Listen
Arrangement: Ian J. Watts / Mike Wilbury · Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks
Lyrics
Hickory, dickory, dock,
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down.
Hickory, dickory, dock.
Hickory, dickory, dock,
The mouse ran up the clock.
As twelve bells rang,
The mousie sprang.
Hickory, dickory, dock.
Traditional lyrics — public domain. Arrangement © Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks.
History & Background
History & Origin
"Hickory, Dickory, Dock" is one of the most recognisable nursery rhymes in the English language, first appearing in print in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book in 1744. The rhyme's nonsense opening — "hickory, dickory, dock" — has been variously explained as counting words used by shepherds in the Lake District (hevera, devera, dick, part of a traditional counting system), though this connection remains speculative.
The image at the heart of the rhyme is appealingly daft: a mouse running up a grandfather clock, only to be startled back down when it strikes the hour. It is possible the rhyme originally served as a way of teaching children to recognise the time — the clock strikes one, the mouse goes down — but it works perfectly well as pure comic nonsense.
The clock itself would have been a relatively recent and prestigious piece of household technology at the time the rhyme was first recorded. A grandfather clock in a hallway was a sign of a prosperous household, and the image of a mouse boldly scaling its case has a pleasing cheekiness to it.
Our arrangement gives the rhyme a stately, rolling production that honours its clock-like, tick-tock rhythm while making it thoroughly enjoyable for modern ears. It is one of the jewels of the collection.
