Baa, Baa, Black Sheep

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Baa, Baa, Black Sheep

Baa, Baa, Black Sheep is an English nursery rhyme, which the earliest version released in 1744. The lyrics have not changed much since two-and-a-half centuries, as well as sung in the French melody in 1761, Ah! vous dirai-je, maman.

According to 1930’s Katherine Elwes Thomas in The Real Personages of Mother Goose, the rhyme referred to resentment at the heavy taxation on wool. Particularly refer to the 1275 medieval English “Great” or “Old Custom” wool tax, survived in the fifteenth century. Recently the rhyme is also connected to the slave trade, especially in the southern United States. [1]

Lyrics

Baa, baa, black sheep,

Have you any wool?

Yes, sir, yes, sir,

Three bags full;

One for the master,

And one for the dame,

And one for the little boy

Who lives down the lane. [2]

Controversy

This English Nursery Rhyme is about the Great Custom, a tax on wool in 1275, the lyrics contain “master” and “color black” which some wonder that this rhyme has a racial center on its message. [3]

Most scholars agree that this rhyme is connected to with the slave trade, as well as a tax on wool in the 13th century. The original lines was ‘And none for the little boy
who cries down the lane’ indicates the poor shepherd boy left with no profit due to the heavy tax. [4]

Referemces

  1. Baa, Baa, Black Sheep. wikipedia.org. Retrieved January 22, 2021
  2. What Is the Real Meaning Behind ‘Baa, Baa, Black Sheep’?. May 16, 2019. sporcle.com. Retrieved January 22, 2021
  3. Wood, Jennifer M. The Dark Origins of 11 Classic Nursery Rhymes. mentalfloss.com. October 28, 2015. Retrieved January 22, 2021
  4. White, Frances. The disturbing truth behind 3 nursery rhymes. October 6, 2014. historyanswers.co.uk. Retrieved January 22, 2021