Hey Diddle Diddle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Hey Diddle Diddle" Roud #19478 |
|
| Written by | Traditional |
|---|---|
| Published | c. 1765 |
| Written | England |
| Language | English |
| Form | Nursery Rhyme |
"Hey Diddle Diddle" (also "Hi Diddle Diddle"), "The Cat and the Fiddle", or "The Cow Jumped Over the Moon" is an English nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19478.
Contents |
[edit] Lyrics
The most commonly used modern version of the rhyme is:
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.[1]
In more recent versions the archaic 'sport' is replaced with 'fun'.
[edit] Origins
The earliest recorded version of the poem was printed in London in Mother Goose's Melody around 1765, with the lyrics:
High diddle diddle,
The Cat and the Fiddle,
The Cow jump'd over the Moon,
The little dog laugh'd to see such Craft,
And the Dish ran away with the Spoon.[1]
There is a reference in Thomas Preston's A lamentable tragedy mixed ful of pleasant mirth, conteyning the life of Cambises King of Percia, printed in 1569 that may refer to the rhyme:
They be at hand Sir with stick and fidle;
They can play a new dance called hey-didle-didle.[1]
There are numerous theories about the origin of the rhyme, these include: James Orchard Halliwell's suggestion that it was a corruption of ancient Greek, probably advanced as a result of a deliberate hoax; that it was connected with Hathor worship; that it refers to various constellations (Taurus, Canis minor etc); that is describes the Flight from Egypt; that it depicts Elizabeth, Lady Katherine Grey, and her relationships with the earls of Hertford and Leicester; that it deals with anti-clerical feeling over injunctions by Catholic priests for harder work; that it describes Katherine of Aragon (Katherine la Fidèle); Catherine, the wife of Peter the Great; Canton de Fidèle, a supposed governor of Calais and the game of cat (trap-ball).[1] This profusion of unsupported explanations was satirised by J.R.R. Tolkien in his fictional explanations of 'The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late'.[2] Most scholarly commentators consider these unproven and that the verse is probably meant to be simply nonsense.[1]
[edit] In popular culture
- Hey Diddle Diddle may have also been the inspiration for "Hi Diddlee Dee", a song in the Disney animated film Pinocchio (1940).
- In the novel The Lord of the Rings (1954-5), J. R. R. Tolkien expanded on this rhyme, when Frodo Baggins is dancing in the Prancing Pony tavern in Bree he sings a song allegedly written by his first (and second) cousin Bilbo Baggins.
- In the Broadway musical Rent, Maureen Johnson uses imagery from this nursery rhyme in her protests over the destruction of a housing lot for the building of a cyber-arts studio.
