Twinkle, twinkle little star, How I wonder what you are,
Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle little star, How I wonder what you are,
(The Alphabet Song)
A B C D E F G,
H I J K L M N O P
Q R S, T U V,
W X, Y and Z,
Now I've sung my A B Cs,
Next time sing them with me, please.
(Ah, Vous Dirai-Je Maman)
Ah, vous dirai-je maman,
Ce qui cause mon tourment?
Papa veut que je raisonne
Comme une grande personne;
Moi, je dis que les bonbons
Valent mieux que la raison.
Ah, vous dirai-je maman,
Ce qui cause mon tourment?
Papa veut que je demande
De la soupe et de la viande;
Moi, je dis que les bonbons
Valent mieux que les mignons.
Ah, vous diraije maman,
Ce qui cause mon tourment?
Papa veut que je retienne
Des verbes la langue antienne;
Moi, je dis que les bonbons
Valent mieux que les lecons.
This little gem has been sung, in the words of a famous astronomer, "billions and billions" of times by children around the world. It is probably the most well-traveled of all nursery rhymes, with three unique sets of English words, all unrelated to the original French words.
You can see that the melody has suffered a severe identity crisis over the ages, serving as early as 1744 in England as a vehicle for "Baa, Baa Black Sheep." A few years later, Mozart composed a set of variations on it. Then, in the early 1800s, the melody was garbed in the popular poem "The Star" by Jane Taylor, not to mention its use as the Alphabet Song, and Hungarian composer Donhanyi's modern day set of variations. Lawyers would love to get their hands on this as a copyright case!
