Three Blind Mice
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Three Blind Mice is a children's nursery rhyme and musical round.
The modern words are:
- Three blind mice. Three blind mice.
- See how they run. See how they run.
- They all ran after the farmer's wife
- Who cut off their tails with a carving knife.
- Did you ever see such a thing in your life
- As three blind mice?
The first publication of this round is in Thomas Ravenscroft in 1609. The lyrics there are:
- Three Blinde Mice,
- three Blinde Mice,
- Dame Iulian,
- Dame Iulian,
- The Miller and his merry olde Wife,
- shee scrapte her tripe licke thou the knife.
There is an urban legand that this round was written earlier and refers to Queen Mary I of England executing 3 Protestant bishops. However, the earliest lyrics don't talk about killing the 3 blind mice, and they date from considerably after Queen Mary died.
Joseph Holbrooke (1878-1958) composed his Symphonic Variations, opus 37, based on Three Blind Mice. Also, Franz Joseph Haydn used its theme in the Finale (4th Mvt) of his Symphony 83 (La Poule) (1785-86); one of the 6 "Paris" Symphonies. Three blind mice was also used as a theme song for The Three Stooges and a Curtis Fuller arrangement of the rhyme is featured on the Art Blakey live album of the same name.