Pat a Cake, Pat a Cake, Baker's Man
One of the oldest nursery rhymes in print — still clapping
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Arrangement: Ian J. Watts / Mike Wilbury · Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks
Lyrics
Pat a cake, pat a cake, baker's man!
Bake us a cake as fast as you can,
Mix it and prick it and mark it with B,
And there will be plenty for baby and me.
Pat a cake, pat a cake, baker's man!
Bake me a cake as fast as you can,
Roll it up and roll it up and throw it in the pan.
Pat a cake, pat a cake, baker's man!
Bake us a cake as fast as you can,
Mix it and prick it and mark it with T,
And there will be enough for baby and me.
Traditional lyrics — public domain. Arrangement © Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks.
History & Background
History & Origin
"Pat a Cake, Pat a Cake, Baker's Man" holds the distinction of being one of the oldest nursery rhymes in print. It first appeared in a 1698 play by Thomas d'Urfey, "The Campaigners", where a nursemaid recites it to a child — confirmation that it was already a well-established oral tradition before the end of the seventeenth century.
The rhyme is primarily a clapping game, the "pat a cake" action giving it its name and its physical dimension. The instruction to "mix it and prick it and mark it with B" refers to the traditional bakery practice of marking a loaf with the owner's initial before sending it to the communal oven — common practice in an era when families baked their own bread. The "B" stands for baby.
Few nursery rhymes have survived so long with so little change. The basic three-line rhyme — bake it, prick it, mark it — has been in children's mouths for over three centuries. This arrangement gives it the energetic treatment it deserves, as a song that has been sung and clapped and thrown into the pan for a very long time.
