# The Old Gray Mare > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/The_Old_Gray_Mare > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/The_Old_Gray_Mare.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Gray_Mare > Source revision: 1302583859 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Folk song **"The Old Gray Mare"** ([Roud](/source/Roud_Folk_Song_Index) 751) is an American [folk song](/source/Folk_song), more recently regarded as a [children's song](/source/Children's_song).[1] ## History ***Lady Suffolk**, the celebrated trotting mare, and her rider, [Albert Concklin](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Albert_Concklin&action=edit&redlink=1) 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](/source/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](/source/Hoboken%2C_New_Jersey), when she was more than ten years old.[2][3][4] One author attributed the song to [Stephen Foster](/source/Stephen_Foster), although the composer is usually listed as unknown.[2] 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](/source/Ferdinand_Latrobe) by [Democratic](/source/Democratic_Party_(United_States)) political operative and appointee [Thomas Francis McNulty](/source/Thomas_Francis_McNulty).[5] Popular early recordings were by [Prince's Orchestra](/source/Charles_A._Prince) (1917) and by [Arthur Collins](/source/Arthur_Collins_(singer)) and [Byron Harlan](/source/Byron_G._Harlan) (1918).[6] [Bing Crosby](/source/Bing_Crosby) included the song in a medley on his album *[On the Sentimental Side](/source/On_the_Sentimental_Side)* (1962). ## Popular culture For the 1962 TV play [Flashing Spikes](/source/Flashing_Spikes), when [Jimmy Stewart](/source/Jimmy_Stewart)'s visiting team of retired baseball players gets off their tour bus, the home team crowd taunts them by singing the song.[7] The song was featured in a 1993 episode of *[The Simpsons](/source/The_Simpsons)* titled "[Krusty Gets Kancelled](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Fight_song) for the [Murray State Racers](/source/Murray_State_Racers) athletic teams.[8] ## 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](/source/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.)[9] ## Pattern The repetitive pattern of the song is common to many traditional folk songs, including "[London Bridge is Falling Down](/source/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.[10] The [melody](/source/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](/source/Spiritual_(music)) "Go in the Wilderness".[11] ## See also - "[We Don't Give a Damn](/source/We_Don't_Give_a_Damn)" - "[Great Green Gobs of Greasy, Grimy Gopher Guts](/source/Great_Green_Gobs_of_Greasy%2C_Grimy_Gopher_Guts)" - [List of fictional horses](/source/List_of_fictional_horses) ## Notes 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** 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](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-19-215963-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-19-215963-1) 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Hotaling-25_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Hotaling-25_2-1) Hotaling, Edward (1995) *They're off!: horse racing at Saratoga* Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, New York, [page 25](https://books.google.com/books?id=m5f72G7RpDsC&pg=PA25), [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-8156-0350-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-8156-0350-9) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-IMH-84_3-0)** ["The Horse in 19th Century American Sport: The Golden Age of the Trotting Horse"](http://www.imh.org/history.php?chapter=84) International Museum of the Horse 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** 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 [Hall of Fame of the Trotter](/source/Harness_Racing_Museum_%26_Hall_of_Fame) in Goshen, New York 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["The Press: Fireless Firebrand"](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,789527-2,00.html). 20 March 1939 – via www.time.com.{{[cite web](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_web)}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_deprecated_archival_service)) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Whitburn, Joel (1986). [*Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954*](https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/561). Wisconsin, USA: Record Research Inc. p. [561](https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/561). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-89820-083-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-89820-083-0). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Ford, John (October 4, 1962). ["Flashing Spikes"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHjWBzU0Afg&t=494s). *Alcoa Premiere*. ABC. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Traditions"](https://goracers.com/sports/2005/10/31/730171800). *GoRacers.com*. [Murray State Racers](/source/Murray_State_Racers) athletics. October 31, 2005. Retrieved December 4, 2023. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["Was there really an Old Gray mare?"](http://www.oldgraymares.com/Information_Lady%20Suffolk.htm). *OldGrayMares.com*. Retrieved October 17, 2016. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Jay Rahn, ["Stereotype Forms in English-Canadian Children's Songs: Historical and Pedagogical Aspects"](http://cjtm.icaap.org/content/9/v9art5.html), *[Canadian Journal for Traditional Music](/source/Canadian_Journal_for_Traditional_Music)* (1981) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** *Go in the Wilderness* lyrics on [http://traditionalmusic.co.uk](http://traditionalmusic.co.uk) ## References - [Roud Folk Song Index](/source/Roud_Folk_Song_Index), Roud number 751, available at [Vaughan Williams Memorial Library](http://library.efdss.org/cgi-bin/query.cgi), index numbers: S186160, S186161, S186162, S186163, S186166, S217076, S217262, S247233, S247235, S247236, S247237, S247250, S247251, S300460 Authority control databases MusicBrainz work --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [The Old Gray Mare](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Gray_Mare) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Gray_Mare?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.