| "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 |
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 fun,
And the dish ran away with the spoon.[1]
In more recent versions the archaic 'sport' is replaced with 'fun'.
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]
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.
Notes
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