A Sailor Went to Sea

"A Sailor Went to Sea" is a children's nursery rhyme, clapping game and jump-rope rhyme. It was initially called 'My Father Went to Sea', before becoming more widely known as 'A Sailor Went to Sea'.^[1]

Lyrics

A sailor went to sea, sea, sea

To see what he could see, see, see

But all that he could see, see, see

Was the bottom of the deep blue sea, sea, sea.

In popular culture

The song was parodied in an episode of VeggieTales as "Some Veggies Went To Sea".

See also

• "Pretty Little Dutch Girl"

References

Further reading

• Curtis, Mavis (2004). "A sailor went to sea: theme and variations". Folk Music Journal. 8 (4): 421–437. JSTOR 4522717. 
• Opie, Iona Archibald (1985). The Singing Game. Oxford University Press. pp. 467–468. 

External links

• The British Library - Audio recording of A Sailor Went to Sea, 1972

Nursery rhymes (list)
"A-Tisket, A-Tasket" "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" "Did You Ever See a Lassie?" "Hey Diddle Diddle" "Hickory Dickory Dock" "Hot Cross Buns" "Humpty Dumpty" "I'm a Little Teapot" "It's Raining, It's Pouring" "Jack and Jill" "Little Bo Peep" "Little Boy Blue" "Little Miss Muffet" "Mary Had a Little Lamb" "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary" "Old King Cole" "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" "Old Mother Hubbard" "Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe" "Peter Piper" "Polly Put the Kettle On" "Poor Mary" "Pop Goes the Weasel" "Pussy Cat Pussy Cat" "Rain Rain Go Away" "Roses Are Red" "Rub-a-dub-dub" "Simple Simon" "Sticks and Stones" "The Grand Old Duke of York" "The Queen of Hearts" "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" "Two Little Dickie Birds"
Clapping	"A Sailor Went to Sea" "Down Down Baby" "Mary Mack" "Miss Susie" "Miss Lucy" "Pat-a-cake" "Pretty Little Dutch Girl" "Pease Porridge Hot"
Counting	"Duck, duck, goose" "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" "One, Two, Three, Four, Five" "This Old Man" "Tinker, Tailor"
Finger- plays	"Five Little Monkeys" "Itsy Bitsy Spider" "Little Robin Redbreast" "Round and round the garden" "This Little Piggy"
Games	"London Bridge" "The Muffin Man" "Mulberry Bush" "Oranges and Lemons" "Ring a Ring o' Roses" "The Farmer in the Dell"
Riddle	"As I was going to St Ives"
Lullabies	"Hush, Little Baby" "Rock-a-bye Baby"
Rounds	"Ding Dong Bell" "Frère Jacques" "Kookaburra" "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" "Scotland's Burning" "Three Blind Mice"