Three Men Went A-Hunting

Song composer(s)

Traditional

Grateful Dead Recordings

Not recorded by the Dead

Dead Related Recordings

Not For Kids Only : Jerry Garcia and David Grisman (1993)

Other Recordings

New Lost City Ramblers, Vol. 3 : New Lost City Ramblers (1961)
Oscar Brand's Children's Concert : Oscar Brand (1961)
Southern Dance Music, Vol. 2 : Byrd Moore & His Hot Shots (1965)
Folk Music In America, Vol. 13 Songs Of Childhood : Various Artists (Byrd Moore & His Hot Shots) (1978)
Moyallan Brown Rd : Tom McClung (1980)
Bob Davenport & The Rakes 1977 : Bob Davenport (1981)
Brave Boys, New England Traditions In Folk Music : Sara Cleveland (198?)
Folk Songs And Ballads, Vol. 2 : Phyllis Marks (1991)
Byrd Moore & His Hotshots (19??)
The String Bands, Vol. 2 : Various Artists (Byrd Moore & His Hotshots) (19??)

Performance History

Played by the Sleepy Hollow Hog Stompers in San Carlos on June 11th 1962.

Not performed by the Grateful Dead. Occurs only on pre-Dead tapes featuring future members of the dead.

Notes

Traditional English song also sometimes known as Three Jolly Huntsmen or We Hunted & We Hallooed or We Hooped & We Hollered or Three Jolly Welshmen or other variations.

A section of this or very similar song is quoted in the Fletcher play "The Two Noble Kinsmen" written around 1613.

The Sleepy Hollow Hog Stompers perform a fairly short version of the song;

Three me went a-hunting,
And something they did find,
They came across a porcupine,
And that they left behind,
Irishman said it's a porcupine,
Scotsman he said nay,
Welshman said it's a pin cushion,
With the pins stuck in the wrong way.

Three me went a-hunting,
And something they did find,
They came across a toad-frog,
And that they left behind,
Irishman said it's a toad-frog,
Scotsman he said nay,
Welshman said it's a jay bird,
With the feathers blown away.

Three me went a-hunting,
And something they did find,
They came across a (faucet?),
And that they left behind,
Irishman said it's a (faucet?),
Scotsman he said nay,
Welshman said it's the end of the world,
Let's go back the other way.