“Go Tell Aunt Rhody” may have originated as a play-party song during New England’s colonial days. Most Protestant communities had restrictions against dancing and playing musical instruments. Play parties were designed to sidestep those restrictions by using only handclaps for accompaniment and the simple patterns of children’s games to replace the intricate patterns of country dances. Depending on the locale in which this song was sung, the aunt may have had a name such as Patsy, Dinah, or Nancy.
Lyrics
chorus:
Go tell Aunt Rhody
Go tell Aunt Rhody
Go tell Aunt Rhody
The old gray goose is dead
verses:
The one she’s been saving (x 3)
To make her feather bed
She died in the mill pond (x 3)
Standing on her head
She left nine little goslins (x 3)
To scratch for their own bread
The goslings are crying (x 3)
Because their mother’s dead
The gander is weeping (x 3)
Because his wife is dead