"Three Blind Mice" is an English

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 ...

and musical round.I. Opie and P. Opie, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), p. 306. It has a

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 of 3753.

Lyrics

The modern words are:

Origins and meaning

A version of this rhyme, together with music (in a minor key), was published in ''Deuteromelia or The Seconde part of Musicks melodie'' (1609). The editor of the book, and possible author of the rhyme, was Thomas Ravenscroft. The original lyrics are: Attempts to read historical significance into the words have led to the speculation that this musical round was written earlier and refers to Queen Mary I of England blinding and executing three Protestant bishops. However, the Oxford Martyrs, Ridley, Latimer and Cranmer, were burned at the stake, not blinded, although if the rhyme was made by crypto-Catholics, the mice's "blindness" could refer to their Protestantism. However, as can be seen above, the earliest lyrics don't talk about harming the three blind mice, and the first known date of publication is 1609, well after Queen Mary died. The rhyme only entered children's literature in 1842 when it was published in a collection by James Orchard Halliwell.

Variations

Amateur music composer Thomas Oliphant (1799–1873) noted in 1843 that:

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

's Kreisleriana #7, which is arguably about a cat (Murr), appears to be based upon "Three Blind Mice", but in a predominantly minor key. "Three Blind Mice" is to be found in the fugue which is the centerpiece of #7. Joseph Holbrooke (1878–1958) composed his Symphonic Variations, opus 37, based on ''Three Blind Mice''.

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

used its theme in the Finale (4th Mvt) of his Symphony 83 (''La Poule'') (1785–86); one of the 6 '' Paris Symphonies'', and the music also appears in the final movement of English composer Eric Coates' suite ''The Three Men''. "Three Blind Mice" was used as a theme song for

The Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short-subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical, farce, and slapstick comedy. Six total ...

and a Curtis Fuller arrangement of the rhyme is featured on the Art Blakey live album of the same name. The song is also the basis for Leroy Anderson's 1947 orchestral " Fiddle Faddle". The theme can be heard in Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 IV. Allegro con fuoco and Manuel de Falla's ''El Paño Moruno''. The British composer Havergal Brian (1876–1972) used the tune as the basis of his orchestral work "Fantastic Variations on an Old Rhyme" (1907–08). The work was originally intended as the first movement of a satirical "Fantastic Symphony" (Symphony No.1), a programmatic work, based on the nursery rhyme. The second movement was intended as a scherzo for pizzicato strings, depicting the souls of the departed mice going to heaven and the third movement was a Lament for the dead mice. Both these movements are lost. "Festal Dance" (1908) formed the finale, depicting the wild dance of triumph of the farmer's wife in which passing references to the tune can be heard. Having been performed separately, the first and last movements became independent works around 1914. The theme of the second movement of

Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and Conducting, conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a compos ...

's Piano Concerto No. 4 (1926, revised 1928 and 1941) was criticized as resembling ''Three Blind Mice''. A calypso version of the tune with new lyrics by Monty Norman was recorded by Byron Lee and the Dragonaires for the film '' Dr. No'', and is featured in its soundtrack as part of the track "Kingston Calypso". The reworked rhyme alludes to the three black assassins whose deadly march through the streets of

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...

opens the film. Other Jamaican versions include

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots reggae, roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2 ...

artists, like Josey Wales and Brigadier Jerry.

"Complete version"

Published in 1904 by Frederick Warne & Co. in London, an illustrated children's book by John W. Ivimey entitled ''The Complete Version of Ye Three Blind Mice'', fleshes the mice out into mischievous characters who seek adventure, eventually being taken in by a farmer whose wife chases them from the house and into a bramble bush, which blinds them. Soon after, their tails are removed by "the butcher's wife" when the complete version incorporates the original verse—although the earliest version from 1609 does not mention tails being cut off. The story ends with them using a tonic to grow new tails and recover their eyesight, learning a trade (making wood chips, according to the accompanying illustration), buying a house and living happily ever after. The book is now in the

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References

External links