Hickory Dickory Dock

For other uses, see Hickory Dickory Dock (disambiguation).

"Hickory Dickory Dock" or "Hickety Dickety Dock" is a popular English-language nursery rhyme. The Roud Folk Song Index number is 6489.^[1]

"Hickory Dickory Dock"
Illustration by William Wallace Denslow, from a 1901 Mother Goose collection
Nursery rhyme
Published	1744
Songwriter(s)	Traditional

Lyrics and music

The most common modern version is:

Hickory dickory dock.
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down,
Hickory dickory dock.

^[2]

Other variants include "down the mouse ran"^[3] or "down the mouse run"^[4] or "and down he ran" or "and down he run" in place of "the mouse ran down". Other variants have non-sequential numbers, for example starting with "The clock struck ten, The mouse ran down" instead of the traditional "one".^{[citation needed]}

Score

Origins and meaning

Hickety Dickety Dock, illustrated by Denslow

The earliest recorded version of the rhyme is in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, published in London in May 1744, which uses the opening line: 'Hickere, Dickere Dock'.^[2] The next recorded version in Mother Goose's Melody (c. 1765), uses 'Dickery, Dickery Dock'.^[2]

The rhyme is thought by some commentators to have originated as a counting-out rhyme.^[2] Westmorland shepherds in the nineteenth century used the numbers Hevera (8), Devera (9) and Dick (10) which are from the language Cumbric.^[2]

The rhyme is thought to have been based on the astronomical clock at Exeter Cathedral. The clock has a small hole in the door below the face for the resident cat to hunt mice.^[5]

See also

• Yan Tan Tethera
• Chiastic structure
• List of nursery rhymes
• Hickory, Dickory, and Doc