Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man
Encyclopedia
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
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:...
s. 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 6486.
Lyrics
Common modern versions include:- Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man.
- Bake me a cake as fast as you can;
- Pat it and prick it and mark it with B,
- Put it in the oven for baby and me.
- Patty cake, patty cake, baker's man.
- Bake me a cake as fast as you can;
- Roll it up, roll it up;
- And throw it in a pan!
- Patty cake, patty cake, baker's man.
Origins
The earliest recorded version of the rhyme appears in Thomas D'UrfeyThomas d'Urfey
Thomas D'Urfey was an English writer and wit. He composed plays, songs, and poetry, in addition to writing jokes. He was an important innovator and contributor in the evolution of the Ballad opera....
's play The Campaigners from 1698, where a nurse says to her charges:
...and pat a cake Bakers man, so I will master as I can, and prick it, and prick it, and prick it, and prick it, and prick it, and throw't into the Oven.
The next appearance is in Mother Goose's Melody, (c. 1765), in the form:
- Patty Cake, Patty Cake,
- Baker's Man;
- That I will Master,
- As fast as I can;
- Prick it and prick it,
- And mark it with a T,
- And there will be enough for Jacky and me.
The game
The rhyme is often accompanied by hand-clapping between two people, a clapping gameClapping game
A clapping game is a type of usually cooperative game which is generally played by two players and involves clapping as accompaniment to a singing game or reciting of a rhyme...
. It alternates between a normal individual clap with two-handed claps with the other person. The hands may be crossed as well. This allows for a possibly complex sequence of clapping that must be coordinated between the two. If told by a parent to a child, the "B" and "baby" in the last two lines are sometimes replaced by the child's first initial and first name.
In popular culture
In film:- Bing CrosbyBing CrosbyHarry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
and Bob HopeBob HopeBob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
used this rhyme in many of their Road to...Road to...Road to ... refers to a series of seven comedy films starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. They are also often referred to as the "Road" pictures or the "Road" series. The movies were a combination of adventure, comedy, romance, and music...
pictures (1940-62) when physically threatened, distracting their attacker, and at an appropriate point would switch from patting the "cakes" to suddenly slugging their assailant. On some occasions, they made a self-referential remarkMeta-referenceMetareference, a metafiction technique, is a situation in a work of fiction whereby characters display an awareness that they are in such a work, such as a film, television show or book. Sometimes it may even just be a form of editing or film-making technique that comments on the...
that the antagonist in question had/had not seen their previous movies. - In the short film Baker's Men, by Harriette Yahr, two little girls de-construct the rhyme coming up with humorous yet poignant insights about it.
- In Who Framed Roger RabbitWho Framed Roger RabbitWho Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American fantasy-comedy-noir film directed by Robert Zemeckis and released by Touchstone Pictures. The film combines live action and animation, and is based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, which depicts a world in which cartoon characters...
(1988), Eddie Valiant takes revealing photographPhotographA photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
s of Marvin Acme inside Jessica Rabbit's dressing room where they can be heard (and later seen) literally playing "patty cake" and Jessica moaning in her characteristically sultry manner.
In TV:
- In the episode "Hammer Into AnvilHammer Into Anvil"Hammer into Anvil" is an episode of the 1960s television program The Prisoner. It is one of the minority of episodes that do not deal with Number Six attempting to escape or the Village authorities attempting to coerce him into revealing information....
" (1967) of The PrisonerThe PrisonerThe Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in the UK from 29 September 1967 to 1 February 1968. Starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan, it combined spy fiction with elements of science fiction, allegory and psychological drama.The series follows a British former...
, as a part of his plot to drive Number 2 into madness, Number 6 sends a message coded in morse that turns out to be the words from the song. - The joke used by Crosby and Hope was also attempted by Maxwell Smart (Don AdamsDon AdamsDon Adams was an American actor, comedian and director. In his five decades on television, he was best known as Maxwell Smart in the television situation comedy Get Smart , which he also sometimes directed and wrote. Adams won three consecutive Emmy Awards for his portrayal of Smart...
