A Long-Felt Want Lyrics
Wee Willie is looking through a florist's catalogue when he leaps up with an idea. Children lose their things at school, he says, so why not buy a rubber plant and an umbrella tree? The joke is in what those plants might grow.
A Long-Felt Want
One day wee Willie and his dog
Sprawled on the nursery floor.
He had a florist's catalogue,
And turned the pages o'er,
Till all at once he gave a spring,
"Hurrah!" he cried with joy;
"Mamma, here's just the very thing
To give your little boy!
"For when we fellows go to school,
We lose our things, you know;
And in that little vestibule
They do get mixed up so.
"And as you often say you can't
Take care of 'em for me,
Why don't you buy a rubber plant,
And an umbrella tree?"
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/a-long-felt-want/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- Carolyn Wells
- Tune
- Chatty and excited, with a proud pause before the last two lines
- Best for ages
- 5 to 9 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| Till all at once he gave a spring | Spring up from sitting with a big surprised face. |
| Why don't you buy a rubber plant | Hold a hand out flat like a leafy plant, then lift an imaginary umbrella over your head on the last line. |
What Does A Long-Felt Want Mean?
This is a pun poem, and it needs one piece of old American English. Rubbers were rubber overshoes that children wore over their shoes on wet days, and they went missing as easily as umbrellas. Willie is looking at a florist's catalogue, a booklet from a plant seller, and sees two real plant names, rubber plant and umbrella tree. Then comes the child's logic: if rubbers and umbrellas keep getting mixed up in the school vestibule (the small entrance hall), what he needs is a plant that grows them. The poem never names the lost things outright; the plant names do the work.
The title is a stock phrase. A long-felt want is a need that has been felt for a long time, and Willie has just found the answer.
History and Origin
Carolyn Wells, an American mystery author, poet and humorist, published The Jingle Book in 1899, and this is one of its comic verses. Poems like this one rest on a pun, so they work best read aloud with a straight face.
Learning Activities
- Pun spotting: ask the child why a rubber plant sounds as if it grows rubbers, then think up a plant that could grow other things, such as a shoe tree or a sock bush.
- Meet a real one: look for a rubber plant in a garden centre or a photo, and notice its large, glossy leaves.
- Lost and found: put names on coats, hats and boots, and make a small lost-property box at home.
- Catalogue time: flick through a plant or seed catalogue together and let the child choose a plant to grow.