Listen
Arrangement: Ian J. Watts / Mike Wilbury · Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks
Lyrics
Mary had a little lamb,
A little lamb, a little lamb.
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went,
That Mary went, that Mary went,
Everywhere that Mary went
That lamb was sure to go.
It followed her to school one day,
School one day, school one day.
It followed her to school one day,
Which was against the rules.
It made the children laugh and play,
Laugh and play, laugh and play.
It made the children laugh and play
To see a lamb at school.
And so the teacher turned it out,
Turned it out, turned it out.
So the teacher turned it out,
But still it lingered near.
And waited patiently about,
Patiently about, patiently about.
Waited patiently about
Till Mary did appear.
"Why does the lamb love Mary so?"
Love Mary so, love Mary so.
"Why does the lamb love Mary so?"
The eager children cry.
"Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know,
Loves the lamb, you know.
She loves the lamb, you know" —
The teacher did reply.
Mary had a little lamb,
A little lamb, a little lamb.
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow.
Traditional lyrics — public domain. Arrangement © Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks.
History & Background
History & Origin
"Mary Had a Little Lamb" was written by Sarah Josepha Hale and published in 1830 in Poems for Our Children. Hale claimed it was based on an actual incident: a girl named Mary Sawyer who did indeed bring a lamb to the Redstone School in Sterling, Massachusetts, encouraged by her brother. Whether this is entirely accurate or partly legend, the poem was immediately successful and has remained one of the most widely recognised nursery songs in the world.
The song became doubly famous in September 1877 when Thomas Edison, demonstrating his newly invented phonograph, chose to record it as the first words ever preserved on the device. The choice of a nursery rhyme rather than something grand or significant was entirely practical, but the accident of history has given the rhyme an additional distinction.
The full text of Hale's poem runs to several stanzas and includes the question that gives the rhyme its moral resolution: why does the lamb love Mary? Because Mary loves the lamb. This mutual affection — the creature loyal because it is loved — is a small but genuinely affecting observation about the nature of attachment.
Our rock arrangement gives the familiar tune an energetic production that transforms this gentle American original into something considerably more exciting.
