"The Itsy Bitsy Spider" (also known as "The Incey Wincey Spider" in Australia or "Incy Wincy Spider" in the United Kingdom, and other anglophone countries) is a popular

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and other European countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. Fr ...

, folksong, and

fingerplay Fingerplay, commonly seen in early childhood, is hand action or movement combined with singing or spoken-words to engage the child's interest. According to Erikson, many children develop autonomy and "want to learn and imitate the activities and ...

that describes the adventures of a

spider Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...

as it ascends, descends, and re-ascends the downspout or "waterspout" of a

gutter Gutter may refer to: Water discharge structures * Rain gutter, used on roofs and in buildings * Street gutter, for drainage of streets Film * ''The Gutter'' (1938 film), a French film * ''The Gutter'' (2024 film), an American film Design and p ...

system or open-air reservoir. It is usually accompanied by a sequence of gestures that mimic the words of the song. Its

Roud Folk Song Index The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud. Roud's Index is a combination of the Broadsid ...

number is 11586.

Lyrics

A commonly used version uses these words and gestures: Other versions exist.

Origin

While the exact origin for the song "Itsy Bitsy Spider" is unknown, a version recorded in 1909 in Indiana from a college commencement more closely resembles the most common modern version: There was a blooming spider Went up a blooming spout And down came the rain And washed the spider out Out came the sun And dried up all the rain But that bloody blooming son of a gun Went up that spout again The song can also be found in later publications including an alternative version in the book, ''Camp and Camino in Lower California'' (1910), where it is referred to as he classic"Spider Song". It appears to be a different version of this song using "blooming, bloody" instead of "itsy bitsy". One of the song's several modern versions eventually appeared in ''

Western Folklore ''Western Folklore'' is a quarterly academic journal for the study of folklore published by the Western States Folklore Society (formerly the California Folklore Society). It was established in 1942 as the ''California Folklore Quarterly'' and ob ...

'', by the California Folklore Society (1948),

Mike Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documen ...

and

Peggy Seeger Margaret "Peggy" Seeger (born June 17, 1935) is an American Folk music, folk singer and songwriter. She has lived in Britain for more than 60 years and was married to the singer-songwriter Ewan MacColl until his death in 1989. She is a member ...

's, ''American Folk Songs for Children'' (1948).''Vaughan Williams Memorial Library'' Online search
, retrieved August 19, 2010. The song is sung by and for children in countless languages and cultures. It is similar to the melodies of the children's songs "Sweetly Sings the Donkey" in the United States, and "", "Ich bin ein kleiner Esel" (the German-language version of "Sweetly Sings the Donkey") and "" in German-speaking countries.

Score

\header \layout global = right = \relative g' left = \relative g verse = \lyricmode kords = \chordmode \score

References

Notes

Sources