Music from On the Banks of Plum Creek

In her famous Little House series of eight books Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867–1957) loosely traces her family’s history through episodes located in Wisconsin, Kansas, Minnesota, and South Dakota over a period from 1867 to 1885. Embedded in the stories are references to 127 separate songs and tunes. Surely, few if any books in American literature of comparable standing and popularity feature America’s common, vernacular music so centrally, assign it such a major narrative role, and index it in such rich abundance.

 

This songbook contains all the pieces mentioned in On the Banks of Plum Creek.

All the Blue Bonnets

The Battle Cry of Freedom

The Campbells Are Coming

Captain Jinks

Dixie’s Land

The Girl I Left behind Me

The Happy Land

Home! Sweet Home!

Jerusalem, the Golden

Jesus Holds My Hand

Life Let Us Cherish

Lilly Dale

My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night

My Sabbath Home

Old Folks at Home

Pease Porridge Hot

Polly Put the Kettle On

Ring around the Roses

Susanna

Uncle John

Wait for the Wagon

Weevily Wheat

When Johnny Comes Marching Home