Pussy Cat Pussy Cat
| "Pussy cat, Pussy cat" | |
|---|---|
| Nursery rhyme | |
| Published | 1805 |
| Songwriter(s) | Traditional |
"Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat" or "Pussycat, Pussycat" is a popular English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 15094.[1]
Lyrics and melody
[edit]Common modern versions include:
- Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?
- I've been to London to visit/look at/see the Queen.
- Pussy cat, pussy cat, what did you do there?
- I frightened a little mouse under her/the chair.[2]
The melody commonly associated with the rhyme was first noted by the composer and nursery rhyme collector James William Elliott in his National Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs (1870).[3] For the original version, there is no 'do' in 'what did you there'.
Origins
[edit]The earliest record of the rhyme is publication in Songs for the Nursery, printed in London in 1805.[2] The Queen most often depicted in illustrations is Elizabeth I, but Caroline of Brunswick has also been suggested.[2]
Notes
[edit]- ^ "Roud Folksong Index S249491 Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been". Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. English Folk Dance and Song Society. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
- ^ a b c I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), p. 357.
- ^ J. J. Fuld, The Book of World-Famous Music: Classical, Popular, and Folk (Courier Dover Publications, 5th edn., 2000), ISBN 0486414752, p. 502.
