Jack Be Nimble

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Jack Be Nimble"
Roud #13902

William Wallace Denslow's illustrations for Jack Be Nimble, from a 1901 edition of Mother Goose
Written by Traditional
Published c. 1815
Written England
Language English
Form Nursery rhyme

'Jack Be Nimble' is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 13902.

Lyrics

The most common version of the rhyme is:

Jack be nimble,
Jack be quick,
Jack jump over
The candlestick.[1]

Origins and meaning

Jack is a dog, in Denslow's version

The rhyme is first recorded in a manuscript of around 1815 and was collected by James Orchard Halliwell in the mid-nineteenth century.[1] Jumping candlesticks was a form of fortune telling and a sport. Good luck was said to be signalled by clearing a candle without extinguishing the flame.[1]

In Other Media

A variation of this rhyme is featured in the American Number 1 song, American Pie, by Don McLean in 1971. It goes as follows:

Jack be nimble,
Jack be quick
Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
'Cause fire is the devil's only friend.

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 226-7.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.