The earliest reference to any form of the song is from the title of a piece of sheet music published in 1780, which attributed the song to William Swords, an actor at the
Haymarket Theatre of London. Early versions of the song were variously titled "The Farmer's Dog Leapt o'er the
Stile", "A
Franklyn's Dogge", or "Little Bingo". An early transcription of the song (without a title) dates from the 1785 songbook "The Humming Bird", and reads: This is how most people know the traditional children's song: The farmer's dog leapt over the stile, his name was little Bingo, the farmer's dog leapt over the stile, his name was little Bingo. B with an I — I with an N, N with a G — G with an O; his name was little Bingo: B—I—N—G—O! His name was little Bingo. The farmer loved a cup of good ale, he called it rare good stingo, the farmer loved a cup of good ale, he called it rare good stingo. S—T with an I — I with an N, N with a G — G with an O; He called it rare good stingo: S—T—I—N—G—O! He called it rare good stingo And is this not a sweet little song? I think it is —— by jingo. And is this not a sweet little song? I think it is —— by jingo. J with an I — I with an N, N with a G — G with an O; I think it is —— by jingo: J—I—N—G—O! I think it is —— by jingo. A similar transcription exists from 1840, as part of
The Ingoldsby Legends, the transcribing of which is credited in part to a "Mr. Simpkinson from
Bath". This version drops several of the repeated lines found in the 1785 version and the transcription uses more archaic spelling and the first lines read "A franklyn's dogge" rather than "The farmer's dog". A version similar to the Ingoldsby one (with some spelling variations) was also noted from 1888. The presence of the song in the
United States was noted by
Robert M. Charlton in 1842. English folklorist
Alice Bertha Gomme recorded eight forms in 1894. Highly-differing versions were recorded in
Monton,
Shropshire,
Liphook and
Wakefield,
Staffordshire,
Nottinghamshire,
Cambridgeshire,
Derbyshire and
Enborne. All of these versions were associated with children's games, the rules differing by locality. Early versions of "Bingo" were also noted as adult
drinking songs, as in a version where individual singers were expected to sing a letter from the spelling of the name, and were to take a drink if they failed to do so correctly. Variations on the lyrics refer to the dog variously as belonging to a
miller or a
shepherd, and/or named "Bango" or "Pinto". In some variants, variations on the following third stanza are added: The farmer loved a pretty young lass, and gave her a wedding-ring-o. R with an I — I with an N, N with a G — G with an O; (etc.) This stanza is placed before or substituted for the stanza starting with "And is this not a sweet little song?" Versions that are variations on the early version of "Bingo" have been recorded in
classical arrangements by
Frederick Ranalow (1925),
John Langstaff (1952), and
Richard Lewis (1960). Under the title "Little Bingo", a variation on the early version was recorded twice by
folk singer
Alan Mills, on
Animals, Vol. 1 (1956) and on
14 Numbers, Letters, and Animal Songs (1972). The song should not be confused with the 1961 UK hit pop song "Bingo, Bingo (I'm In Love)" by Dave Carey, which originated as a jingle for pirate station
Radio Luxembourg. ==References==