Who knows the words to "Sweet Betsy from Pike"? I was desperate

for a new song to sing to my gs when he was a babe and I was trying to calm him down for sleep. I remembered the first part of the song: "Oh, do you remember Sweet Betsy from Pike, who crossed the wide prairie with her lover Ike. (Yes done in 1848 or so and it was that realistic.) With 2 yolk of oxen, an old yellow hen, (and here is where I improvised)a big pot of coffee and a bottle of gin. Singing tour a lie tour a lie tour a lie lay, (Sure that this is right but it is spelled phonetically.)Now the lad is almost 3 and he refers to this as Namer's song and I think I am stuck with these words but was wondering if anyones know the right lyrics. I may gradually change them, although he can already sing my version.

Did you ever hear of
Sweet Betsy from Pike,
Who crossed the wide prairies
With her husband, Ike,
With two yoke of cattle
And one spotted hog
A tall Shanghai rooster
And an old yeller dog?

Sing toorali, oorali, oorali ay
Sing toorali, oorali, oorali ay

The alkali desert
Was burning and bare
And Ike cried in fear,
"We are lost, I declare!
My dear old Pike County,
I'll go back to you."
Said Betsy, "You'll go by yourself,
If you do."

Sing toorali, oorali, oorali ay
Sing toorali, oorali, oorali ay

They swam the wide rivers
And crossed the tall peaks
They camped on the prairie
For weeks upon weeks
They fought off the Indians
With musket and ball
And reached California
In spite of it all

Sing toorali, oorali, oorali ay
Sing toorali, oorali, oorali ay

right words, now that I know them.

now it's gonna be in my head all night!!!!!!

Did you ever hear of Sweet Betsy from Pike
Who crossed the wide prairie with her husband Ike
With 2 yolk of oxen
A big spotted hog
A tall Shanghai rooster
And an old yellow dog

Hootle-dang, fol-de-i-do, Hootle-dang, fol-de-ay

submissions varied on the chorus.
It always cracked me up! Such silly words.

Have you heard tell of sweet Betsy from Pike
She cross the wide prairie with her lover, Ike
With two yoke of Oxen, a big yellow dog,
A tall Shanghai rooster and one spotted hog

One evening quite early they camped on the Platte
‘Twas nearby the road on a green, shady flat
Betsy, sore-footed, lay down to repose
In wonder Ike gazed on his Pike County rose

The Indians came down in a wild yelling horde
And Betsy got scared they would scalp her adored
Under the wagon wheel Betsy did crawl
She fought off them Indians with musket and ball

Out on the prairie one bright starry night
They broke out the whiskey and Betsy got tight
She sang and she shouted, she danced on the plain.
She made a great show for that whole wagon train

The Shanghai ran off and the cattle all died
The last piece of bacon that morning was fried
Ike got discouraged and Betsy got made
The dog wagged his tail and looked wondrously sad

They soon reached the desert where Betsy gave out
And down in the sand she lay rolling about
Ike in great terror looked on in surprise
Saying, Betsy get up, you’ll get sand in your eyes

Sweet Betsy got up in a great deal of pain
Declared she’d go back to Pike County again
Ike, he just sighed, and they fondly embraced
And she traveled along with her arm round his waist

.... just played that for me on the viola. What are the odds :)

into my head one long summer evening while trying to get the little guy to sleep. Did you enjoy your concert?

like Erie Canal; Drill Ye Tarriers, Drill; Wabash Cannonball; and spirituals like Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.

evening and a famous singer of children tunes who is reproducing a collection of American tunes collected by Carl Sandburg in the 30's was snowed in in an airport when he interacted with 2 girls about 8 and nine. He pulled out his guitar and wanted to sing with them and asked if they knew old songs like "Oh Suzanna" "Coming Around the Mountain" and another I can't recall. They knew NONE of these songs and asked if he knew any of Brittany Spears songs. They settled on "I love rock and roll", (not really HER song but that is nit-picking) a perfectly good song. However, in my world, children should know the oldies and by that I mean the old American folk tunes.