The Muffin Man

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For other uses, see The Muffin Man (disambiguation).
A Muffin man, illustrated in a Punch cartoon from 1892
A Muffin man, illustrated in a Punch cartoon from 1892

The Muffin Man is a traditional nursery rhyme or children's song of English origin. The most widely known lyrics are as follows:

Do you know the Muffin Man?
The Muffin Man, the Muffin Man.
Do you know the Muffin Man,
Who lives on Drury Lane?

Drury Lane is a street in London, also notable for its theatre. Victorian households had many of their fresh foods delivered; muffins would be delivered door-to-door by a muffin man. The "muffins" were the product known in much of the English-speaking world today as English muffins, not the cupcake-shaped American variety.[1]

As with many traditional songs, there are regional variations in wording. Another popular version substitutes Cherry Lane for Drury Lane. According to Essex tradition, the Muffin Man lives on Jaywick Lane.

The Young Lady's Book, published in 1888, describes the song in the context of a game:

The first player turns to the one next her, and to some sing-song tune exclaims:

"Do you know the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man?
Do you know the muffin man who lives in Drury Lane?"
The person addressed replies to the same tune:
"Yes, I know the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man;
Oh, yes, I know the muffin man, who lives in Drury Lane."
Upon this they both exclaim:
"Then two of us know the muffin man, the muffin man…"[2]

[edit] Modern-day references

  • The animated movie Shrek contains a humorous reference to the rhyme. When Lord Farquaad is torturing Gingy, a gingerbread man for information, part of their dialogue is, word for word, "The Muffin Man", though the characters speak as if unaware that they are reciting verse.[1] The Muffin Man appears as a character in Shrek 2, which shows his home near a sign for Cherry Lane.
  • The Arrested Development episode "S.O.B.s" tells of George Bluth's use of muffins to poison teachers who "poison" his children's minds. While he claims to have only done this twice, one or more copycats poisoned another 23 teachers, and the media dubbed the perpetrator "The Muffin Man". In a flashback to the 70s (when the crimes took place), anchorman John Beard begins his newscast with a reference to the nursery rhyme, saying "Do you know the Muffin Man? There’s a reward in it if you do."
  • In the movie Jaws, Chief Brody's son Shaun is singing "The Muffin Man" while making sandcastles on the beach during the attack on Alex, the boy on the raft.
  • The cult movie Muffin Man[4] is about an obesity epidemic that leads to the extinction of the human race. The theme song Muffin Man Squat[5] is a rap variation of the traditional Muffin Man song.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kiple, Kenneth F and Ornelas, Kriemhild Coneè (2000). The Cambridge World History of Food. Cambridge University Press. p. 1224
  2. ^ Mackarness, Matilda Anne Planche (1888) The Young Lady's Book: A Manual of Amusements, Exercises, Studies, and Pursuits. London: George Routledge and Sons. pp. 278–280. Full book from Google Books.
  3. ^ Bongo Fury - Muffin Man
  4. ^ Muffin Man
  5. ^ Muffin Man Squat