"Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man", "Pat-a-Cake", "Patty-cake" or "Pattycake" is an English

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and other European countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. Fr ...

. It has a

Roud Folk Song Index The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud. Roud's Index is a combination of the Broadsid ...

number of 6486.

Verse

:Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man. :Bake me a cake as fast as you can :Pat it, and roll it, and mark it with a B :And Put it in the oven for Baby and me. I. Opie and P. Opie,
The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes
' (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 341–2. .

Origins

The earliest recorded version of the rhyme appears in Thomas D'Urfey'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; :Pat it and prick it, :And mark it with a T, :And there will be enough for Tommy and me. Marking pastry or baked goods with an identifiable mark may stem from a time when households without an oven of their own could take their items to a local baker or bake house, paying to have their items finished for a small fee. Marking the pastry would have been a way to ensure the return of the proper item. The earliest version set to music appears in James Hook's "A Christmas Box" (1796).

Game

The rhyme often accompanies a

clapping game A clapping game (or hand game) is a type of usually cooperative (i.e., non-competitive) game which is generally played by two players and involves clapping as a rhythmic accompaniment to a singing game or reciting of a rhyme, often nursery rhym ...

between two people. It alternates between a normal individual clap by one person 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 First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared an ...

. The "pat-a-cake" song and clapping game was used by

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...

and

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...

in their series of "

Road to ''Road to ...'' is 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, ...

" films. The gag worked by means of adding a synchronised punch into the clapping game routine, allowing them to make their escape. Patty-cake appears as a plot point in the 1988 film ''

Who Framed Roger Rabbit ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a 1988 American fantasy comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. It is loosely based on the 1981 novel ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' by Gary K. Wol ...

'', where it is made out to be the toon equivalent of sex.Cotter, Padraig (January 12, 2020)
"Who Framed Roger Rabbit?: Yes, 'Patty-Cake' Is The Toon Equivalent Of Sex"
''

Screen Rant ''Screen Rant'' is an entertainment website that offers news in the fields of television, films, video games, and comic books. It is owned by Valnet, parent of publications including Comic Book Resources, Collider, MovieWeb and XDA Developers. ...

''. Retrieved February 10, 2024.

References

{{Authority control Clapping games English children's songs English folk songs English nursery rhymes Children's games Fictional bakers Songs about occupations Songs with unknown songwriters Year of song unknown

Verse

Origins

Game

See also

References