| "Lucy Locket" Roud #19536 |
|
| Written by | Traditional |
|---|---|
| Published | 1842 |
| Written | England |
| Language | English |
| Form | Nursery rhyme |
"Lucy Locket" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19536.
Contents |
Common modern versions include:
The song shares its tune with "Yankee Doodle" which emerged in North America the mid-eighteenth century, but it is not clear which set of lyrics emerged first.[2]
The rhyme was first recorded by James Orchard Halliwell in 1842, but there is evidence that it was popular in Britain and America at least in the early nineteenth century.[1]
Various persons have been identified with Lucy Locket and Kitty Fisher. Halliwell suggested that they were "two celebrated courtesans of the time of Charles II," but no supportive evidence has been found.[1] The name Lucy Locket was used by John Gay in Beggar's Opera (1728), but may have already have been proverbial.[1] Kitty Fisher may have been Catherine Marie Fischer (d. 1767) a British courtesan who was the subject of three unfinished portraits by Joshua Reynolds and a number of songs, including an air recorded in Thompson's Country Dances (1760).[3]
The song "Laal jhuti kakatua" (Bangla: লাল ঝুটি কাকাতুয়া), set to the "Yankee Doodle"/"Lucy Locket" melody, is a favorite among the Bengali people. It goes:
| Bengali lyrics | English translation |
|---|---|
|
লাল ঝুটি কাকাতুয়া |
A red-tufted cockatoo |
The Bengali Version of "Lucy Locket" was composed for the Film Badshah in the year 1964. The song was sung by Rani Mukherjee, daughter of famous Bengali singer Hemanta Mukherjee.