Watch the official music video for "Froggie Went a Courtin'" by Elizabeth Mitchell & You Are My Flower, from Mitchell's fourth Smithsonian Folkways album Blue Clouds.

Over the course of six beautiful albums in nearly 15 years, Elizabeth Mitchell has invited listeners to join her, husband Daniel Littleton, their daughter Storey, and other friends and relatives to become part of an extended musical family. On Blue Clouds, she raises her special kind of family-centric music to new heights by bringing clarity and beauty to a surprising range of songs.

"This tale of courtship between a frog and a mouse has been sung so many different ways in the folk tradition. We recorded another version—slower, with a repeating, echoing 'uh-huh' throughout— many years ago on our album You Are My Sunshine. I never loved the 'king kong kitchie' version until I started singing it with my students in a folk music class I was teaching this year. Something magical happened when I heard the children sing it this way. My friend Natalie taught me some verses I had never heard before, and it became clear that it was time to interpret the song again! I invited my friends Jay Ungar, Molly Mason, and Ruthy Ungar over to help me bring the music to life. Playing with this extraordinary family of musicians is an experience I will never forget. I changed the last verse from 'they now had wealth and children three' to 'they had good health and children three and they all lived happily ever after.'"