Tailor and the Mouse, The
DESCRIPTION: "There was a tailor had a mouse, Hey diddle inkum feedle, They lived together in one house...." The mouse eats the tailor's hat. The mouse grows ill; the tailor tries to save it, then puts it in a pie. The mouse escapes and dies. The tailor finds anotherAUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (Baring-Gould and Sharp, English Folk-Songs for Schools)
KEYWORDS: burial death humorous animal food clothes escape
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
SongsOfAllTime, pp. 68-69, "The Tailor and the Mouse" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, TAILMOUS*
Roud #16577
NOTES [33 words]: Roud lumps this with "Tailor and Louse." Obviously there are similarities in both plot and lyrics -- this is probably a derivative of that -- but I'd consider them clearly separate as they stand. - RBW
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File: SATTaMou
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THE TAILOR AND THE MOUSE (DT Lyrics)
There was a tailor had a mouse
Hi diddle um come feed-a
They lived together in one house
Hi diddle um come feed-a
- CHORUS:
Hi diddle um, come tintrum tantrum
Through the town of Ramsey,
Hi diddle um, come over the lea
Hi diddle um come feed-a
The tailor had a tall silk hat
The mouse he ate it, fancy that
The tailor chased him over the lea
The last of that mouse he never did see.
From the Burl Ives Song Book
@kids @animal
filename[ TAILMOUS
TUNE FILE: TAILMOUS
CLICK TO PLAY
RG
Note from Joe Offer: The DT lyrics are an accurate transcription of the song, found on pp 24-25 of the Burl Ives Song Book (Ballantine Books, New York, 1953) - but note the spelling in the chorus:
- Hi diddle um, cum tintrum tantrum
Through the town of Ramsey,
Hi diddle um, come over the lea
Hi diddle um cum feed-a