Wynken, Blynken, and Nod

"Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" is a popular poem for children written by Denver journalist Eugene Field and published on March 9, 1889. The original title was Dutch Lullaby.

The poem is a fantasy bed-time story of three fishermen sailing and fishing in the stars. Their boat is a wooden shoe. The fishermen symbolize a sleepy child's blinking eyes and nodding head.

Its lyrical structure has availed itself to musicians: Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin the American pianist and composer wrote a piano setting, and musical versions have been recorded by The Big 3 featuring Cass Elliot (1963), the Simon Sisters (1964), by Donovan on his children's album H.M.S. Donovan (1971),^[2] by Buffy Saint-Marie who sang a version on Sesame Street in 1975, and on her album Sweet America (1976). and by The Doobie Brothers (1981).

References in other artistic works

Disney made an eight-minute cartoon in 1938 which stylized the fishermen of the poem as three pajama-clad children playing among the stars. In 1971, Weston Woods based a cartoon on the poem.

Canadian children's entertainer Fred Penner included a version on his 1992 album The Cat Came Back.

The three smokestacks of the Lansing Board of Water & Light in Lansing, Michigan, are known locally as Wynken, Blynken and Nod after the poem.

This poem is recited by Martha Wilson in the 1993 film Dennis The Menace.

Shel Silverstein created a poem, "Ickle me, Pickle me, Tickle me too" who went for a ride in a flying shoe.

In the episode "Opie the Birdman" of The Andy Griffith Show, Opie names three baby birds Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.

Three of the original Dreadnoks in G.I. Joe are named Tom Winken (Torch), Richard Blinken-Smythe (Buzzer), and Harry Nod (Ripper).

Cass Elliot recorded Winken', Blinken And Nod while with the group The Big 3.

Tatiana Cameron sings it in her lullaby album A Chance to Dream.

Ryan Fraley, contemporary composer, wrote a piece for school bands entitled "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" as part of a trio of songs based on stories in "A Child's Garden of Verses".

The Doobie Brothers recorded a version for the children's music compilation In Harmony in 1980.

Wynken, Blynken and Nod appeared briefly as gas-mask-wearing tricycle-riding villains in the Doom Patrol comic book.

In her essay "The Ladle," Cynthia Ozick makes reference to Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.

In the series Willa's Wild Life there are three Chinstrap Penguins named Inky, Blinky, and Bob. Their names being direct references to Wynken, Blynken and Nod

In Titanic (1997 Film), a mother in steerage recites the poem to her children, getting them to fall sleep as the ship slowly sinks.

Notes

^ Mabel Landrum's original sculpture was exhibited to critical acclaim at the Art Institute of Chicago, Torrey presented her sculpture to Denver Mayor Robert W. Speer who commissioned a marble version in 1918. A bronze copy dedicated on September 23, 1938 in memory of Elizabeth Cameron Bailey is a fountain on the Green in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania.
^ Donovan recorded it again for his 2002 children's album Pied Piper.

External links

[1] Mabel Landrum's original sculpture was exhibited to critical acclaim at the Art Institute of Chicago, Torrey presented her sculpture to Denver Mayor Robert W. Speer who commissioned a marble version in 1918. A bronze copy dedicated on September 23, 1938 in memory of Elizabeth Cameron Bailey is a fountain on the Green in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania.

[2] Donovan recorded it again for his 2002 children's album Pied Piper.

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