One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

Last updated

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
by Traditional
1-2 buckle my shoe.jpg
Augustus Hoppin's illustration, published in New York, 1866
Genre(s) Nursery rhyme
Publication date1805

"One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" is a popular English language nursery rhyme and counting-out rhyme of which there are early occurrences in the US and UK. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 11284.

Contents

Rhyme

A common version is given in The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes:

One, two, buckle my shoe;
Three, four, knock at the door;
Five, six, pick up sticks;
Seven, eight, lay them straight;
Nine, ten, a big fat hen;
Eleven, twelve, dig and delve;
Thirteen, fourteen, maids a-courting;
Fifteen, sixteen, maids in the kitchen;
Seventeen, eighteen, maids in waiting;
Nineteen, twenty, my plate's empty. [1]

Other sources give differing lyrics. [2]

Origins and variations

In his The Counting-Out Rhymes of Children (1888), the American collector of folklore, Henry Carrington Bolton (1843–1903), quoted an old lady who remembered a longer version of this rhyme as being used in Wrentham, Massachusetts as early as 1780. Beyond the first four lines, it proceeded:

Nine, ten, kill a fat hen;
Eleven, twelve, bake it well;
Thirteen, fourteen, go a-courtin;
Fifteen, sixteen, go to milkin’;
Seventeen, eighteen, do the bakin’;
Nineteen, twenty, the mill is empty;
Twenty-one, change the gun;
Twenty-two, the partridge flew;
Twenty-three, she lit on a tree;
Twenty-four, she lit down lower….
Twenty-nine, the game is mine;
Thirty, make a kerchy.

Some of the final lines Bolton's informant could no longer remember. [3]

In the UK the rhyme was first recorded in Songs for the Nursery, published in London in 1805. This version differed beyond the number twelve, with the lyrics:

Thirteen, fourteen, draw the curtain,
Fifteen sixteen, the maid's in the kitchen,
Seventeen, eighteen, she's in waiting,
Nineteen, twenty, my stomach's empty. [1]

A version published five years later in Gammer Gurton's Garland (1810) was titled "Arithmetick" and had the following different lines:

Three, four, lay down lower ...
Eleven twelve, who will delve...
Fifteen, sixteen, maids a-kissing...
Nineteen, twenty, my belly's empty. [1]

In 1842, James Orchard Halliwell recorded "Shut the door" at the close of the second line. [4]

Since April 2023, a parodied version of the song was popularized as an internet meme. [5] [6] [7]

Illustrated publications

An 1869 endpaper by Walter Crane Walter Crane 1869.jpg
An 1869 endpaper by Walter Crane

The rhyme was sometimes published alone in illustrated editions. That with lithographs by Caroline R. Baillie (Edinburgh, 1857) had an oblong format [8] showing domestic 18th-century interiors. [9] There were also two editions of the rhyme published from London, both illustrated by Walter Crane. The first was a single volume picture-book (John Lane, 1869) with end-papers showing a composite of the 1 – 10 sequence and of the 11 – 20 sequence. It was followed in 1910 by The Buckle My Shoe Picture Book, containing other rhymes too. This had coloured full-page illustrations: composites for lines 1-2 and 3–4, and then one for each individual line. [10]

In America the rhyme was used to help young people learn to count and was also individually published. Among these, the distinctive illustrations by Courtland Hoppin (1834-1876) devoted to each verse first appeared in editions published at the end of 1866. [11] In Old Mother Goose's Rhymes And Tales (London and New York, 1889) there was only a single page given to the rhyme, [12] illustrated by Constance Haslewood in the style of Kate Greenaway. [13]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 333-4.
  2. Knowles, Elizabeth M. (1999). The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. Oxford University Press. p.  550. ISBN   978-0-19-860173-9.
  3. Henry Carrington Bolton, The Counting-Out Rhymes of Children (New York, 1888), p.92
  4. J. O. Halliwell, The Nursery Rhymes of England (London, 1842), p.132
  5. "What Is The '1, 2, Buckle My Shoe' TikTok Meme? The Viral Video Explained". Know Your Meme. 17 April 2023. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  6. One Two Buckle My Shoe Is Actually Fire, 21 April 2023, retrieved 16 May 2023 via YouTube
  7. "The 'one, two, buckle my shoe' meme explained". indy100. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  8. Cover at Abe Books
  9. "One two, buckle my shoe" at The Book Press
  10. “Walter Crane, part 1”
  11. Uniform Trade List Circular (Philadelphia, November 1866), p.237
  12. Fine Art America
  13. Leslie McGrath, "Print for Young Readers", in History of the Book in Canada, University of Toronto 2005, Vol.2, p.405

