Wikipedia article
'Little Robin Redbreast' is an English language nursery rhyme, chiefly notable as evidence of the way traditional rhymes are changed and edited. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 20612.
Lyrics
This rhyme is one of the most varied English nursery rhymes, probably because of its crude early version. Common modern versions include:
:Little Robin Redbreast
:Came to visit me;
:This is what he whistled,
:Thank you for my tea.[I. Opie and P. Opie, 'The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes' (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 371-2.]
and:
:Little Robin Redbreast
:Sat upon a tree,
:Up went the Pussy-Cat,
:And down went he;
:Down came Pussy-Cat,
:Away Robin ran,
:Says little Robin Redbreast
:Catch me if you can.
:Little Robin Redbreast jumped upon a wall,
:Pussy-Cat jumped after him, and almost got a fall.
:Little Robin chirped and sung, and what did pussy say?
:Pussy-Cat said Mew, mew mew,and Robin jumped away.[Anon, '[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28687/28687-h/28687-h.htm#titletext The Only True Mother Goose Melodies]' (Munroe and Francis: Boston MA, 1833), p. 14.]
Origins
The earliest versions of this rhyme reveal a more basic humour. The earliest recorded is from 'Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book' (c. 1744), which has the lyric:
:Little Robin Red breast,
:Sitting on a pole,
:Nidde, Noddle, Went his head.
:And poop[the meaning of this word subsequently changed, towards the start of the 20th century] went his Hole.[
]
By the late eighteenth century the last line was being rendered 'And wag went his tail,' and other variations were used in nineteenth-century children's books, in one of the clearest cases of bowdlerisation in nursery rhymes.[
]
Fingerplay
The rhyme has been used as a fingerplay. A version from 1920 included instructions with the lyrics:
:Little Robin Redbreast
:Sat upon a rail,
:(Right hand extended in shape of a bird is poised on extended forefinger of left hand.)
:Niddle noddle went his head,
:And waggle went his tail.
:(Little finger of right hand waggles from side to side.)[W. B. Forbush, H. T. Wade, W. J. Baltzell, R. Johnson, and D. E. Wheeler, ed., [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25359/25359-h/25359-h.htm#ROBIN 'Boys and Girls Bookshelf; a Practical Plan of Character Building, Volume I'] (New York, NY: University Society, 1920), p. 10.]
Notes
Category:English folk songs
Category:English children's songs
Category:Traditional children's songs
Category:Songs about birds
Category:Songs about cats
Category:1744 songs
Category:Finger plays
Category:English nursery rhymes
Category:Fictional birds
Category:Songwriter unknown
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