The Muffin Man

For other uses, see The Muffin Man (disambiguation).

A Muffin man, illustrated in a Punch cartoon from 1892

The Muffin Man is a traditional nursery rhyme or children's song of English origin. The most widely known lyrics are as follows:

Do you know the Muffin Man?
The Muffin Man, the Muffin Man.
Do you know the Muffin Man,
Who lives in Drury Lane?

Drury Lane is a street in London, also notable for its theatre. Victorian households had many of their fresh foods delivered; muffins would be delivered door-to-door by a muffin man. The "muffins" were the product known in much of the English-speaking world today as English muffins, not the cupcake-shaped American variety.

As with many traditional songs, there are regional variations in wording. Another popular version substitutes Cherry Lane for Drury Lane. The Young Lady's Book, published in 1888, describes the song as a game:

The first player turns to the one next her [!], and to some sing-song tune exclaims:

"Do you know the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man?

Do you know the muffin man, who lives in Drury Lane?"

The person addressed replies to the same tune:

"Yes, I know the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man;

Oh, yes, I know the muffin man, who lives in Drury Lane."

Upon this they both exclaim:

"Then two of us know the muffin man, the muffin man," &c.

No. 2 then turns to No. 3, repeating the same words, who replies in the same way, only saying, "Three of us know the muffin man," &c. No. 3 then turns to No. 4, and so on round the room, the same question and answer being repeated, the chorus only varied by the addition of one more number each time.

Verses beyond those described in the book have been sung. For example, the song may be concluded, "We all know the Muffin Man…"

Modern-day references

• The Jellyman in Jasper Fforde's The Big Over Easy is supposed to be a reference to the Muffin Man as well.

• Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart performed a song ("Muffin Man") apparently inspired by the nursery rhyme on the album Bongo Fury.

• The Arrested Development episode "S.O.B.s" tells of George Bluth's use of muffins to poison teachers who "poison" his children's minds. While he claims to have only done this twice, one or more copycats poisoned another 23 teachers, and the media dubbed the perpetrator "The Muffin Man". In a flashback to the 70s (when the crimes took place), anchorman John Beard begins his newscast with a reference to the nursery rhyme, saying "Do you know the Muffin Man? There’s a reward in it if you do."

• In the movie Jaws, Chief Brody's son Shaun is singing "The Muffin Man" while making sandcastles on the beach during the attack on Alex, the boy on the raft.

• The cult movie Muffin Man is about an obesity epidemic that leads to the extinction of the human race. The theme song Muffin Man Squat is a rap variation of the traditional Muffin Man song.

• In the Wee Sing Video Series video Grandpa's Magical Toys, the song is represented by a portly, mustached muffin baker aptly named "Muffin Man".

• In the 2001 movie Shrek, while being interrogated by Lord Farquaad as to the whereabouts of fairytale creatures, the gingerbread man "confesses" and recites the Muffin Man rhyme.

• At the very end of the 1977 Dr. Who episode The Talons of Weng-Chiang, the voice and the ringing of the Muffin Man's bell is heard in the pre dawn hours, just outside Weng-Chiang's lair. Seconds later, professor Litefoot and Leela are seen eating muffins.

Aaron moffat is also a new big name in the muffin man chronicles. believe me, he is made out of a ridulous amount of blueberries and pastry.....mmmmm aaron