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nursery rhyme</span> Traditional song or poem for children

A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and other European countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eeny, meeny, miny, moe</span> Childrens counting-out rhyme

"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" – which can be spelled a number of ways – is a children's counting-out rhyme, used to select a person in games such as tag, or for selecting various other things. It is one of a large group of similar rhymes in which the child who is pointed to by the chanter on the last syllable is chosen. The rhyme has existed in various forms since well before 1820 and is common in many languages using similar-sounding nonsense syllables. Some versions use a racial slur, which has made the rhyme controversial at times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oranges and Lemons</span> Folk song

"Oranges and Lemons" is a traditional English nursery rhyme, folksong, and singing game which refers to the bells of several churches, all within or close to the City of London. It is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index as No 13190. The earliest known printed version appeared c. 1744.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rub-a-dub-dub</span> Nursery rhyme and traditional song

"Rub-a-dub-dub" is an English language nursery rhyme first published at the end of the 18th century in volume two of Hook's Christmas Box under the title "Dub a dub dub" rather than "Rub a dub dub". It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 3101.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sing a Song of Sixpence</span> English nursery rhyme

"Sing a Song of Sixpence" is an English nursery rhyme, perhaps originating in the 18th century. It is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index as number 13191. The sixpence in the rhyme is a British coin that was first minted in 1551.

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 in some cultures more than others, they appear to be universal in human society.

"Tinker, Tailor" is a counting game, nursery rhyme and fortune telling song traditionally played in England, that can be used to count cherry stones, buttons, daisy petals and other items. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 802. It is commonly used by children in both Britain and America for "counting out", e.g. for choosing who shall be "It" in a game of tag.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">This Little Piggy</span> Nursery rhyme

"This Little Pig Went to Market" is an English-language nursery rhyme and fingerplay. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19297.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">As I was going by Charing Cross</span> English language nursery rhyme

"As I was going by Charing Cross", is an English language nursery rhyme. The rhyme was first recorded in the 1840s, but it may have older origins in street cries and verse of the seventeenth century. It refers to the equestrian statue of King Charles I in Charing Cross, London, and may allude to his death or be a puritan satire on royalist reactions to his execution. It was not recorded in its modern form until the mid-nineteenth century. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 20564.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rock-a-bye Baby</span> English nursery rhyme and lullaby

"Rock-a-bye baby on the tree top" is a nursery rhyme and lullaby. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 2768.

"One, Two, Three, Four, Five" is a nursery rhyme and counting-out rhyme.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe</span> English language nursery rhyme

"There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe" is a popular English language nursery rhyme, with a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19132. Debates over its meaning and origin have largely centered on attempts to match the old woman with historical female figures who have had large families, although King George II (1683–1760) has also been proposed as the rhyme's subject.

"Cock a Doodle Doo" is an English nursery rhyme.

"Taffy was a Welshman" is an English language nursery rhyme which was popular between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19237.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Twelve Days of Christmas (song)</span> English Christmas carol

"The Twelve Days of Christmas" is an English Christmas carol. A classic example of a cumulative song, the lyrics detail a series of increasingly numerous gifts given to the speaker by their "true love" on each of the twelve days of Christmas. The carol, whose words were first published in England in the late eighteenth century, has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 68. A large number of different melodies have been associated with the song, of which the best known is derived from a 1909 arrangement of a traditional folk melody by English composer Frederic Austin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Girls and Boys Come Out to Play</span> Nursery rhyme

"Girls and Boys Come Out to Play" or "Boys and Girls Come Out to Play" is a nursery rhyme that has existed since at least 1708. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 5452.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">If wishes were horses, beggars would ride</span> English proverb and nursery rhyme

"If wishes were horses, beggars would ride" is a proverb and nursery rhyme, first recorded about 1628 in a collection of Scottish proverbs, which suggests if wishing could make things happen, then even the most destitute people would have everything they wanted. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 20004.

"Diddle, Diddle, Dumpling, My Son John" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19709.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 WNBA playoffs</span> Womens basketball league

The 2022 WNBA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the WNBA's 2022 season. This postseason ended with the Las Vegas Aces winning their first championship.