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4 and 20 blackbirds

Cookie Monster enjoying some bread and honey.

Book

Kermit as the King, counting out his money in the counting house.

SingaSongofSixpence

Sing a Song of Sixpence and Other First Songs for Baby.

420blackbirds

Zoe finds it very amusing.

Sing a Song of Sixpence is an English nursery rhyme dating back to at least the eighteenth century. References to the title can be traced back even further, including William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Some scholars contend it stems from a 16th practice of amusing dinner guests with live birds placed in pies, while others cite the wedding of Marie de Medici and Henry IV of France as inspiration.

The most common form of the rhyme is

Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye. Four and twenty blackbirds, Baked in a pie.

When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing; Wasn't that a dainty dish, to set before the king?

The king was in his counting house, counting out his money; The queen was in the parlour, eating bread and honey.

The maid was in the garden, hanging out the clothes; When down came a blackbird and pecked off her nose.

The rhyme itself has been referenced for centuries, including Agatha Christie's short story Sing a Song of Sixpence, Rankin/Bass' The Last Unicorn, The Three Stooges' short Sing a Song of Six Pants and the Doctor Who episode "The End of Time."

References[]

  • In Episode 0171 of Sesame Street, Gordon plays a remembering game using items in a box. When Big Bird tries to remember what is in the box, one of his guesses is four and twenty blackbirds.
  • At the beginning of a Sesame Street sketch with Cookie Monster going to the bakery, Mike is singing the tune to himself.
  • In Hey Cinderella!, King Goshposh tells an anecdote during the ball about four and twenty blackbirds flying out of his pie ("If there's one thing I don't need, it's a funny chef.").
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