Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man
"Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man", "Pat-a-cake", "patty-cake" or "pattycake" is one of the oldest and most widely known surviving English nursery rhymes. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 6486.
Lyrics
Common modern versions include:
Origins
The earliest recorded version of the rhyme appears in Thomas D'Urfey's play The Campaigners from 1698, where a nurse says to her charges:
...and pat a cake Bakers man, so I will master as I can, and prick it, and prick it, and prick it, and prick it, and prick it, and throw't into the Oven.
The next appearance is in Mother Goose's Melody, (c. 1765), in the form:
Game
The rhyme is often accompanied by hand-clapping between two people, a clapping game. It alternates between a normal individual clap with two-handed claps with the other person. The hands may be crossed as well. This allows for a possibly complex sequence of clapping that must be coordinated between the two. If told by a parent to a child, the "B" and "baby" in the last two lines are sometimes replaced by the child's first initial and first name.
Podcasts:
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by Cake
Cake
by: CakeTo me,
Coming from you,
Friend is a four letter word
End is the only part of the word,
That I heard.
Call me morbid or absurd,
But to me,
Coming from you,
Friend is a four letter word
To me,
Coming from you,
Friend is a four letter word
End is the only part of the word
That I heard,
Call me morbid or absurd,
But to me,
Coming from you,
Friend is a four letter word
When I go fishing for the words,
I am wishing you would say to me,
I am really only praying that
The words you'll soon be saying
Might betray the way you feel about me.
But to me,
Coming from you,