| "Polly Put the Kettle On" | |
|---|---|
 William Wallace Denslow's illustrations for Polly Put the Kettle On, from a 1901 edition of Mother Goose | |
| Nursery rhyme | |
| Published | 1803 |
| Composer(s) | Traditional |
"Polly Put the Kettle On" is an English nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7899.
Common modern versions include:
An alternative ending in modern British versions is to add the line:
A parody version ran:
A song with the title: "Molly Put the Kettle On or Jenny's Baubie" was published by Joseph Dale in London in 1803. [2] It was also printed, with "Polly" instead of "Molly" in Dublin about 1790–1810 and in New York around 1803–07. [3] The nursery rhyme is mentioned in Charles Dickens' Barnaby Rudge (1841), which is the first record of the lyrics in their modern form. [1]
In middle-class families in the mid-eighteenth century "Sukey" was equivalent to "Susan" and Polly was a pet-form of Mary. [1]
The tune associated with this rhyme "Jenny's Baubie" is known to have existed since the 1770s. [1] The melody is vaguely similar to " O du lieber Augustin ", which was published in Mainz in 1788–89. [3]
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