) and his old army buddy, Sid (Don RicklesDon RicklesDonald Jay "Don" Rickles is an American stand-up comedian and actor. A frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Rickles has acted in comedic and dramatic roles, but is best known as an insult comic....
) in the Get SmartGet SmartGet Smart is an American comedy television series that satirizes the secret agent genre. Created by Mel Brooks with Buck Henry, the show starred Don Adams , Barbara Feldon , and Edward Platt...
(1965-70) episode, "The Little Black Book"; in their case, it failed. - In several episodes of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! is an American television series based upon Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 2 video games. It was originally broadcast via first-run syndication to mostly independent or Fox television stations from September 4, 1989, to December 1, 1989, with...
, Mario and/or Luigi would either play patty cake or chant the rhyme to a star. Their variation was "Patty cake, Patty cake, Pasta man. Give me pasta power as fast as you can." - In an episode of LazyTownLazyTownLazyTown is a children's television program that was produced in Iceland with a cast and crew from Iceland, the United Kingdom and the United States. It was created by Magnús Scheving, a gymnastics champion and CEO of LazyTown Entertainment, who also stars in the show...
(2004-7), Stingy says the last part of the rhyme: "And mark it with an 's' and put it in the oven for me." - In the Oobi (2004-7) episode "Uma Sick", Oobi and Kako are playing pat-a-cake, pronouncing it like "pah-a-cake."
In popular music:
- Bill Haley & His CometsBill Haley & His CometsBill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets , was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of...
recorded a rock and roll version of the nursery rhyme in 1953. - The ClipseClipseClipse is a Virginia Beach, Virginia-based hip hop duo. Formed in 1992 by brothers Malice and Pusha T , the group is heavily affiliated with production team The Neptunes and signed to Star Trak Entertainment.- Exclusive Audio Footage :The Thornton brothers were born in The Bronx, New...
song "Grindin'Grindin'"Grindin" is the second single from the Virginia Beach rap duo Clipse. The song was produced by The Neptunes and featured on the Clipse's debut album, Lord Willin...
" (2002) uses the lyric "patty cake patty cake I'm the bakers man, I bake them cakes as fast as I can". - Composer Martin Wesley-SmithMartin Wesley-SmithMartin Wesley-Smith is an Australian composer with an eclectic output ranging from children's songs to environmental events. He works in a range of musical styles, including choral music, operas, computer music, music theatre, chamber and orchestral music, and audiovisual pieces which bring words,...
(b. 1945) used the tune in his composition "White Knight Waltz". - Medeski Martin & WoodMedeski Martin & WoodMedeski Martin & Wood is an American jazz trio formed in 1991, consisting of John Medeski on keyboards and piano, Billy Martin on drums and percussion, and Chris Wood on double bass and bass guitar....
play their version of this rhyme in their album Let's Go EverywhereLet's Go EverywhereLet's Go Everywhere is an album of children's music released by Medeski Martin & Wood.-Track listing:All tracks by Medeski Martin & Wood.#"Waking Up" – 1:05#"Let's Go Everywhere" – 3:33#"Cat Creeps" – 2:46#"The Train Song" – 3:53...
.
In musical theatre
- In the Stephen SondheimStephen SondheimStephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
Broadway musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet StreetSweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet StreetSweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 1936 British film produced and directed by George King.-Plot:The film features Tod Slaughter in one of his most famous roles as barber Sweeney Todd. Sweeney Todd was wrongly sentenced to life in prison. After his release 15 years later, he begins...
(1979), Tobias RaggTobias RaggTobias "Toby" Ragg is a fictional character who appears in various adaptations of the story Sweeney Todd.In the penny dreadful The String of Pearls, Tobias Ragg is in a madhouse, driven mad by Sweeney Todd, a barber who murdered his customers....
recites the rhyme in the last scene, just before he kills Todd, briskly changing the words from "bake me a cake-" to "bake me a pie...to delight my eye..."
'In comics'
- Patty-Cake is a comic book created by artist/writer Scott Roberts, which ran from 1995 to 2005. The title character, named Patty-Cake Bakerman, also appeared frequently in Nickelodeon Magazine. The series also ran under the title "Patty-Cake & Friends."