Sing a Song of Sixpence….
There is a touch of the child in all of us no matter how old we are. Did I have a childhood??? I am not so sure…. I have lost count, this might be my second or third childhood, but I am certainly enjoying it this time round and may it never end! Magpie 11 has challenged us to journey back to those far off days and recall
Rhymes and Songs from childhood.
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I don’t have any recollection of Nursery Rhymes being read to us, but I do remember mammy singing them with us as she worked about the house. Since I was third in line, she knew all the words and saw no need to sit with the book when she could be doing something else. So what did she sing:
Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye;
Four and twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened,
They all began to sing.
Now, 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.
Along there came a big black bird
and pecked off her nose!
Now that one I dd NOT like; for two reasons. 1) I didn’t like the idea of eating black birds or 2) having my nose pecked off. For years, if birds touched ground near me I immediately covered my nose!
Hey diddle diddle,
the cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon,
The little dog laughed to see such sport,
And the dish ran away with the spoon.
How could a cow jump over the moon? A cow was heavier than me…. and the moon was way up there in the sky…. I just didn’t get it. 
One, two, three, four, five.
Once I caught a fish alive,
Six, seven, eight, nine ,ten,
Then I let it go again.
Why did you let it go?
Because it bit my finger so.
Which finger did it bite?
This little finger on the right.
I am glad the fish was let go ’cause I hated the smell of it cooking on the pan. Back in my young days we had fish every Friday. It was the only area of cooking where mammy was not adventurous. I liked the dessert that day - Apple-cake served hot from the oven. It was like a sweet scone mixture and if mammy was in a hurry the apple was spread between two layers of the dough before cooking. With a little more time, she chopped the apple in chunks and added it to the dry ingredients before adding the liquid.
There was an old woman,
Who lived in a shoe;
She had so many children,
She didn’t know what to do.
She gave them some broth,
Without any bread;
She whipped them all soundly,
And sent them to bed.
Now this lady I had sympathy for. It was bad enough in a house full of brothers with gangly legs, knees, elbows and arms. They were everywhere! In a tangle under the table, halfway across the floor as we sat around the open fire, or dangling over the banisters as they slid down.. instead of walking down the stairs.
There was a crooked man,
Who walked a crooked mile.
He found a crooked sixpence
Upon a crooked stile.
He bought a crooked cat
Who caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a
Crooked little house.
Ah yes! I liked this one and could live with it since I once found a crooked sixpence, and there many crooked roads that twisted and turned every 50 yards, Ireland was full of them. Around each corner was a new vista, sometimes only visible through gaps in the hedge. They were like that since the days of the Ass and Car. Well it was really an Ass & Cart and as we all know, an ass is a stubborn animal, and if it saw a long straight road, it would dig in its heels and go no further. When the ass only saw the short road ahead it walked along happily.
I’m a little teapot, short and stout
Here is my handle, here is my spout
When I get all steamed up hear me shout.
Just tip me over and pour me out.
I’m a clever teapot, yes it’s true
Here’s an example of what I can do
I can change my handle to my spout
Just tip me over and pour me out.
I’m a little teapot, short and stout,
Here is my handle, here is my spout,
When I hear the tea-cups, hear me shout,
th”Tip me up and pour me out”.
Just tip me over
And pour………me…………out.
Now that little ditty was my very first party piece. Can you imagine me standing up there in my pretty dress with a great big Chocolate box bow on my hair, doing all the actions!
Frère Jacques.
Are you sleeping, are you sleeping?
Brother John, Brother John?
Morning bells are ringing,
Morning bells are ringing,
Ding Dang Dong, Ding Dang Dong.
Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques,
Dormez vous? Dormez vous?
Sonnez les matines!Sonnez les matines!
Ding Dang Dong! Ding Dang Dong!
Are you sleeping, are you sleeping?
Brother John, Brother John?
Morning bells are ringing,
Morning bells are ringing,
Ding Dang Dong, Ding Dang Dong.
Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques,
Dormez vous? Dormez vous?
Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines!
Ding Dang Dong! Ding Dang Dong!
Sonnez les matines, Sonnez les matines
Ding Dang Dong! Ding Dang Dong!
Just to add an international tone, my very first attempt at French!
