opencopyInterlinear Books
Look insideHow it worksBlogContact
  • Look inside
  • How it works
  • Blog
  • Contact
Bilingual Bedtime/German songs
ErzählliedStory song

Alle meine Entchen.

The melody of Alle meine Entchen on a staff, as engraved in the book
Historische Fassung · Historical version
Download the tune

The melody as written on the staff, so you can learn the tune before you sing.

  1. Alle meine Entchen,ahl-luh mai-nuh ehnt-khuhn,All my little ducks,
  2. schwimmen auf der See,shvim-muhn owf dair zay,are swimming on the sea,
  3. Köpfchen in dem Wasser,kerpf-khuhn in daym vahs-ser,little heads in the water,
  4. Beinchen in die Höh'.bain-khuhn in dee her.little legs up in the air.

About this song

A ring game Böhme wrote down near Bacharach on the Rhine in 1896, printed beside a circle dance. The children walk round and act it out: heads down into the water, legs up in the air. The second line is sung twice. Böhme's ducks have Beinchen, little legs, where songbooks today sing Schwänzchen, little tails.

Where it comes from

The words: Franz Magnus Böhme, Deutsches Kinderlied und Kinderspiel (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1897), S. 502.

The tune: Boehme engraves the tune himself beside the text: Franz Magnus Boehme, Deutsches Kinderlied und Kinderspiel (1897), Nr. 254 'Kreistanz mit Nachahmung', the 'Anderes Liedchen' staff, S. 502, two systems, 2/4 (archive.org bub_gb_va1EAQAAIAAJ, page image n569_w1000.jpg). Every note is read off that engraving: c d e f, g g, a a a a, g, then f f f f, e e, d d d d, c, with the two bars on 'schwimmen auf der See,' standing between repeat signs. Boehme's staff carries one sharp, but that is the key signature of Nr. 254 and Nr. 255 engraved above and below it on the same page: read in G major this tune would begin and end on the fourth degree, and the sharp would fall on the four notes of 'Koepfchen in dem'. Cross-checked against the score block in the 'Melodie' section of the de.wikipedia article 'Alle meine Entchen', which has the same noteheads at the same pitch in C major with f natural and repeats the same phrase; the only difference is the barring, Wikipedia holding a half note where Boehme writes a quarter and a quarter rest. Engraved here in C major at Boehme's own pitch, no transposition

From the book

Bilingual Bedtime

Thirty-Seven German Songs for Children

Buy paperbackBuy KindleBuy hardcoverAbout this edition
Es tanzt ein Bi-Ba-ButzemannAll 37 songsFuchs, du hast die Gans gestohlen
opencopy© 2026
Look insideHow it worksBlogAboutJobsContactPrivacyTermsAccessibility