She’ll be coming round the mountain when she comes…
does anyone know the origins/meanings of this song? Who was ‘she’? Which Mountain? I’ve tried a few places on the web but have been unable to find anything useful…
It would appear “She’ll be coming 'round the mountain” is a song written either as a Negro spiritual, or a railroad workers song, or most likely a bit of both.
“She” is possibly a train, any train, just coming down the line. The “mountain” could be anywhere – the Rockies, perhaps?
I’ve been wondering about this, too, ever since my sister gave totnak an “educational” toy that plays a variety of songs, including this one, whenever his fat little fingers push the appropriate buttons. (Just wait until she sees that the payback will be for that one 
)
I learned that “she” is a train. Most of the lyrics then make sense - the people of the town are celebrating because either the railroad is being built through their town, or the trains are returning after the spring thaw (think Laura Ingalls Wilder and The Long Winter). But… “She’ll be driving six white horses when she comes”? What’s that all about?
Yeah, I’ve got to agree with flodnak - many of the following verses make no sense wrt trains (Also, I’m asking for similar reasons - MrsWarrior keeps singing it to BabyWarrior)
Looking at various versions around the web, the following lines turn up:
She’ll be:
pettin’ two pink piggies
wearing green(or red) pajamas
She will have to sleep with Grandma when she comes
now, I can imagine the pyjamas being to do with the colour of the engine… the pigs could be something to do with carriages (I have a vague feeling that ‘pig’ might be the bit of the train that carries coal…) but sleeping with grandma? I can’t envisage any way of getting a large steam engine in bed with an Old Age Pensioner… any ideas?
Of course, this is assuming that just one person wrote all of the verses.
What goes around, comes around. However, what comes around the mountain will be drivin’ six white horses.
Many of the sites I saw were for school music curriculum planners, where they invited teachers and students to change verses. What we now know as “She’ll be coming round the mountain” could well be vastly changed over the years, by a multitude of authors – as Slotar referred to.
Remember that a few also suggest that the tune has Afro-American spiritual beginnings too – “six white horses” could mean wealth, Ezekial’s chariot, anything that means importance, a change for the better.