As I Was Going up the Hill Lyrics
Jack the piper has two tunes to offer, and both of them are orders: tie up your petticoats tighter, then carry me safe to Dover.
As I Was Going up the Hill
As I was going up the hill,
I met with Jack the piper,
And all the tunes that he could play
Was "Tie up your petticoats tighter."
I tied them once, I tied them twice,
I tied them three times over;
And all the songs that he could sing
Was "Carry me safe to Dover."
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/as-i-was-going-up-the-hill/
- Type
- Mother Goose
- Tune
- Spoken, with a skipping beat
- Best for ages
- 3 to 8 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| I tied them once, I tied them twice | Bend down and pretend to tie a knot at your waist, once and then again. |
| I tied them three times over | Hold up three fingers and tie a third knot. |
| Carry me safe to Dover | Sway from side to side like a boat leaving harbor. |
What Does As I Was Going up the Hill Mean?
A petticoat was a long underskirt, and people probably hitched theirs up to keep the hem out of the mud on a country road. A piper plays a pipe of some kind, such as a whistle, a flute or bagpipes. In this rhyme Jack seems to know only two tunes, and the traveler hears them as titles: one is advice about getting ready for the road, the other a wish for a safe crossing to Dover, the English port closest to France. The joke is on a musician whose whole song list fits in two lines.
History and Origin
James Orchard Halliwell printed the rhyme in The Nursery Rhymes of England (first published in 1842) and gave no story behind it. Many old rhymes open with "As I was going" or "As I went", and they are easy to mix up: As I Was Going to St. Ives is a riddle, while the Derby Ram is a tall tale.
Learning Activities
- Knot practice: let a child tie a scarf or ribbon round a doll's middle, once, twice and a third time, while you say the lines.
- Be the piper: hum or whistle any two tunes you know, over and over, until someone laughs.
- Find Dover: trace the road from London to Dover on a map of southern England, then look across the water to France.