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{{short description|English nursery rhyme}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:Dorothy-m-wheeler-baa-baa-black-sheep-1916.jpg|thumb
"'''Baa, Baa, Black Sheep'''" is an English [[nursery rhyme]], the earliest printed version of which dates from around 1744. The words have barely changed in two and a half centuries. It is sung to a variant of the 18th century French melody
}}▼
▲"'''Baa, Baa, Black Sheep'''" is an English [[nursery rhyme]], the earliest printed version of which dates from around 1744. The words have barely changed in two and a half centuries. It is sung to a variant of the 18th century French melody ''[[Ah! vous dirai-je, maman]]''.
==Modern version==
''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' gives the following modern version:<ref name=opie1997>{{Cite book
▲[[File:Dorothy-m-wheeler-baa-baa-black-sheep-1916.jpg|thumb|upright|The rhyme as illustrated by [[Dorothy M. Wheeler]]]]
{{image frame|content=
▲''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' gives the following modern version:<ref name=opie1997>{{Cite book |first1=I. |last1=Opie |name-list-style=amp |first2=P. |last2=Opie |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes |publisher=Oxford University Press |orig-year=1951 |edition=2nd |year=1997 |page=101 |isbn=0-19-860088-7 }}</ref>
<score sound raw>
\header { tagline = ##f }
\layout { indent = 0 line-width = #200
\context { \Score \remove "Bar_number_engraver" }
\context { \Voice \remove "Dynamic_engraver" }
global = { \key e \major \numericTimeSignature \time 2/4 \set Staff.midiInstrument = "celesta" }
right = \relative c' { \global \autoBeamOff
e4 e | b' b | cis8 dis e cis | b2 |
a4 a | gis gis | fis fis | e2 \bar "||"
b'4 b8 b | a4 a8 a8 | gis4 gis8 gis | fis4.
fis8 | b4 b8 b | a b cis a | gis4 fis8 fis | e2 \bar "|."
}
\addlyrics { Baa, baa, black sheep,
have you an -- y wool?
Yes, sir, yes, sir,
three bags full;
One for the mas -- ter,
and one for the dame,
And one for the lit -- tle boy
Who lives down the lane.
}
left = \relative c' { \global
e,8\ppp [b' gis b] | e,8 [b' gis b] | e, [cis' a cis] | gis [e' b e] |
fis, [b a b] | e [b gis b] | dis, [b' fis b] | e [b gis b] \bar "||"
e, [b' gis b] | fis [b a b] | e, [b' gis b] | dis [b fis b] |
e, [b' gis b] | fis [gis a fis] | e [gis b, a'] | <gis e>2 |
}
\score {
\new ChoirStaff <<
\new Staff = "right"
\right
\new Staff = "left"
{ \clef bass \left }
>>
\layout { }
\midi {
\tempo 4=112
}
}
</score>}}
{{blockquote|<poem>Baa, baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Line 28 ⟶ 61:
Who lives down the lane.</poem>}}
The rhyme is a single stanza in [[trochaic]] metre, common in nursery rhymes and relatively easy for younger children.<ref
==Melody==
<!-- {{Listen|type=music|filename=Baa, Baa, Blacksheep.ogg|title="Baa, Baa, Blacksheep"|description=Tune}}
The rhyme is sung to a variant of the 18th century French melody
{{Listen|type=music|filename=Bäbävitalamm.ogg|title="Bä, bä, vita lamm"|description=Tune
The text was translated to Swedish by [[August Strindberg]] for
==Origin and meaning==
[[File:BaaBaaBlackSheepMGM.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Illustration for the rhyme from ''[[Mother Goose's Melody]]'', first published c. 1765]]
The rhyme was first printed in ''[[Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book]]'' of about 1744, with words very similar to the modern version:
{{blockquote|<poem>Bah, Bah, a black Sheep,
Have you any Wool
Yes merry have I,
Three
One for my Master,
One for my Dame,
Line 52 ⟶ 85:
In the next surviving printing, in ''[[Mother Goose's Melody]]'' (c. 1765), the text remained the same, except the last lines, which were given as, "But none for the little boy who cries in the lane".<ref name="opie1997" />
As with many nursery rhymes, attempts have been made to find origins and meanings for the rhyme, most of which have no corroborating evidence.<ref name="opie1997" /> Katherine Elwes Thomas in ''The Real Personages of Mother Goose'' (1930) suggested the rhyme referred to resentment at the heavy taxation on wool.<ref name="C. Baring Gould 1962 p. 35">
==Modern controversies==
[[
{{further|Loony left#"Baa Baa White Sheep"}}
In 1986 the British popular press reported a controversy over the rhyme's language, suggesting that "black" was being treated as a racial term. This was based on a rewriting of the rhyme in one private nursery as an exercise for the children there.<ref name=Curran2005>{{Cite book |first1=
In 2014, there was reportedly a similar controversy in the Australian state of Victoria.<ref>{{cite news |date=17 October 2014 |title=Racial connotations over black sheep prompts changes to Baa Baa Black Sheep at Victorian kindergartens
==Allusions==
The phrase "yes sir, yes sir, three bags full sir" has been used in reference to an obsequious or craven subordinate. It is attested from 1910, and originally was common in the British [[Royal Navy]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Partridge |first1=Eric|author1-link=Eric Partridge|last2=Beale |first2=Paul |title=A
The rhyme has often appeared in literature and popular culture. [[Rudyard Kipling]] used it as the title of an 1888 [[Baa Baa, Black Sheep (short story)|semi-autobiographical short story]].<ref name="C. Baring Gould 1962 p. 35"/> The name [[VMA-214|Black Sheep Squadron]] was used for the [[Marine Attack Squadron 214]] of the [[United States Marine Corps]] from 1942 and the title ''Baa Baa Black Sheep'' was used for a book by its leader Colonel [[Gregory "Pappy" Boyington]] and for a TV series (later syndicated as ''[[Baa Baa Black Sheep (TV series)|Black Sheep Squadron]]'') that aired on [[NBC]] from 1976 until 1978.<ref>
==See also==
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