There Was a Little Girl Who Had a Little Curl
The famous rhyme of a little girl with a curl — very good and quite horrid
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Arrangement: Ian J. Watts / Mike Wilbury · Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks
Lyrics
There was a little girl,
Who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good,
She was very, very good,
But when she was bad, she was horrid.
Little Annie was smart,
Little Annie was so cool,
Little Annie fixed her hair
Just before school.
She put on a dress
And gave it a whirl,
Looked in the mirror
Oh, to see her curl.
There was a little girl,
Who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good,
She was very, very good,
But when she was bad, she was horrid.
Her friends they said
Little Annie was so sweet,
The kind of friend
That just can't be beat.
Whatever you do,
Don't make her mad though,
Because then little Annie turns
Very, very bad.
There was a little girl,
Who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
And when she was good,
She was very, very good,
But when she was bad, she was horrid.
Now if you see little Annie
And see that curl,
You better tell her that
She's such a good little girl.
Make sure you do now,
'Cause she's just a kid,
'Cause if you don't,
She may turn horrid.
There was a little girl,
Who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
And when she was good,
She was very, very good,
But when she was bad, she was horrid.
Traditional lyrics — public domain. Arrangement © Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks.
History & Background
History & Origin
"There Was a Little Girl" is a short nursery rhyme most commonly attributed to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the American poet, though the attribution has been debated. The rhyme was first published in 1870 and has since become one of the best-known pieces of verse in the English-speaking world. Its simple observation — that a child can be delightful or dreadful depending on the day — rings as true now as it ever did.
This recording expands the original verse considerably, building a full rock song around the character of "little Annie," who is good-natured but formidable when crossed. The additional lyrics by Rebecca Leivers and Jamie Leivers give the rhyme a contemporary energy while keeping the essential spirit of the original: this is a girl to be respected.
The two-line concluding observation of the traditional verse — "very, very good" and "horrid" — is one of the great comic pay-offs in nursery rhyme literature, and the arrangement here makes the most of it.
