Reuben and Rachel is a

popular song Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Funk ...

with words written by Harry Birch and music by William Gooch, originally published in Boston in 1871 by White, Smith, & Perry. The song regained popularity in the 20th century as a

children's song A children's song may be a nursery rhyme set to music, a song that children invent and share among themselves or a modern creation intended for entertainment, use in the home or education. Although children's songs have been recorded and studied ...

. The first line of the song, "Reuben, Reuben, I've been thinking," was reused in a popular song at the close of World War I (1919), " How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree)?."The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music
/ref> It was often sung on the playgrounds as: "Reuben, Reuben, I've been thinking what in the world have you been drinking? Smells like whiskey, tastes like wine. Oh my gosh! It's turpentine!" The melody has often been used for parodies, such as Bowser and Blue's "Where The Sun Don't Shine! (The Colorectal Surgeon's Song)". The song is not related to the 1799 novel of the same name by

Susanna Rowson Susanna Rowson, née Haswell (1762 – 2 March 1824) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, religious writer, stage actress, and educator, considered the first woman geographer and supporter of female education. She also wrote against s ...

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*{{Wikisource inline, Reuben and Rachel 1871 songs English children's songs American folk songs Songs about fictional male characters Songs about fictional female characters Traditional children's songs Comedy songs Fictional duos