Lyrics
(Traditional chant / nursery rhyme)
A was an angler went out in a fog,
Who fished all the day and caught only a frog.
B was cook Betty a-baking a pie,
With ten or twelve apples all piled up on high.
C was a custard in a glass dish,
With as much cinnamon as you could wish.
D was a big dog who did nothing but eat,
He would leave sleep and play for a nice bit of meat.
E is an egg in a basket with more,
Which Peggy will sell for a shilling a score.
F was a fox so cunning and sly
Who looks at the henroost; I need not say why.
G was a greyhound as fleet as the wind
In the race or the course left all others behind.
He was a heron who lived near a pond.
Of gobbling the fishes he was wondrously fond.
I was the ice on which Billy would skate,
So up went his heels and down went his pate*.
J was Joe Jenkins who played on the fiddle.
He began twenty tunes, but left off in the middle.
K was a kitten who jumped at a cork
And learned to eat mice without plate, knife, or fork.
L was a lark who sings us a song
And wakes us up early lest we sleep too long.
M was Miss Molly who turned in her toes
And hung down her head till her knees touched her nose.
*pate = top of the head (source)
N was a nosegay sprinkled with dew,
Pulled in the morning and presented to you.
O was an owl who looked wondrously wise,
But he’s watching a mouse with his large round eyes.
P was a parrot with feathers like gold
Who talks just as much and no more than he’s told.
Q is the queen who governs the land
And sits on a throne very lofty and grand.
R is a raven perched on an oak
Who with a gruff voice cries, “Croak, croak, croak!”
S was a stork with a very long bill
Who swallows down fishes and frogs to his fill.
T is a trumpeter blowing his horn,
Who tells us the news as we rise in the morn.
U Is a unicorn, who, as it is said,
Wears an ivory horn on his forehead.
V is a vulture who eats a great deal,
Devouring a mouse or a rat as a meal.
W was a watchman who guarded the street,
Lest robbers or thieves the good people should meet.
X was King Xerxes, who, if you don’t know,
Reigned over Persia a great while ago.
Y is the year that is passing away,
And still growing shorter every day.
Z is a zebra whom you’ve heard of before,
So here ends my rhyme till I find you some more.
See also
- Subjects: nursery rhymes / alphabet
- Dynamics: loud & soft
- Harmony: ostinati
- Meter: 6/8
- Timbre: chants / voices
- Source: The Complete Mother Goose, A. Stokes, 1909
or purchase here (printables only)
- Printable & Digital Rhythm Visuals
- PDF of chant + Lesson ideas