Facts About "Animal Fair"

“Animal Fair” is a long-established folk song passed down through generations in the United States. American sailors started singing the well-known children’s song in 1898. The song was considered in 1941 as a cadence of soft shoe tap dancing according to an entry in an American magazine called Life published weekly until 1972.

The attested lyrics of the song in 1898 has eight lines. In 1915, some versions had the original line “the little raccoon” changed to “the old baboon.” In the present, the line is usually replaced by “the big baboon.”

There are several recordings of the song. The Barney & Friends and the Captain Kangaroo has edited other lyrics aside from “the little raccoon” line. Other recordings include Richard Dreyfus’s rendition that appeared on the film The Big Fix in 1978 and Kidsongs version that was used in Tiny Toon Adventures theme for Elmyra. Woody Woodpecker also sang “Animal Fair” in The Dizzy Acrobat, a cartoon film produced by Walter Lantz Productions.