Lyrics Sing a Song of Sixpence

cover illustration randolph caldecott s sing song sixpence (1880)

a common modern version is:

sing song of sixpence,
a pocket full of rye.
four , twenty blackbirds,
baked in pie.


when pie opened
the birds began sing;
wasn t dainty dish,
to set before king.


the king in counting house,
counting out money;
the queen in parlour,
eating bread , honey.


the maid in garden,
hanging out clothes,
when down came blackbird
and pecked off nose.

the final line of fourth verse varied, nose pecked or nipped off. 1 of following additional verses added moderate ending:

they sent king s doctor,
who sewed on again;
he sewed on neatly,
the seam never seen.

or:

there such commotion,
that little jenny wren
flew down garden,
and put again.




^ i. opie , p. opie, oxford dictionary of nursery rhymes (oxford university press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 394-5.