Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Cock a doodle doo

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Written
  
England

Form
  
Nursery rhyme

Language
  
English

Published
  
1765

Writer(s)
  
Traditional

"Cock a doodle doo" is a popular English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 17770.

Contents

Lyrics

The most common modern version is:

Origins

The first two lines were used in a murder pamphlet in England, 1606, which seems to suggest that children sang those lines, or very similar ones, to mock the cockerel's (rooster in US) "crow". The first full version recorded was in Mother Goose's Melody, published in London around 1765. By the mid-nineteenth century, when it was collected by James Orchard Halliwell, it was very popular and three additional verses, perhaps more recent in origin, had been added:

  • Herman Melville wrote a short story, perhaps a satire on other writers, with the title 'Cock-A-Doodle-Doo!' (1853).
  • Cock-a-Doodle Dandy is a 1949 play by Irish dramatist Seán O'Casey.
  • Cock-A-Doodle Deux Deux was the title of a 1966 short cartoon for The Inspector, in which Inspector Clouseau suspects chickens of stealing a diamond.
  • The title was used for an episode of Sex in the City (2000).

    • In Oliver Stone's 1992 film JFK, the John Candy character uses this expression during his conversation with Kevin Costner's character.

    References

    Cock a doodle doo Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA