified by putting in a different animal:

"...a fish and put him on a dish..."

"...a bear and cut his hair..."

"...a pig and dance a little jig..."

"...a giraffe and make him laugh..."

"...a mouse and put him in a house..."

...

Earlier versions of the song switch the words "a-hunting" with "a-roving", dating back to old roving drinking songs from the 16th century.

See also

• A-Haunting We Will Go (disambiguation), a title play on this song
• "Bye, baby Bunting, Daddy's Gone A-Hunting", a similarly constructed song
• "Ee Aye Addio" - an English football chant to the same tune
• "The Farmer in the Dell" - a song with similar lyrics, content, and music
• "You're in the Army Now" - another song with similar lyrics