There Was An Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe - The Nursery Rhyme Collections

The Nursery Rhymes Collections 1-4 contain a total of 277 children's songs. Each double CD album showcases the highest quality children's music ever recorded with a total playing time in excess of 10 hours!

There Was An Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe (Audio Sample and Lyrics)

There was an old woman
Who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children
She didn't know what to do!
So she gave them some broth
Without any bread,
And she whipped them all soundly
And sent them to bed!

There was an old woman
Who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children
She didn't know what to do!
Then out went th' old woman
To bespeak 'em a coffin,
And when she came back,
She found 'em all a-loffeing.


Words: Traditional
Music: Ian J Watts/Joanne Vernon

Origin and background

There are several theories about the age and origin of this song. The earliest printed version goes back until 1794 (Joseph Ritson's Gammer Gurton's Garland). Some authors suggest that the origin goes even back to the time of Shakespeare. The most popular theories about the origin of the rhyme are described by Peter Opie in his famous Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes. There is little proof of these theories but Wikipedia summarizes Opie's article as follows: Origins and meaning of There was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe.

However, in spite of the funny idea of a woman and her children living in a shoe there seems to be quite a serious background to the song, dealing with social problems and child poverty.