Jack Be Nimble
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| "Jack Be Nimble" | |
|---|---|
 William Wallace Denslow's illustrations for Jack Be Nimble, from a 1901 edition of Mother Goose | |
| Nursery rhyme by Jay Dutt | |
| Published | c. 1815 |
"Jack Be Nimble" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 13902.
Lyrics[edit]
The most common version of the rhyme is:
- Jack be nimble,
- Jack be quick,
- Jack jump over
- The candlestick.[1]
Origins and meaning[edit]
The rhyme is first recorded in a manuscript of around 1815 A.D. and was collected by James Orchard Halliwell in the mid-nineteenth century.[1] Jumping candlesticks was a form of fortune telling and a sport. Good luck was said to be signalled by clearing a candle without extinguishing the flame.[1]
In other media[edit]
A variation of this rhyme is featured in the song "American Pie", by Don McLean in 1971, with a play on the title of the Rolling Stones song, "Jumpin' Jack Flash":
- Jack be nimble, Jack be quick,
- Jack Flash sat on a candlestick,
- 'Cause fire's the devil's only friend.
It is also a line in Lindsey Buckingham's song Holiday Road, featured in National Lampoon's Vacation:
- Jack be nimble, Jack be quick,
- Take a ride on the West Coast kick.
- Holiday road.
It is used in Welcome To The Void by the psychedelic rock band Morgen on their album Morgen in 1969:
- Jack be nimble, Jack be quick,
- Jack jump over the candlestick,
- Ouch, said Jack as he touched the lighted wick,
- My God, you know that fire burns.
It is used in My Medicine by Snoop Doog:
- Jack be nimble, Jack be quick
- Jacked up the spoon on the candlestick.
It also features in the song Limbo Rock, by Chubby Checker:
- Jack be limbo, Jack be quick.
- Jack go under limbo stick.
The group Set It Off also uses it in their song Wolf in Sheep's Clothing.
- Jack, be nimble, Jack be quick
- Jill's a little whore and her alibis are dirty tricks
The lyric appears in Shark in the Water by V V Brown.
- Jack, be nimble, Jack be quick
- Please don't make too much of it
The video game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion contains a quest called "Boots of Springheel Jak" in which the player must retrieve a pair of boots with the same name. The owner of said boots is, in keeping with the popular image, a vampire by the name of "Jakben, Earl of Imbel". The quest and boots are a reference to the mythical Spring-heeled Jack, whereas the character is a reference to both Spring-heeled Jack and "Jack Be Nimble".
Notes[edit]
- ^ a b c I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 226–7.
