Music › C major › Little Owlet (Frère Jacques)

🦉 Little Owlet (Frère Jacques): chords and words

Little Owlet (Frère Jacques) is written in C major, with 2 chords: C and G. Tap Fits a small voice and I’ll move the whole song to where you can sing it.

Little Owlet (Frère Jacques) in C major

The tune goes from G3 to A4: try “Fits a small voice”.

CLittleowlet,littleowlet,

CTimetowake!Timetowake!

CSunisupandshining,sunisupandshining,

CHoo,Ghoo,Choo!Hoo,Ghoo,Choo!

Tune of the French round Frère Jacques (printed in Paris in 1811), with Peabody's own words. Public domain tune. peabody.kids/music

Where the song comes from

Frère Jacques is a French round, written down in about 1780 and printed in Paris in 1811. Peabody sings it with his own words about a sleepy little owl. Up to four groups can sing it at once, each starting two bars after the last, and it still fits.

Words: Peabody's own words. Tune: Frère Jacques, La Clé du Caveau (Paris, 1811). Both were printed before 1931, so the song is in the public domain in the United States: anyone may sing it, print it and share it. Peabody wrote out the tune and the chords for this page. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A8re_Jacques.

For teachers

The tune runs from G3 to A4 in C major. For a class from Pre-K to 2nd grade, try F major (F, C), which keeps it inside C4 to D5.

Easiest to play

On a ukulele: F major (F, C). On a guitar: C major (C, G).

Sing it with the words lit up

The sing-along plays the tune and lights each word as it is sung.

More songs

Look up any chord in the Chord Finder, or see every song in C major.

Checked 2026-10-31.