Baa Baa Black Sheep

Baa Baa Black Sheep shares its tune with "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and the Alphabet Song, all three set to the same eighteenth-century French melody. The words are a brisk transaction: a sheep divides its three bags of wool between the master, the dame, and a little boy who lives down the lane.

What is the origin of the rhyme Baa Baa Black Sheep?

The rhyme was first printed in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, published in London around 1744. The earliest recorded version of the lyrics went:

Bah, Bah, a black Sheep, Have you any wool? Yes old mate I have Three bags full, Two for my master, One for my dame, None for the little boy That cries in the lane.

The sheep's black color made it less valuable than white wool, since white wool could be dyed more easily. This is also the origin of the phrase "black sheep of the family" to mean someone who brings embarrassment or shame to their family.

How does the wool tax of 1275 relate to Baa Baa Black Sheep?

A popular theory suggests the rhyme was written as a response to the Great Wool Tax of 1275 introduced by King Edward I. The tax mandated that the proceeds of wool sales be split three ways: one-third for the King, one-third for the Church, and one-third for the farmer. The "none for the little boy" line in the original version may have complained about how nothing was left for the peasant workers.

Is Baa Baa Black Sheep racist?

Another theory is that the rhyme has a connection to the transatlantic slave trade, reflecting the history of slave trading in Britain between 1662 and 1807. Although historians generally reject this theory as a modern myth, it led to the rhyme being discouraged or altered in some schools during the late twentieth century, with teachers changing the lyrics to alternate between different colors of sheep.