There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly facts for kids
Quick facts for kids "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" |
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|---|---|
| Song | |
| Language | English |
| Released | 1953 by Burl Ives on Brunswick Records |
| Genre | Children's rhyme, nonsense song |
| Songwriter(s) | Rose Bonne and Alan Mills |
"There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" is a very popular children's rhyme and nonsense song. It's also known by slightly different names, like "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly". This song is a special type called a cumulative song. This means each verse builds on the last one, adding more and more details.
The song tells a funny, silly story about an old woman. She starts by swallowing a tiny fly. Then, to catch the fly, she swallows a spider! The story gets crazier as she swallows bigger and bigger animals. She swallows a bird, then a cat, a dog, a goat, and even a cow! The humor comes from how impossible it is for her to swallow such huge animals. But then, the story takes a surprising turn. After swallowing a horse, she finally dies. This adds a bit of real-world logic to the otherwise silly tale. Kids love the song because it's so absurd and fun to imagine.
About the Song
This song is a cumulative song. This means that each new verse adds to the story, and you have to repeat all the previous parts. It's like building a tower, brick by brick. The song gets longer and longer with each animal the old lady swallows.
The lyrics often change a little bit. Different versions describe the animals in slightly different ways. The spider and fly are always in every verse. But the other animals are only fully described when they are first introduced.
Who Wrote It?
The most famous version of the song was written by Rose Bonne, who wrote the words, and Alan Mills, who wrote the music. They copyrighted their version in 1952. At first, it was just called "I Know an Old Lady."
A very popular recording of the song came out in 1953. It was sung by Burl Ives and released on Brunswick Records. Burl Ives included it on his album called Folk Songs, Dramatic and Humorous. Rose Bonne also released an illustrated book of the song in 1961, confirming she wrote the lyrics.
The Full Lyrics
Here is one common version of the lyrics. You'll see how each verse adds more animals to the list!
There was an old lady who swallowed a fly;
- I don't know why she swallowed a fly - Perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her!
- She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
- I don't know why she swallowed a fly - Perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a bird;
How absurd to swallow a bird!
- She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her! - She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
- I don't know why she swallowed a fly - Perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a cat;
Imagine that! She swallowed a cat!
- She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
- She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her! - She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
- I don't know why she swallowed a fly - Perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady that swallowed a dog;
What a hog, to swallow a dog!
- She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
- She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
- She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her! - She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
- I don't know why she swallowed a fly - Perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a goat;
She just opened her throat and swallowed a goat!
- She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,
- She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
- She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
- She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her! - She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
- I don't know why she swallowed a fly - Perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a cow;
I don't know how she swallowed a cow!
- She swallowed the cow to catch the goat,
- She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,
- She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
- She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
- She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her! - She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
- I don't know why she swallowed a fly - Perhaps she’ll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a horse;
- ...She's dead, of course!
The Song in Books and TV
"There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" is so popular that it has appeared in many other places:
- The famous folk singer Pete Seeger recorded his own version of the song in 1955.
- Composer Alan Mills, who helped write the song, also recorded it for Scholastic Records in 1956.
- The song's words have been used in several children's books. One well-known book was illustrated by Simms Taback. Another popular book version has been in print since the 1970s, illustrated by Pam Adams.
- The song was even performed on The Muppet Show in 1977! Judy Collins sang it with the help of Statler and Waldorf using shadow puppets.
