Jack Be Nimble
| "Jack Be Nimble" | |
|---|---|
| Roud #13902 | |
 William Wallace Denslow's illustrations for Jack Be Nimble, from a 1901 edition of Mother Goose | |
| Song | |
| Written | England |
| Published | c. 1815 |
| Form | Nursery rhyme |
| Writer(s) | Traditional |
| Language | English |
"Jack Be Nimble" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 13902.
Lyrics
The most common version of the rhyme is:
- Jack be nimble,
- Jack be quick,
- Jack jump over
- The candlestick.[1]
Origins and meaning
The rhyme is first recorded in a manuscript of around 1815 and was collected by James Orchard Halliwell in the mid-nineteenth century.[1] Jumping candlesticks was a form of fortune telling and a sport. Good luck was said to be signalled by clearing a candle without extinguishing the flame.[1]
In other media
A variation of this rhyme is featured in the song "American Pie", by Don McLean in 1971, with a play on the title of the Rolling Stones song, "Jumpin' Jack Flash":
- Jack be nimble,
- Jack be quick
- Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
- 'Cause fire's the devil's only friend.
It is also a line in Lindsey Buckingham's song "Holiday Road", featured in National Lampoon's Vacation:
- Jack be nimble,
- Jack be quick
- Take a ride on the West Coast kick
- Holiday road
It is also used in Welcome To The Void by the psychedelic rock band Morgen on their album Morgen in 1969:
- Jack be numble, Jack be quick
- Jack jump over the candlestick
Notes
- 1 2 3 I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 226–7.