"Little Tommy Tucker" Roud #19618 |
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1901 illustration by William Wallace Denslow |
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Written by | Traditional |
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Published | c. 1744 |
Written | England |
Language | English |
Form | Nursery rhyme |
‘Little Tommy Tucker’ is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19618.
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Common modern versions include:
The earliest recorded version of this rhyme is from Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book (c. 1744), which has only four lines.[1] The full version was produced in Mother Goose's Melody (c. 1765).[1] There are references to various parts of the rhyme in earlier works.[1] To 'sing for one's supper', was a proverbial phrase by the seventeenth century. An excellent new Medley (c. 1620) included the line 'Tom would eat meat but wants a knife'.[1]
Various Thomas Tuckers have been identified, including a Bachelor of Arts who was appointed 'Prince or Lorde of the Revells' at St. John's College, Oxford in 1607, and a 'Tom Tuck' who appears in one of John Herrick's epigrams in Witt's Recreations (1640).[1]