Kid's Songs, Lullabies and Nursery Rhymes For Your Little Stars

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Baa, baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir,
Three bags full.

One for my master,
One for my dame,
And one for the little boy
Who lives down the lane.

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Origins of "Baa Baa Black Sheep"

This well-known nursery rhyme was first published in "Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book" in 1744, though it is thought to be much older than that.

The words are sung to the old French tune "Ah! Vous Dirai Je".The poem was set to this tune around 1844.

Despite the lyrics, this is not a gentle song about sharing things out fairly. The division of bags of wool is often thought to refer to the medieval 'Great' or 'Old Custom' export tax of 6s 8d per sack (actually around 5%) that was imposed on wool by King Edward I in 1275 to fund his 8th and 9th crusades, and which lasted until the fifteenth century.

The original words of the final lines were "Two for the master, one for the dame, but none for the little boy who lives down the lane". This was changed to the current version in 1765, which was thought to be more suitable for young children. In this context, the song is a bitter reflection on how brutal life was for the working classes. Two bags for the master (the crown), one for the dame (the church and the nobility) and none for the little boy (the working man whose efforts produced the wool).

Another theory is that the rhyme is about Edward I's persecution of the Jews in the late 13th century. The 1275 Statute of Judaism prevented Jews from trading, depriving them of a legal income, and forcing many into illegal methods of raising money. In response, in the 1290 Edict of Expulsion, Edward formally expelled all Jews from England. He took Jewish loans and property for the crown, using some of it to subsidise Parliament. Thus the Black Sheep and the little boy represented the Jewish population, the king was the master and Parliament was the dame.

Origins text ©2012 TwinkleTrax Children's Songs.