Five Little Monkeys Explained

"Five Little Monkeys" is an English-language nursery rhyme, children's song, folk song and fingerplay of American origin. It is usually accompanied by a sequence of gestures that mimic the words of the song. Each successive verse sequentially counts down from the starting number.[1] [2] [3]

The most common version of the song has a similar tune to the Austrian folk song “ Wie Böhmen noch bei Öst'rreich war” and the American folk song Hush, Little Baby. Alternate versions have similar tunes to the first verse of the 1890s folk song "Shortnin' Bread."

Lyrics

One version of the lyrics, published in the 2015 collection No More Monkeys, runs:[4]

Variations

Alternate versions of the song change the last monkey's reference to "she" or "one". An additional verse on the last verse following the last monkey going down include lines such as:

Gestures

The song can be performed with to accompany to each verse are, such as:[5]

Influence

Eileen Christelow has written a series of books titled "Five Little Monkeys ..". She acknowledges that she did not write the original lyrics, she heard it from her daughter.[6] Four of these books would later be adapted into a stage play by Ernie Nolan.[7]

In 2021, Filipino TikToker Amor Carias, also known by her stage name "Miss Catering", performed a cover of "Five Little Monkeys", this time with lyrics mashed up from "Humpty Dumpty", "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and possibly "Three Little Kittens", along with Tagalog-language "Tagu-taguan maliwanag ang buwan", "I wanna be a tutubi" and "Pen Pen de Sarapen", as well as non-children song "Upuan" by Gloc-9 and Zelle vocalist Jeazell Grutas.[8] [9] [10]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Five Little Monkeys Jumping on a Bed. Scottish Book Trust. en. 2018-01-09. 10 January 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180110054657/http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/bookbug/bookbug-song-and-rhyme-library/five-little-monkeys-jumping-on-a-bed. dead.
  2. Web site: Nursery rhymes and songs: Five little monkeys. BBC Learning: School Radio. 2018-01-09.
  3. Web site: Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. King County Library System. en-US. 2018-01-09.
  4. Book: Anderson . Steven . No More Monkeys . March 2015 . Capstone . 978-1-63290-279-5 . en.
  5. Book: Shotwell . Rita . Rhythm and Movement Activities: For Early Childhood . 1900 . Alfred Music . 978-1-4574-2079-5 . en.
  6. http://www.christelow.com/five-little-monkeys-jumping-on-the-bed-by-eileen-christelow.html "Five little monkeys jumping on the bed. One fell off and bumped her head. . ." NO, I did NOT write that rhyme, Eileen Christelow
  7. Web site: Theatre Review: 'Five Little Monkeys' at Adventure Theatre MTC . 2 May 2012 .
  8. Ms. Catering Singing Viral 2021. December 27, 2021. YouTube.
  9. 5 LITTLE MONKEY HUMPTY DUMPTY by MISS CATERING. April 27, 2024. YouTube.
  10. Web site: Vice Ganda treats viral kid Lian to a fun amusement park experience. ABS-CBN Entertainment. Mary Ann. Bardinas. April 30, 2024. May 5, 2024.