Hey Ho, Nobody Home: A Song History

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The earliest printing of "Hey, Ho, Nobody Home" in the sources consulted here is in Thomas Ravenscroft's Pammelia, a collection of one hundred rounds and catches printed in London by William Barley in 1609[1][2]. It is No. 85 there, indexed under the short title "Hey ho no body," and it appears on a page of canons in the unison, where the line carries the fuller "nobody at home" wording[1][3]. The Choral Public Domain Library lists Ravenscroft as its composer, but the Traditional Ballad Index gives the author as unknown, so the sources consulted here do not settle who wrote it[3][2]. In its 1609 form it is a drinking catch, a merry complaint of empty pockets that ends by calling for more drink[1][3].

Engraving of three men in plumed hats and long coats singing together from one sheet of music

Luca Ciamberlano, Three male singers standing together holding a sheet of music, engraving, ca. 1599–1641. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0). Singers from roughly the round’s own era, shown for atmosphere; it has no connection to the round.

The round also turns up on the stage. In Francis Beaumont's comedy The Knight of the Burning Pestle, which Britannica places around 1607 to 1611[4], Old Merrythought, told there is no bread for supper, waves the problem away and has the boys sing it with him as a catch[5][2].

Modern printings listed by the Traditional Ballad Index include Girl Scout and Boy Scout songbooks, Silber's Folksinger's Wordbook and a songbook that sets it beside a French translation; the Index also cites a study of camp songs that turned up versions in a number of languages[2]. Robert B. Waltz, writing in the Index, questions whether the round truly lived on in tradition, since the few modern collections may all derive from print, though he credits camp singing with bringing it back into circulation[2].

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Sources

  1. Greg Lindahl: "Thomas Ravenscroft: Pammelia (1609)" (facsimile).
  2. The Traditional Ballad Index: "Hey, Ho, Nobody Home".
  3. Choral Public Domain Library (CPDL): "Hey, ho, nobody at home (Thomas Ravenscroft)".
  4. Encyclopaedia Britannica: "The Knight of the Burning Pestle".
  5. Project Gutenberg: "Beaumont and Fletcher's Works, Vol. 06 of 10".