Talk:Sing a Song of Sixpence

message: The current first sentence: "Sing a Song of Sixpence is a well known English rhyme, the origins of which are uncertain; two main competing theories circulating on the Internet are" etc. Do we have reputable sources for this other than online rumor-mongering? And if we do, why is this the lead? I'm not sure what exactly should be done here, but surely it needs work in citing sources. I'll slap on a tag. -Phoenixrod 08:35, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: It's "Tommy Thumb's Pretty Songbook", not "Tom Thumb's". A quick search under its correct title shows this attribution to be fairly widespread. A checkable reference to a specific printed work, made on many respectable sites and not positively contradicted anywhere (those who make the "Pye" case don't mention the "Pretty Songbook": nobody actually mentions but denies this theory), is much more plausible than the "Pye" theory. I think the 1744 origin is acceptable until someone can cite an earlier one - it would be simply perverse to conclude that everyone's lying and a later origin is correct. Can't somebody just pop up to the British Library and look at the Songbook? If I do it myself does that count as original research or is it up to Wiki standards?
I learned it with the additional "Along came a bluebird / And brought it back again" as the last two lines. Is this just me, or do these lines have merit? 66.82.9.76 06:12, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

text: Actually, her nose gets even worse  - it gets "snipped" by blackbird, as I come once somewhere upon. And then it makes good sense and even better match to both of fifths verse's variants - ear cracking or nose restoration cases. 2A03:D000:8505:F167:6150:7064:8425:131F (talk) 15:45, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
thread_title: Sources

message: My understanding is that the blackbirds were the deeds of the dissolved monsateries presented to Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. I thought the rhyme had true historical significance?
Ah, found a web ref  Candy 13:41, 18 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Henry VIII 

message: I was brought up being informed that it transpired as a nonchalant crew recruitment song for a specific pirate, Blackbeard.  I wrote out a huge explination of this then cracked the shits when a certain line slipped my memory and a few google results later and I stumbled across this nice outline of it's origin.  Perhaps this could be included?  The current 'history' section is very ambiguous. Jachin 10:24, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Recruitment song?

message: Some of the lyrics can also be heard in the Song "Handbags & Gladrags" by Mike d'Abo, Rod Stewart, Stereophonics, etc  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.230.107.192 (talk) 16:50, 18 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Handbags and Gladrags 

message: I was intrigued to notice that the Feast of the Pheasant featured 24 musicians in a giant pie, so I came here to see if there was any connection. I'm sure I've heard before that the blackbirds represent singers. I apologise for the pointlessness of my mentioning this. Perhaps hiding 24 unexpected items in a novelty pie was a common trick throughout the middle ages. 81.131.4.100 (talk) 18:17, 9 September 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Why not just say "choirboys" instead of "musicians"? Blackbirds singing may easily be a reference to 24 trebles (note the earlier reference to "naughty boys"), whose smaller size would make the "baked in a pie" easier as well as their boyish energies a good match for springing out "when the pie was opened." 68.77.152.234 (talk) 18:41, 11 February 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  24 Musicians? 

message: I have always assumed that the 'pocketful of rye' referred to either a day's wages or a workingman's lunch, and that the lines "Sing a song of six-pence, pocketful of rye" were meant to induce an image of someone off to their daily job.  When added to the rest of the rhyme, it is much like scanning newspaper headlines and listening to radio gossip on the way to work.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.233.146.193 (talk) 17:26, 14 March 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Pocketful

message: The explanation of pirate origins on Snopes see was a joke, as can be seen here . Please do not add it to the article.--SabreBD (talk) 18:52, 12 September 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Pirate explanation

message: This sounds like a song about tax and injustice?
While the king/queen are wasting food and counting their ill gotten gains. The maiden, whos has only got a pocket full of rye, had her nose cut off for not paying tax, as was the punishment for non payment. RG.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.111.224.17 (talk) 10:50, 8 May 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Tax 

message: In the book I had as a child ("Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes" I think it was called... the book was accidentally destroyed), the fifth verse was:
Jenny was so mad
She didn't know what to do
She stuck her finger in her ear
And cracked it right in two
Obviously Jenny is implied to be the maid in this version.  And while it has the effect of not ending the song on the bird's attack on the maid, it does nothing about the maid's now missing nose.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.10.229.20 (talk) 05:22, 12 June 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Alternate 5th Verse 

message: Anyone have any idea how this is related to Blackbird by the Beatles?  Other than "Blackbird" and a few other words like "and" or "the", I don't see a connection.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.32.12.199 (talk) 03:31, 16 March 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Blackbird 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: The 5th verse added by user Pamelady on 21st Feb 2020 ("And shortly after that...") is placed in such a way as to imply that it is part of the version in Iona and Peter Opie's Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes. I'm fairly sure it isn't. Shouldn't that verse be moved to after the line "One of the following additional verses is often added to moderate the ending"? Or even removed entirely (it doesn't scan, so it seems doubtful that it's actually the way anybody sings it)?
HairyDan (talk) 19:33, 26 September 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: @HairyDan You're right. I've removed it. MichaelMaggs (talk) 20:48, 18 May 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Misattributed 5th verse