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Arrangement: Ian J. Watts / Mike Wilbury · Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks
Lyrics
A-Tisket, A-Tasket,
A green and yellow basket,
I wrote a letter to my love,
And on the way I dropped it.
I dropped it, I dropped it,
Yes on the way I dropped it,
A little girlie picked it up
And took it to the market.
She was truckin' down on the Avenue,
Without a single thing to do,
She was peck, peck, peckin' all around,
When she spied it on the ground.
A-Tisket, A-Tasket,
She took my yellow basket,
And if she doesn't bring it back,
I think that I Shall die!
A-Tisket, A-Tasket,
A green and yellow basket,
I wrote a letter to my love,
And on the way I dropped it.
I dropped it, I dropped it,
Yes on the way I dropped it,
A little girlie picked it up
And took it to the market.
Was it red? (No, No, No!)
Was it brown? (No, No, No!)
Was it blue? (No, No, No!)
Just a little yellow basket!
A-Tisket, A-Tasket,
A green and yellow basket,
I wrote a letter to my love,
And on the way I dropped it.
Traditional lyrics — public domain. Arrangement © Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks.
History & Background
History & Origin
A-Tisket, A-Tasket is one of those rare nursery rhymes that crossed over from the playground to the concert hall. The words — "A-tisket, a-tasket, a green and yellow basket" — appear to be a nonsense rhyme of uncertain origin, with "tisket" and "tasket" thought to be corruptions of older English phrases, though no definitive etymology exists.
The rhyme was well established in American tradition by the late 19th century. It describes the loss of a letter dropped from a basket — a simple drama that children found irresistible as a singing game, with one child circling the group and dropping a handkerchief (the "letter") behind another.
In 1938, Ella Fitzgerald and bandleader Chick Webb transformed the nursery rhyme into a jazz masterpiece. Fitzgerald, then just 20 years old, co-wrote new lyrics around the traditional melody and recorded what became her first major hit. The recording sold over one million copies and made Fitzgerald a star. It remains one of the most celebrated transformations of a children's song in music history.
