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Here you’ll find public domain songs as downloadable PDFs and MP3 recordings, as well as some songs used by the permission of other authors/copyright holders.
Many sites state songs are in the public domain when they are not. A song does not enter the public domain until 70 years or more after the date the author has died (not the date the song was written). For questions on copyright, see http://www.copyright.gov/. You may also want to check the website http://www.pdinfo.com/Copyright-Law/Copyright-and-Public-Domain.php. I have made every effort to ensure the songs here are in the public domain or have the author’s permission to include them (noted on song). If you believe I have made an error, please contact me.
If a song includes a permission to use or registered trademarks (such as the words Girl Scout), it must be used in accordance with the owner’s guidelines.
Feel free to share these songs, but please keep the name and web address on them (or add them if they are not there) and please do not change or omit any of the text (quoting is fine). If you want to reprint these for profit-oriented purposes, please contact me.
You may also wish to visit other websites such as Popular Songs in American History or Folk Music of England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and America for additional song information. Please note their lyrics often include fewer verses.
For public domain classical music you may want to visit https://musopen.org/.
Thank you and enjoy!
SongScouting 
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Camp Songs
A Ram Sam Sam, Ah Poor Bird, Bear Song, Bill Grogan’s Goat, Chairs to Mend, Dem Bones, French Cathedrals, Grasshoppers Three, Hey Ho, Nobody Home, Linstead Market, Music Alone Shall Live, ‘Neath These Tall Green Trees, Ol’ Texas, Rose. White Coral Bells
Renaissance
Ah Poor Bird, Benjamin Bomaneer, Chairs to Mend, Hey Ho, Nobody Home, Lavender’s Blue, Prickle Holly Bush, Rose, Thou Knave, White Coral Bells
NEW POSTINGS – Check them out!
Protest Songs – see the Songs MP3 tab to revisit these songs that are once again relevant today. Note: These songs are NOT public domain, but are here for educational use (learning purposes).
I really enjoy your site. I needed info on Girl Scout songs to know which songs I could legally quote the lyrics to in a book. I didn’t find “Each Campfire Lights Anew,” and everything I found on the Web indicates author and copyright is unknown. Would you have any information on that song? Thank you for your website–it’s fantastic!
I show Each Campfire Lights Anew as copyrighted by GSUSA in 1973 in their songbook. Melinda Carroll lists it as public domain – but I have found numerous errors in her publications and do not take her “research” as correct unless I can find an independent second source.
The copyright file on the Girl Scout page under the Master Songbook List should tell you some of the songs you can safely quote. Those marked “traditional” generally mean public domain. Some songs have public domain music and copyrighted lyrics – or a copyrighted arrangement of a public domain song. As long as you are dealing with quoting lyrics you won’t have to worry about arrangement copyrights.
I was told I could find the Growing up Tree song here but was unable to.
What am I doing wrong please?!
The Growing Up Tree is a copyrighted song, so I cannot include it without permission. It was written by Joe Darion and George Kleinsinger; the last known copyright holder is Allen S. Honing. I have tried multiple times at multiple addresses to get permission, but all my letters were returned as undeliverable.
The song information is located at: https://archives.girlscouts.org/Detail/objects/8536
You can find The Growing Up Tree on “NOW Favorites” and as a GSUSA, Nanette Guilford Corporation 45rpm single by Barry & Carla. Nanette Guilford was an opera singer who recorded some of the Girl Scout songs. Check online (ebay, etsy, Amazon) for availability.
I remember learning and singing the three songs: Rose Rose, Ah Poor Bird and Hey Ho Nobody Home, all together as a three-part round where each of the three groups was assigned one of these songs but jumped in as you would in a round. It sounded like they went together and was fun. This was at Girl Scout camp in the 80’s. Thanks for the memory!
Claudine, you’re welcome.
Let me clarify some music terms.
ROUND Technically a round is the same song sung by two or more people using different starting points.
There are single songs, not rounds, with two parts meant to be sung in counterpoint like Horsey, Horsey or Swinging Along.
PARTNER SONGS Two or more different songs sung together to create harmonies are referred to as partner songs. The three you mentioned are common in Girl Scouting. Some others are A Spanish Cavalier sung together with Solomon Grundy and of course Frere Jacques (Brother John) with Three Blind Mice.
You can find more examples by entering partner songs in your browser search bar.
MEDLEY The famous partnering by Elvis Presley of Battle Hymn of the Republic, Dixie, and All My Trials is a medley. The songs are sung in sequence, not at the same time.
CATCH Note: Popular in Elizabethan times a catch is a round or canon sung by two or more. The song had pauses (rests) which allowed words or phrases from the songs to come through and sometimes formed a message. Common Girl Scout catches are Johnny! and Thou Knave aka Hold Thy Peace.