Sing a Song of Sixpence facts for kids
Quick facts for kids "Sing a Song of Sixpence" |
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Walter Crane's illustration of the maid hanging out the clothes.
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| Nursery rhyme | |
| Published | c. 1744 |
"Sing a Song of Sixpence" is a well-known English nursery rhyme, perhaps originating in the 18th century. It is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index as number 13191.
Origins
The rhyme's origins are uncertain. References have been inferred in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (c. 1602), (Act II, Scene iii), where Sir Toby Belch tells a clown: "Come on; there is sixpence for you: let's have a song" and in Beaumont and Fletcher's Bonduca (1614), which contains the line "Whoa, here's a stir now! Sing a song o' sixpence!"
In the past it has often been attributed to George Steevens (1736–1800), who used it in a pun at the expense of Poet Laureate Henry James Pye (1745–1813) in 1790, but the first verse had already appeared in print in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, published in London around 1744, in the form:
- Sing a Song of Sixpence,
- A bag full of Rye,
- Four and twenty Naughty Boys,
- Baked in a Pye.
The next printed version that survives, from around 1780, has two verses and the boys have been replaced by birds. A version of the modern four verses is first extant in Gammer Gurton's Garland or The Nursery Parnassus published in 1784, which ends with a magpie attacking the unfortunate maid. Fifth verses with the happier endings began to be added from the middle of the 19th century.
Lyrics
A common modern version is:
- Sing a song of sixpence,
- A pocket full of rye.
- Four and twenty blackbirds,
- Baked in a pie.
- When the pie was opened
- The birds began to sing;
- Wasn't that a dainty dish,
- To set before the king.
- The king was in his counting house,
- Counting out his money;
- The queen was in the parlour,
- Eating bread and honey.
- The maid was in the garden,
- Hanging out the clothes,
- When down came a blackbird
- And pecked off her nose.
- And shortly after that,
- there came a little wren,
- As she sat upon a chair,
- and put it on again.
The final line of the fourth verse is sometimes slightly varied, with nose pecked or nipped off. One of the following additional verses is often added to moderate the ending:
- They sent for the king's doctor,
- who sewed it on again;
- He sewed it on so neatly,
- the seam was never seen.
or:
- There was such a commotion,
- that little Jenny wren
- Flew down into the garden,
- and put it back again.
Melody
<score %vorbis="1"%%T257066%>{ \key g \major \time 4/4 g'8 fis'8 e'8 d'8 g'4 b8 c'8 | d'8 e'8 d'8 b8 d'2 | g'8 fis'8 e'8 d'8 g'4 b4 | a4 e'8 e'8 e'2 | | d'8 g'8 g'8 g'8 g'4 g'8 g'8| fis'8 a'8 a'8 a'8 a'2| b'8 a'8 g'8 fis'8 g'8 fis'8 e'8 d'8 | e'8 g'8 fis'8 a'8 g'2 \bar "|." } \addlyrics { Sing a song of six -- pence, a poc -- ket full of rye. Four and twen -- ty black -- birds baked in a pie. When the pie was o -- pened, the birds be -- gan to sing; Was -- n't that a dain -- ty dish to set be -- fore the king.}</score>
