Mother Goose’s Melody (1760):
“Bah, Bah a black Sheep”

Mother Goose's Melody

Title: “Bah, Bah a black Sheep”

Medium: nursery rhyme

Publication date: 1760

Publisher: John Newbery

Roud Folk Song Index Number: 4439

1 characters in this story:

Character
(Click links for info about character
and his/her religious practice, affiliation, etc.)

Religious
Affiliation

Team(s)
[Notes]

Pub.

#
app.

Baa, Baa, Black Sheep
(lead character)

anthropomorphic animal

sheep

unknown

The earliest nursery rhyme collection containing "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" is Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book (1744). After that, the next earliest collection is John Newbery's Mother Goose's Melody, printed circa 1760, sometimes dated 1765. This version is the same as the 1744 version except the two last lines have been changed. The complete rhyme in Mother Goose's Melody reads:

Bah, Bah a black Sheep,
Have you any Wool?
Yes merry have I,
Three Bags full,
One for my master,
One for my Dame,
But none for the little boy
Who cries in the lane.

Mother Goose’s Melody (1760): “Bah, Bah a black Sheep”

Mother Goose’s Melody (1760):
“Bah, Bah a black Sheep”