In the traditional song, the third day is devoted to French hens and while the Furkids do include French hens, they disagree with the original lyricist about how many there should be (hint: it isn’t three). Who wrote the words? Probably a number of folk contributed to the version we have today.

Though it’s thought to be French in origin, it was first published in England in 1780 as a chant without music. But the innate musicality of the rhythm and rhyme meant it was often sung to an improvised melody. The tune enjoyed an abundance of variations for more than a century before a universal version was established in 1909. The standard tune now associated with the song is derived from an arrangement of a traditional folk melody by English composer Frederic Austin. We hope you’re all singing along as each day unfolds.

If you missed the first two days, you can catch up with them here:
First Day of Catmas
Second Day of Catmas

Now it’s onto the Third Day! Unfortunately, the short version of the song for the third day only is no longer available so we’ll have to make do with the full version. So get comfy and press play on the jukebox. The song will start from the beginning so wait for the third day to start playing then scroll down to the lyrics and sing along. Stop the video at the end of the lyrics or continue to the end of the song if you wish.

 

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11 COMMENTS

  1. {{{Michelle}}} So the Furkids prefer knitting elephants to French hens? That much irritate the French hens. Is one of the French hens your “stylish chicken” in the fir tree? LOL. {{{HUGS}}}

    • Oh no, the French hens come later. The only question is: how many of them will there be? 😉

      With loving hugs 🤗💝🎄💝🤗Barbara🤗💝🎄💝🤗
      and scritches for 💝Charlie🎄Cloud🎄Freddie🎄Bobbie🎄Rennie💝

  2. {{{Michelle}}} So the Furkids prefer knitting elephants to French hens? That much irritate the French hens. Is one of the French hens your “stylish chicken” in the fir tree? LOL.

    moar {{{HUGS}}}

    • The Furkids say: our Aunty Barb gets extra points for extra comments!

      With loving hugs 🤗💝🎄💝🤗Barbara🤗💝🎄💝🤗
      and scritches for 💝Charlie🎄Cloud🎄Freddie🎄Bobbie🎄Rennie💝

  3. Weird, first it won’t let me post a version (the first), then when I slightly edit it, it posts both. Oh well. You and the Furkids are giving us lovely presents – which I *meant* to say the first time and accidently deleted when I was trying to convince the comment to post at all. moar {{{HUGS}}}

    • The comment-posting thingy is being temperamental! But the Furkids are happy – they love lots of comments!

      With loving hugs 🤗💝🎄💝🤗Barbara🤗💝🎄💝🤗
      and scritches for 💝Charlie🎄Cloud🎄Freddie🎄Bobbie🎄Rennie💝

      • As long as the Furkids are happy, that’s all that matters. moar {{{HUGS}}} to you & scritches to Ms. Loula. (& anybody else who wants them.)

  4. Perhaps I need my vet’s cone of shame to find that stylish chicken. Help me! My birdie Morgan is getting impatient, and trust me, you don’t want to experience that!

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