Hickory Dickory Dock
{{short description|Popular children's song}}
{{other uses|Hickory Dickory Dock (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Hickory Dickory Dock
| cover = Hickety Dickety Dock 1 - WW Denslow - Project Gutenberg etext 18546.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Illustration by William Wallace Denslow, from a 1901 Mother Goose collection
| type = Nursery rhyme
| written =
| published = 1744
| writer = Traditional
| composer =
| lyricist =
}}
"Hickory Dickory Dock" or "Hickety Dickety Dock" is a popular English-language nursery rhyme. The Roud Folk Song Index number is "6489".{{fact|date=July 2024}}
Lyrics and music
The most common modern version is:
Hickory dickory dock.
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down,
Hickory dickory dock.
{{cite book|author=Iona and Peter Opie|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes |year=1997 |publisher=Oxford University Press |edition=2nd |pages=185–186}}
Other variants include "down the mouse ran"The American Mercury, Volume 77, p. 105 or "down the mouse run"{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/stream/mothergooseschim00philiala#page/26/mode/2up |title=Mother Goose's chimes, rhymes & melodies|date=c. 1861 |publisher=H.B. Ashmead |access-date=2009-11-14 }} or "and down he ran" or "and down he run" in place of "the mouse ran down". Other variants have non-sequential numbers, for example starting with "The clock struck ten, The mouse ran down" instead of the traditional "one".{{fact|date=July 2024}}
= Score =
\new Staff <<
\clef treble \key d \major {
\time 6/8 \partial 2.
\relative fis' {
fis8 g a a b cis | d4.~ d4 a8 | fis8 g a a b cis | d4.~ d4 \bar"" \break
a8 | d4 d8 cis4 cis8 | b4 b8 a4. | a8 b a g fis e | d4.~ d4. \bar"" \break
}
}
%\new Lyrics \lyricmode {Hickory Dickory Dock, Pixels looked up at the clock, The clock struck five, he ran away, Hickory Dickory Dock}
%}
>>
\layout { indent = #0 }
\midi { \tempo 4. = 63 }
Origins and meaning
File:Hickety Dickety Dock 2 - WW Denslow - Project Gutenberg etext 18546.jpg
The earliest recorded version of the rhyme is in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, published in London in May 1744, which uses the opening line: 'Hickere, Dickere Dock'. The next recorded version in Mother Goose's Melody (c. 1765), uses 'Dickery, Dickery Dock'.
The rhyme is thought by some commentators to have originated as a counting-out rhyme. Westmorland shepherds in the nineteenth century used the numbers Hevera (8), Devera (9) and Dick (10) which are from the language Cumbric.
The rhyme is thought to have been based on the astronomical clock at Exeter Cathedral. The clock has a small hole in the door below the face for the resident cat to hunt mice.Cathedral Cats. Richard Surman. HarperCollins. 2004
See also
References
{{wikisource}}
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Cite web|url=https://www.dltk-teach.com/RHYMES/hickory/index.htm|title=Hickory Dickory Dock Nursery Rhyme|website=Dltk-teach.com|accessdate=21 March 2022}}
- [https://weloverhymes.com/hickory-dickory-dock/ Hickory Dickory Dock Origin]
{{authority control}}
Category:English children's songs
Category:Songs about mice and rats
Category:Fictional mice and rats
Category:English nursery rhymes