{{short description|Folk song}} '''"The Old Gray Mare"''' ([[Roud Folk Song Index|Roud]] 751) is an American [[folk song]], more recently regarded as a [[children's song]].<ref>Opie, Iona Archibald and Opie, Peter (1997) ''Children's Games with Things: marbles, fivestones, throwing and catching, gambling, hopscotch, chucking and pitching, ball-bouncing, skipping, tops and tipcat'' Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, page 147, {{ISBN|0-19-215963-1}}</ref>
==History== [[File:Lady Suffolk, the celebrated trotting mare LCCN2003670434.jpg|thumb|'''''Lady Suffolk''', the celebrated trotting mare, and her rider, [[Albert Concklin]] as they appeared on the Beacon Course, Hoboken, N. J. on the 12 July 1843.'']] Some authors have said that the song originated from the performance of the horse [[Lady Suffolk]], the first horse recorded as trotting a mile in less than two and a half minutes. It occurred on 4 July 1843 at the Beacon Course racetrack in [[Hoboken, New Jersey]], when she was more than ten years old.<ref name="Hotaling-25">Hotaling, Edward (1995) ''They're off!: horse racing at Saratoga'' Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, New York, [https://books.google.com/books?id=m5f72G7RpDsC&pg=PA25 page 25], {{ISBN|0-8156-0350-9}}</ref><ref name="IMH-84">[http://www.imh.org/history.php?chapter=84 "The Horse in 19th Century American Sport: The Golden Age of the Trotting Horse"] International Museum of the Horse</ref><ref>Reed, Jerry (22 July 1967) "A look At My Mail" ''The Progress-Index'' (Petersburg, Virginia, newspaper) page 8, upon Lady Suffolk being inducted into the [[Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame|Hall of Fame of the Trotter]] in Goshen, New York</ref> One author attributed the song to [[Stephen Foster]], although the composer is usually listed as unknown.<ref name="Hotaling-25"/> The archival evidence, however, is that the song originated a few decades later in the nineteenth century as a campaign ditty, composed as an epithet of seven-term Baltimore mayor [[Ferdinand Latrobe]] by [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] political operative and appointee [[Thomas Francis McNulty]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,789527-2,00.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130216221239/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,789527-2,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 16, 2013|title=The Press: Fireless Firebrand|date=20 March 1939|publisher=|via=www.time.com}}</ref>
Popular early recordings were by [[Charles A. Prince|Prince's Orchestra]] (1917) and by [[Arthur Collins (singer)|Arthur Collins]] and [[Byron G. Harlan|Byron Harlan]] (1918).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Whitburn|first1=Joel|title=Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954|date=1986|publisher=Record Research Inc|location=Wisconsin, USA|isbn=0-89820-083-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/561 561]|url=https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/561}}</ref> [[Bing Crosby]] included the song in a medley on his album ''[[On the Sentimental Side]]'' (1962).
== Popular culture ==
For the 1962 TV play [[Flashing Spikes]], when [[Jimmy Stewart]]'s visiting team of retired baseball players gets off their tour bus, the home team crowd taunts them by singing the song.<ref> {{cite episode |title=Flashing Spikes |url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHjWBzU0Afg&t=494s |series=Alcoa Premiere |first1=John |last1=Ford |network=ABC |date=October 4, 1962}}</ref>
The song was featured in a 1993 episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' titled "[[Krusty Gets Kancelled]]", where an old man sings the first verse of the song with his pants down and becomes a hit on television. In the 2011 episode "[[Moms I'd Like to Forget]]", 4th graders including Bart sing a parody of the song, which the 5th graders declare as a dishonor to the original. Also, in a 2017 episode, the title "[[The Old Blue Mayor She Ain't What She Used to Be]]", is a play on words of the song's title.
It is also used as the secondary [[fight song]] for the [[Murray State Racers]] athletic teams.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://goracers.com/sports/2005/10/31/730171800 |title=Traditions |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=October 31, 2005 |website=GoRacers.com |publisher=[[Murray State Racers]] athletics |access-date=December 4, 2023 |quote=}}</ref>
==Lyrics==
:The old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be, :Ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be, :The old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be, :Many long years ago.
:Many long years ago, many long years ago,
:The old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be, :Many long years ago.
:The old gray mare, she kicked on the whiffletree, :Kicked on the whiffletree, kicked on the whiffletree, :The old gray mare, she kicked on the whiffletree, :Many long years ago.
:Many long years ago, many long years ago,
:The old gray mare, she kicked on the whiffletree, :Many long years ago.
*(Note that "mule" is sometimes substituted for "mare".) *(A [[whiffletree]] is a force-distributing mechanism in the traces of a draft animal. As an energetic younger horse, the mare still had the spirit to kick even though she was harnessed up to pull a plow or similar.)<ref>{{cite web|title=Was there really an Old Gray mare?|url=http://www.oldgraymares.com/Information_Lady%20Suffolk.htm|website=OldGrayMares.com|accessdate=October 17, 2016}}</ref>
==Pattern== The repetitive pattern of the song is common to many traditional folk songs, including "[[London Bridge is Falling Down]]". The melodic system of the two songs is also similar, with the middle of the three repetitions of the phrase being sung to a similar melody, but down a scale degree.<ref>Jay Rahn, [http://cjtm.icaap.org/content/9/v9art5.html "Stereotype Forms in English-Canadian Children's Songs: Historical and Pedagogical Aspects"], ''[[Canadian Journal for Traditional Music]]'' (1981)</ref> The [[melody]] has also been used in American songs such as "Ain't I Glad I Got out the Wilderness" and "Ain't You Glad You Joined the Republicans", and in turn is related to the melody of the [[Spiritual (music)|spiritual]] "Go in the Wilderness".<ref>''Go in the Wilderness'' lyrics on http://traditionalmusic.co.uk</ref>
==See also== * "[[We Don't Give a Damn]]" * "[[Great Green Gobs of Greasy, Grimy Gopher Guts]]" * [[List of fictional horses]]
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==References== * [[Roud Folk Song Index]], Roud number 751, available at [http://library.efdss.org/cgi-bin/query.cgi Vaughan Williams Memorial Library], index numbers: S186160, S186161, S186162, S186163, S186166, S217076, S217262, S247233, S247235, S247236, S247237, S247250, S247251, S300460
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Old Gray Mare}} [[Category:Traditional children's songs]] [[Category:Year of song unknown]] [[Category:Songs about old age]] [[Category:Songs about horses]] [[Category:English folk songs]] [[Category:American folk songs]] [[Category:English children's songs]] [[Category:American children's songs]]