"There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" | |
---|---|
Song by Burl Ives | |
Language | English |
Released | 1953 |
Genre | Children's rhyme, nonsense song |
Label | Brunswick Records |
Songwriter(s) | Rose Bonne and Alan Mills |
Official audio | |
"There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" on YouTube |
"There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" is a cumulative (repetitive, connected poetic lines or song lyrics) children's nursery rhyme or nonsensical song. Other titles for the rhyme include "There Was an Old Lady", "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly", "There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly" and "I Know an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly". An early documentation of the story appears in English author Dorothy B. King's 1946 book Happy Recollections.
The song tells the nonsensical story of an old woman who swallows increasingly large animals, each to catch the previously swallowed animal, but dies after swallowing a horse. There are many variations of phrasing in the lyrics, especially for the description of swallowing each animal.
Our first Wren evening was a "knockout," in the spring of 1943. The Hall was so packed that men were even perched on the window ledges. No audience could possibly have been more enthusiastic or shown their appreciation in a greater degree. I am sorry I have not that first program. Third Officer Phillips and several of the other officers sat in the front row of the Rest Room, really the dressing room on concerts nights. One of the officers recited and I have never laughed so much as I did that night she told us about the woman who swallowed a fly and then swallowed a cat to eat that fly and a dog to eat the cat, and so on: her "swallows" each time were so realistic.
— Dorothy B. King, Happy Recollections (1946) [1]
Shortly afterwards, the journal Hoosier Folklore published three versions of the story from different parts of the United States (Colorado, Georgia and Ohio) in its December 1947 edition. The editor calls it a "cumulative tale", and asks readers for information on its origins. [2] All three versions begin with a lady swallowing the fly and end with her dying after swallowing a horse, but there are variations in what animals are swallowed and the rhymes for each animal.
In 1952, Rose Bonne (lyrics) and Canadian/English folk artist Alan Mills copyrighted a version of the song, respectively contributing lyrics and music. At that time it was entitled simply "I Know an Old Lady." [3] A widely distributed version of the song was released on Brunswick Records in 1953, where it was sung by Burl Ives. Ives' rendition appears on his album, Folk Songs, Dramatic and Humorous—which debuted in late summer, 1953. [4] According to the album liner notes, the song was "derived from an old ballad", rewritten by Alan Mills, and passed to Ives by Edith Fowke of CBC Radio. [5] The 1961 illustrated book by Rose Bonne also indicates that the lyrics are hers, whereas the music was composed by Alan Mills. [6] [7] [ non-primary source needed ] [8]
The following is one version of the lyrics to demonstrate the song's cumulative nature:
There was an old lady who swallowed a fly,
I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her;
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a bird;
How absurd to swallow a bird!
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a cat;
Well, fancy that, she swallowed a cat!
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady that swallowed a dog;
What a hog to swallow a dog!
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a goat;
Just opened her throat and swallowed a goat!
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a cow;
I don't know how she swallowed a cow!
She swallowed the cow to catch the goat,
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a horse...
She's dead, of course! [9]
"St. James Infirmary" is an American blues and jazz standard that emerged, like many others, from folk traditions. Louis Armstrong brought the song to lasting fame through his 1928 recording, on which Don Redman is named as composer; later releases credit "Joe Primrose", a pseudonym used by musician manager, music promoter and publisher Irving Mills. The melody is eight bars long, unlike songs in the classic blues genre, where there are 12 bars. It is in a minor key, and has a 4
4 time signature, but has also been played in 3
4.
A cumulative song is a song with a simple verse structure modified by progressive addition so that each verse is longer than the verse before. Cumulative songs are popular for group singing, in part because they require relatively little memorization of lyrics, and because remembering the previous verse to concatenate it to form the current verse can become a kind of game.
The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss is an American children's puppet television series based on characters created by Dr. Seuss, produced by The Jim Henson Company. It aired from October 13, 1996, to May 15, 1998, on Nickelodeon. It combines live puppets with digitally animated backgrounds, and in its first season, refashioning characters and themes from the original Dr. Seuss books into new stories that often retained much of the flavor of Dr. Seuss' own works.
"This Is the House That Jack Built" is a popular English nursery rhyme and cumulative tale. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 20854. It is Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index type 2035.
