There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
USA Lyrics
I don't know why she swallowed a fly - perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a spider,
That wriggled and wiggled and tiggled inside her;
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly - Perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a bird;
How absurd to swallow a bird.
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly - Perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a cat;
Fancy that to swallow a cat!
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly - Perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a dog;
What a hog, to swallow a dog!
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly - Perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a goat;
Just opened her throat and swallowed a goat!
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly - Perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a cow;
I don't know how she swallowed a cow!
She swallowed the cow to catch the goat,
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly - Perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a horse...
She's dead, of course!
History and Meaning
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly (often shortened to I Know an Old Lady) is a children's rhyme and nonsense song of cumulative structure with origins dating back to at least the 19th century. One theory suggests it may have been inspired by an anecdote about a London surgeon in 1831 concerning a woman who swallowed a spider, and the rhyme was documented in Dorothy B. King's 1946 book "Happy Recollections." The widely recognized version was copyrighted in 1952 by Rose Bonne (lyrics) and Alan Mills (music), simply titled "I Know an Old Lady." A popular 1953 recording by Burl Ives, who attributed it to an "old ballad" rewritten by Mills, cemented its place in popular culture. The cumulative song tells the nonsensical story of an old woman who swallows increasingly larger animals—fly, spider, bird, cat, dog, cow, and finally a horse—with each subsequent animal intended to catch the one before, ultimately leading to her demise after swallowing the horse.