Baa Baa

Baa, Baa, Black Sheep
Real Name	Baa, Baa
First Appearance	Unknown
Created by	Unknown

Origin

"Baa, Baa, Black Sheep", also sometimes known as "Baa, Baa, Rainbow Sheep", is an English nursery rhyme, the earliest surviving version of which dates from 1731. The words have changed little in two and a half centuries. It tells the simple story of a sheep that provides wool for a set of 3 residents in what is usually depicted as a quaint British village.

Modern Version

Baa, baa, black sheep,

Have you any wool?

Yes, sir, yes, sir,

Three bags full;

One for the master,

And one for the dame,

And one for the little boy

Who lives down the lane.

Original Version

Bah, Bah a black Sheep,

Have you any Wool?

Yes merry have I,

Three Bags full,

One for my master,

One for my Dame,

One for the little Boy

That lives down the lane

Public Domain Comic Appearances

• Jolly Jingles #12

Notes

• Uncorroborated theories have been advanced to explain the meaning of the rhyme. These include that it is a complaint against Medieval English taxes on wool and that it is about the slave trade.
• In the late twentieth century, the rhyme was a subject of controversies in debates about supposed "political correctness" with the most infamous allegation being that nurseries were renaming the song to "Baa, Baa Rainbow Sheep", though most of these instances of "censorship" were either exaggerated or fabricated, with the two nurseries targeted by right-wing tabloids factually known to have sung the rainbow variant noting it to be part of a line of silly variants they would make, such as "Bouncing Sheep"; "Sad Sheep"; and "Pink Sheep", which were being used in rotation with black version.
• The song has been used in literature and popular culture as a metaphor and allusion.

See Also

• Wikipedia