The Wheels on the Bus

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "The Wheels on the Bus" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

"The Wheels on the Bus" is an American folk song written by Verna Hills (1898–1990). The earliest known publishing of the lyrics is the December 1937 issue of American Childhood,^[1] originally called "The Bus", with the lyrics being "The wheels of the bus", with each verse ending in lines relevant to what the verse spoke of, as opposed to the current standard "all through the town" (or "all day long" in some versions).

It is a popular children's song in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands and Brazil. It has a repetitive rhythm, making the song easy for many people to sing, in a manner similar to the song "99 Bottles of Beer". It is based on the traditional British song "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush". The song is also sometimes sung to the tune of "Buffalo Gals", as in the version done by Raffi and The Wiggles.

Normally followed by "The wipers on the bus go swish swish swish" (with action), "the horn on the bus goes beep beep beep", and "the people on the bus go up and down" (with action). Some versions substitute "bounce up and down" for "go up and down", and some modern commercial recordings of the song in children's toys simplify the tune by copying notes 7 through 9 onto notes 13 through 15.^{[clarification needed]}

Lyrics as they were originally found in the December 1937 issue of American Childhood:

Modern versions of the song change the lyrics in the seventh verse to say the daddies on the bus go "I love you". This can be seen in the popular remake by the children’s show Cocomelon.

Note that this version does not make any reference to the melody that is commonly attached to the song.

"The Wheels on the Bus"
Single by Mad Donna
B-side	"Hush, Little Baby"
Released	4 May 2002
Length	2:25
Label	Star Harbour All Around The World Disco 0202R
Songwriter(s)	Verna Hills

In 2002, American Madonna impersonator Michelle Chappel, under the stage name "Mad Donna", released a single which sampled the song,^[2] featuring a version of Madonna's 1998 song "Ray of Light" over which the classic children's song was sung.^[3] The single reached No. 17 in the United Kingdom and also made the charts elsewhere in Europe.^[4]

The song also has lyrics in Swedish, Hjulen på bussen ("The Wheels on the Bus"), and among the artists who have recorded it are Pernilla Wahlgren in 1996.^[5]

As of 1 January 2025 it is the fifth most popular song on YouTube, with almost seven billion views.