And finally…
One potato, two potato, ten potatoes more
Another 57 before they let me out the door
I haven’t got a finger left
My nails are in the stew
If they didn’t have a sister
I’ve no idea what they’d do!
(I may have felt like that all those years ago, but I only penned these words now!)
Rummuser said,
December 4, 2009 at 4:27 pm
I see that we had one common rhyme to share in our posts. It had to happen sooner or later that common ideas will come out in the posts. Like two of us wrote about games that we played as our magic moments.
And the cow jumped over the moon image has always stayed with me as the most ridiculous thing ever to think of too.
steph said,
December 4, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Hey diddle diddle,
GM’s gone for a piddle,
The consortium are late today
Steph dropped by to eat some pie
And left without having to pay
gaelikaa said,
December 4, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Ditto for the cow jumping over the moon! I remember all those rhymes very well; I liked Frere Jacques a lot as I’m rather fond of French.
Nelly said,
December 4, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Every single one of those is familiar from my childhood.
Rhyleysgranny said,
December 4, 2009 at 5:11 pm
I remember all those rhymes well. I of course have been recently rehearsed with my grandchildren. Like your mammy I am usually reciting them while working around.
This one my Granddaughter had to do for homework. She was reciting it in the car the other day while I was taking her to school. The old rhyme goes
Mondays child is fair of face,
Tuesdays child is full of grace,
Wednesdays child is full of woe,
Thursdays child has far to go,
Fridays child is loving and giving,
Saturdays child works hard for his living,
And the child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.
I was remembering it in my head as she chanted however when she came to the last line I nearly crashed the car with laughter. The word ‘Gay’ had been substituted with ‘Happy’
Rhymes well……………………………….not. Save me from political correctness. It won’t help her with rhyming English that’s for sure.
Grannymar said,
December 4, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Ramana - I saw that, and nowadays the only tea I drink is green!
Steph - Nice one! If I had known you were coming. I’d have baked a cake.
Gaelikaa - I never saw a balloon go over the moon, so how would a cow manage?
Nelly - Mammy had one about a cat with a great big bow. It tripped on the bow and fell down the stairs. The lesson behind it was about pride taking a fall, but the words just won’t come.
Rhyleysgranny - I think I would have done the same. Crashed I mean.
Nick said,
December 4, 2009 at 5:33 pm
I remember all those except the last two. Our version of Frère Jacques only had the French words and I never heard the potato rhyme. There was also of course
Hickory Dickory Dock
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck one
The mouse ran down
Hickory Dickory Dock
Except that I never knew all the following verses.
Being a hopeless surrealist, I always loved the rhyme about the cat and the fiddle.
Grannymar said,
December 4, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Nick, Nobody heard the potato rhyme until today, since I only made it up at midnight last night!
Magpie11 said,
December 4, 2009 at 5:52 pm
I remember all of those too….what is fascinating is the background to Nursery Rhymes…apparently Hey diddle diddle refers to s****l shenanigans committed by a Mr and Mrs Moon…hence the cow jumping over him! And the little dog laughing….
I’m glad I’m not the only one who remembers The Crooked Man.
Helen McGinn said,
December 4, 2009 at 6:31 pm
They are flooding back today! I tried to make sense of ‘the cow jumped over the moon’ but the nonsense of it hurt my head. *L* I loved to play one potato, two potato; hands clenched into little fists whilst hitting the other little potato fists at every chant! Those were the days…
Darlene said,
December 4, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Your nursery rhymes made it across the pond long before I was born. I know all of them except your counting one and the potato one. The counting one my grandmother sang to me was:
One little, two little, three little Indians.
Four little, five little, six little Indians.
Seven little, eight little, nine little Indians.
Ten little Indian boys.
Ten little, nine little, eight little Indians.
etc. counting backwards.
The potato one is siilar to:
One potatato, two potatoes, three potatoes, four.
Five potatoes, six potatoes, seven potatoes more.
Funnny no matter how old we get we never forget these rhymes. They are printed in our psyche.
Darlene said,
December 4, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Missed an m in similary. Oops!
bikehikebabe said,
December 4, 2009 at 9:02 pm
I guess nursery rhymes connect the whole world since we all know them. I can’t think of anything that does that.
Mondays child is fair of face,
Tuesdays child is full of grace,
WEDNESDAY’S CHILD IS FULL OF WOE,
Thursdays child has far to go…
I don’t like that one. All four of our children were born on Wednesdays & we were married on a Wednesday
Grannymar said,
December 4, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Magpie - Yet again I learn from you.
