Fuld, The Book of World-Famous Music: Classical, Popular, and Folk (Courier Dover Publications, 5th edn., 2000), ISBN 5-2, pp. ^ "Searchable database" Archived at the Wayback Machine, English Folk Song and Dance Society, retrieved 28 March 2012.International Companion Encyclopedia of Children's Literature. "Playground rhymes and the oral tradition". The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (2nd ed.). In 1951, together with " In the Mood", "Baa Baa Black Sheep" was the first song ever to be digitally saved and played on a computer. The name 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 Black Sheep Squadron) that aired on NBC from 1976 until 1978. ![]() ![]() Rudyard Kipling used the rhyme as the title of a semi-autobiographical short story he wrote in 1888. The rhyme has often been raised in literature and popular culture. It is attested from 1910, and originally was common in the British Royal Navy. The phrase "yes sir, yes sir, three bags full sir" has been used to describe any obsequious or craven subordinate. In 2014, there was reportedly a similar controversy in the Australian state of Victoria. Commentators have asserted that these controversies have been exaggerated or distorted by some elements of the press as part of a more general campaign against political correctness. Two private nurseries in Oxfordshire in 2006 altered the song to "Baa Baa Rainbow Sheep", with black being replaced with a variety of other adjectives, like "happy, sad, hopping" and "pink". A similar controversy emerged in 1999 when reservations about the rhyme were submitted to Birmingham City Council by a working group on racism in children's resources, which were never approved or implemented. This was based only on a rewriting of the rhyme in one private nursery as an exercise for the children there and not on any local government policy. ![]() 1744 with the lyrics very similar to the contemporary version:įurther information: Loony left § Baa Baa White SheepĪ controversy emerged over changing the language of "Baa Baa Black Sheep" in Britain from 1986, because, it was alleged in the popular press, it was seen as racially dubious. The rhyme was first printed in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, the oldest surviving collection of English language nursery rhymes, published c. ![]() Rather than being negative, the wool of black sheep may have been prized as it could be made into dark cloth without dyeing. This explanation was advanced during debates over political correctness and the use and reform of nursery rhymes in the 1980s, but has no supporting historical evidence. This has particularly been taken to refer to the medieval English "Great" or "Old Custom" wool tax of 1275, which survived until the fifteenth century More recently the rhyme has been alleged to have a connection to the slave trade, particularly in the southern United States. Katherine Elwes Thomas in The Real Personages of Mother Goose (1930) suggested the rhyme referred to resentment at the heavy taxation on wool. 1765Īs with many nursery rhymes, attempts have been made to find origins and meanings for the rhyme, most of which have no corroborating evidence. Illustration for the rhyme from Mother Goose's Melody, first published c.
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