A-Tisket, A-Tasket
Encyclopedia
A Tisket A Tasket is a nursery rhyme
Nursery rhyme
The term nursery rhyme is used for "traditional" poems for young children in Britain and many other countries, but usage only dates from the 19th century and in North America the older ‘Mother Goose Rhymes’ is still often used.-Lullabies:...

 first recorded in America in the late nineteenth century. It was used as the basis for a very successful and highly regarded 1938 recording by Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...

. It has a Roud Folk Song Index
Roud Folk Song Index
The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of 300,000 references to over 21,600 songs that have been collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world...

 number of 13188.

The words Tisket and Tasket do not appear in standard dictionaries, so were probably fabricated to suit the rhyme and metre.

Traditional lyrics

The rhyme was first noted in the United States in 1879 as a children's rhyming game. It was sung while children danced in a circle. One of the number ran on the outside of the circle and dropped a handkerchief. The nearest child would then pick it up and chase the dropper. If caught the dropper was either kissed, joined the circle, or had to tell the name of their sweetheart. An early noted version had the lyrics:
A-tisket a-tasket
A green and yellow basket
I wrote a letter to my love
And on the way I dropped it,
I dropped it,
I dropped it,
And on the way I dropped it.
A little boy he picked it up and put it in his pocket.

Lyrics by Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald, in conjunction with Al Feldman, extended and embellished the rhyme into a jazz piece which was her breakthrough hit with the Chick Webb Orchestra in 1938. It has since become a jazz standard
Jazz standard
Jazz standards are musical compositions which are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive list of jazz standards, and the list of songs deemed to be...

.
A followup song written by Fitzgerald and Webb entitled I Found My Yellow Basket (1938) was less successful.

As a recording

  • In 1938 the rhyme was used as the basis for a song written by Al Feldman and Ella Fitzgerald
    Ella Fitzgerald
    Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...

    . Ella's recording of this song in 1938 was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame
    Grammy Hall of Fame Award
    The Grammy Hall of Fame Award is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance"...

     in 1986, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance". The song was a major hit of the "pre-chart" era, reaching #1 in Billboard's sheet music and Record Buying Guide (jukebox) charts, also #1 on "Your Hit Parade". Fitzgerald also performed the song in Ride 'Em Cowboy
    Ride 'Em Cowboy
    Ride 'Em Cowboy is a 1942 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello.-Plot:The author of best-selling western novels, Bronco Bob Mitchell , has never set foot in the west. A newspaper article has exposed this fact to his fans, and his image is suffering because of it. He decides to make...

    (1942).
  • Briefly sung in the animated Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
    Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
    Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...

     cartoon
    Cartoon
    A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...

     Magical Maestro
    Magical Maestro
    Magical Maestro is a 1952 animated short film directed by Tex Avery and produced by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio. It tells the story of Poochini, a canine opera singer who spurns a magician. The magician is able to replace Poochini's normal conductor prior to the show through disguise...

    (1952), directed by Tex Avery
    Tex Avery
    Frederick Bean "Fred/Tex" Avery was an American animator, cartoonist, voice actor and director, famous for producing animated cartoons during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation. He did his most significant work for the Warner Bros...

    .

On film

  • In In the Sweet Pie and Pie
    In the Sweet Pie and Pie
    In the Sweet Pie and Pie is the 58th short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.-Plot:...

    , a 1941 comedy short starring The Three Stooges, Moe, Larry, and Curly marry the three socialites, Tiska, Taska, and Baska Jones.
  • In Ride 'Em Cowboy
    Ride 'Em Cowboy
    Ride 'Em Cowboy is a 1942 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello.-Plot:The author of best-selling western novels, Bronco Bob Mitchell , has never set foot in the west. A newspaper article has exposed this fact to his fans, and his image is suffering because of it. He decides to make...

    , a 1942 comedy film starring Abbott and Costello
    Abbott and Costello
    William "Bud" Abbott and Lou Costello performed together as Abbott and Costello, an American comedy duo whose work on stage, radio, film and television made them the most popular comedy team during the 1940s and 1950s...

    , it was sung on a bus ride by Ella Fitzgerald
    Ella Fitzgerald
    Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...

    .
  • In Two Girls and a Sailor
    Two Girls and a Sailor
    Two Girls and a Sailor is a 1944 musical film about two singing sisters who are helped to set up a canteen to entertain soldiers by a mysterious wealthy admirer. It featured a host of celebrity performances, including Jimmy Durante doing his hallmark "Inka Dinka Doo", Gracie Allen, and Lena Horne...

    , a 1944 film starring June Allyson
    June Allyson
    June Allyson was an American film and television actress, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. She was a major MGM contract star. Allyson won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance in Too Young to Kiss . From 1959–1961, she hosted and occasionally starred in her own CBS anthology...

     and Van Johnson
    Van Johnson
    Van Johnson was an American film and television actor and dancer who was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios during and after World War II....

    , it was performed by Allyson and Gloria DeHaven
    Gloria DeHaven
    Gloria Mildred DeHaven is an American actress and a former contract star for MGM.-Early life and career:DeHaven was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of actor-director Carter DeHaven and actress Flora Parker DeHaven, both former vaudeville performers.She began her career as a child...

    .
  • Early television ads for Triscuit
    Triscuit
    Triscuit is a snack cracker, made by Nabisco, which takes the form of square baked whole wheat wafers. It was invented in 1900, a patent was granted in 1902, and the Shredded Wheat Company, in Niagara Falls, New York began production the next year....

    borrowed the tune for this rhyme.
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