Helen - My brothers said those games were sissy so I spent time walking a wall (4foot high), climbing trees and Shhh! We played Doctors in the shed at the bottom of the garden
Darlene - I never heard your counting song before. The potato one is what Helen mentioned above.
Magpie - Yet again I learn from you.
Helen - My brothers said those games were sissy so I spent time walking a wall (4foot high), climbing trees and Shhh! We played Doctors in the shed at the bottom of the garden
Darlene - I never heard your counting song before. The potato one is what Helen mentioned above.
BHB - I was born on a Monday…. pity about my face
Dorothy Stahlnecker said,
December 4, 2009 at 11:28 pm
I’ve sang and recited all those rhymes at one time or another however, like you I can’t seem to remember my childhood very much..wonder what that means…
Dorothy from grammology
grammology.com
Grannymar said,
December 4, 2009 at 11:39 pm
Dorothy, it is great to hear from you after such a long time. I hope you are feeling well and enjoying our journey down memory lane. Take care.
Conrad said,
December 5, 2009 at 3:10 am
GM, what I marvel at is how fully at home I think I would feel in Ireland! We had the same rhymes - except for the last one, and somehow I know just how THAT one goes, too - and they were used as cadence for all kinds of playground games, chief among them jumping rope.
Adults don’t get it! Cadence, cadence, cadence. We loved the cadence!
Especially the girls, Yuck!
Grannymar said,
December 5, 2009 at 10:14 am
Conrad, when you land on Irish soil the party will begin!
Alice said,
December 5, 2009 at 4:42 pm
I remember all or most of those, except in slightly different versions. I was thinking I like Granny’s version of the one potato-two potato piece and was not too surprised that she made it up. She’s clever like that. Far better than the original we used here for sure. Now, here at the end of the comments, and in the winter of the years of some of us, is a limerick ? (think of ourselves as the mouse, and old age as the cat) which is, after all, a nursery rhyme for oldsters.
Some Guinness was spilt on the barroom floor, when the pub ws shut for the night. Out of his hold crept a wee brown mouse, and stood in the pale moonlight. He lapped up the frothy brew from the floor, then back on his haunches he sat, and all night long you could hear him roar, “Bring on that goddamn cat!”
Anu said,
December 6, 2009 at 12:49 am
Hi,
I’m Anu. This is the first time I’m commenting on your blog.
A very interesting read indeed. I guess one of the other Rhymes that I liked apart from the ones I mentioned abot while commenting on
Ramana Sir’s blogpost would be:
Little Jack Horner
Sat in the corner,
Eating a Christmas pie;
He put in his thumb,
And pulled out a plum,
And said ‘What a good boy am I!!
as also:
Little Miss Muffet
Sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey;
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away!
Grannymar said,
December 6, 2009 at 8:54 am
Alice - The Guinness seems to have that effect on both mice and men!
Anu - Welcome on board. Thank you for the reminder of ‘Little Miss Muffet’ I had forgotten all about her. It is amazing how the same rhymes travelled all over the globe long before the days of modern technology.
Maria said,
December 7, 2009 at 7:38 pm
I know I am late with my comment. I am amazed at how similar the nursery hrymes are between Ireland, England, Scotland, and even in the nursery schools of India. I don’t know why that should surprise me since my country is made of immigrants from all of these countries and of course they would bring these rhymes with them.
I loved Hey diddle diddle when I was a child. I loved the very silliness of a cow jumping over the moon. And the spoon ran away with the dish. Well can you just see that! I think the whole idea of that particular rhyme fed my young imagination more than any other.
I looked up the history of this rhyme and discovered this on line:
“The term ‘ Hey diddle diddle’ can be found in the works of Shakespeare and was a colloquialism used in much the same vein as “hey nonny no” which can be found in traditional English folk ballads. The original title was ‘High Diddle Diddle’ but this has been altered to ‘Hey Diddle Diddle’ over the years with changes to the English language. The first known date of publication for the words of the Hey diddle diddle rhyme is 1765.
Grannymar said,
December 7, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Maria, did you see Magpie’s background story to that rhyme? It was interesting how the same rhymes were appearing all over the consortium blogs this week.