"There's a Hole in My Bucket" (or "...in the Bucket") is a children's song, based on a dialogue between two characters, called Henry and Liza, about a leaky bucket. The song describes a deadlock situation: Henry has a leaky bucket, and Liza tells him to repair it. But to fix the leaky bucket, he needs straw. To cut the straw, he needs an axe. To sharpen the axe, he needs to wet the sharpening stone. To wet the stone, he needs water. However, when Henry asks how to get the water, Liza's answer is "in a bucket". It is implied that only the leaky bucket is available, which, if it could carry water, would need no repairing in the first place.
Origins and development
The earliest known archetype of this song seems to be in the German collection of songs Bergliederbüchlein (c 1700). It is set as a dialogue between a woman named Liese, and an unnamed man.
In later German sources the song is reproduced under the title of Heinrich und Liese and credited as a folk song from Hesse. In the 19th century it was sung as a commercium song and printed in the 1858 Kommersbuch. The renowned song collection Deutscher Liederhort (3 volumes, 1856–1894) edited by Ludwig Erk and Franz Magnus Böhme includes the song, relating it also to the Flemish song Mooy Bernardyn ("Wat doet gy in het groene veld ?"). The German song became even more widespread when it was included in the famous Wandervogel songbook Der Zupfgeigenhansl in 1909.
In George Korson's "Pennsylvania Songs and Legends" (1949) there is a song with meter closer to the modern English version and beginning thus:
This was collected in 1940, and is earlier than any known English-language version. This suggests that it might be a traditional "Pennsylvania Dutch" (i.e. German) song. [Ed McCurdy] recorded it in 1958 on "Children's Songs". Harry Belafonte recorded it with Odetta in 1960. It was in the UK charts in 1961. In his book "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" (1993), Pete Seeger refers to it as an originally German song, "Lieber Heinrich". "Songs Along the Mahantongo: Pennsylvania Dutch Folksongs" (1951), by Boyer, Buffington, & Yoder, has a version
These German-American versions all have Henry as the foolish questioner and Lisa as the common-sense woman.
In 1953, Flanders and Swann wrote a parody named "There's a Hole in My Budget" satirising the British budget deficit, substituting the Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Chancellor Rab Butler for Henry and Liza, respectively. They rerecorded it in 1974, updating the characters to Harold Wilson and Denis Healey.
Czech lyrics were written by M. Bukovič, who stayed true to the English lyrics of the song and only translated it while keeping the rhyme. It was first sung by the band Fešáci in 1977 by their front man Michal Tučný.
A Hebrew version was written by Israeli songwriter Dan Almagor and was recorded in 1961, sung by Yossi Banai and Yona Atari.
In a 1966 episode of The Dean Martin Show, Dean Martin and George Gobel sang a version of the song on television.