Alan Mills was a Canadian folksinger, writer, and actor. He was best known for popularizing Canadian folk music, and for his original song, I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. He appeared on several radio and television programs and in movies.
Latin American childlore, the childlore of Latin American countries, has still not been studied to the same extent as that of other countries. The study of British children carried out by Iona and Peter Opie suggests that childlore is more conservative than adult culture. A similar study carried out in a Latin American country might therefore discover among indigenous children verses unchanged since before the conquest, or perhaps, in a large city, traditions preserved from the civilization of Granada.
Tweety's High-Flying Adventure is a 2000 American animated musical slapstick comedy film produced by Tom Minton and James T. Walker, written by Tom Minton, Tim Cahill and Julie McNally, and directed by James T. Walker, Karl Toerge, Charles Visser, and Kyung Won Lim, starring Tweety.
Mission: Magic! is an American Saturday morning animated series starring rock star Rick Springfield and is a spin-off of The Brady Kids, produced by Filmation. 16 episodes aired on ABC from September 8 to December 22, 1973. It was also broadcast in Springfield's native Australia, where Springfield was then a bigger celebrity.
I Taw a Putty Tat is a 1948 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on April 1, 1948, and stars Tweety and Sylvester.
In the folk tradition, there are many traditional blues verses that have been sung over and over by many artists. Blues singers, who include many country and folk artists as well as those commonly identified with blues singers, use these traditional lyrics to fill out their blues performances. Artists like Jimmie Rodgers, the "blue yodeler", and Big Joe Turner, "the Boss of the Blues" compiled virtual encyclopedias of lyrics. Turner reputedly could sing the blues for hours without repeating himself.
"Annie" is a 1999 single by Canadian rock band Our Lady Peace from the album Happiness...Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch. It was less successful than other singles from that album, such as Thief.
In a cumulative tale, sometimes also called a chain tale, action or dialogue repeats and builds up in some way as the tale progresses. With only the sparest of plots, these tales often depend upon repetition and rhythm for their effect, and can require a skilled storyteller to negotiate their tongue-twisting repetitions in performance. The climax is sometimes abrupt and sobering as in "The Gingerbread Man." The device often takes the form of a cumulative song or nursery rhyme. Many cumulative tales feature a series of animals or forces of nature each more powerful than the last.
Weston Woods Studios is a production company that makes audio and short films based on well-known books for children. It was founded in 1953 by Morton Schindel in Weston, Connecticut, and named after the wooded area near his home. Weston Woods Studios' first project was Andy and the Lion in 1954; its first animated film was The Snowy Day in 1964. In 1968, Weston Woods began a long collaboration with animator Gene Deitch. Later, they opened international offices in Henley-on-Thames, England, UK (1972), as well as in Canada (1975) and Australia (1977). In addition to making the films, Weston Woods also conducted interviews with the writers, illustrators, and makers of the films. The films have appeared on children's television programs such as Captain Kangaroo, Eureeka's Castle, and Sammy's Story Shop. In the mid-1980s, the films were released on VHS under the Children's Circle titles, and Wood Knapp Video distributed these releases from 1988 to 1995.
Lomax, the Hound of Music is a 2008 American children's television series that utilizes a combination of puppets, live actors, live music and animation to promote musical education towards young children.
Repetitive songs contain a large proportion of repeated words or phrases. Simple repetitive songs are common in many cultures as widely spread as the Caribbean, Southern India and Finland. The best-known examples are probably children's songs. Other repetitive songs are found, for instance, in African-American culture from the days of slavery.
"Preacher Boy" is a jazz song written by singer Billie Holiday, and composer Jeanne Burns and published by E.B. Marks. This is one of seven songs written by or co-written by Holiday that she never recorded.
American Folk Songs for Children is a studio album released by Pete Seeger in 1953 by Folkways Records. It was Seeger's first solo album.
Peter, Paul & Mommy, Too, released on Warner Bros. in 1993, is a children's album by the trio Peter, Paul and Mary. It was recorded on October 31 and November 1, 1992, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Harvey Theater. The album follows from the first children's album they released in 1969, Peter, Paul and Mommy.
One of the Classic Books-with-Holes that have been around for 30 years.