Calico Pie Lyrics
Little birds, a fish, a party of mice and a parade of grasshoppers, butterflies, beetles and bees all pass through this nonsense poem, and every group goes away and never comes back to the speaker. Four verses of ten lines, each with the same wistful refrain.
Calico Pie
Calico pie,
The little birds fly
Down to the calico-tree:
Their wings were blue,
And they sang "Tilly-loo!"
Till away they flew;
And they never came back to me!
They never came back,
They never came back,
They never came back to me!
Calico jam,
The little Fish swam
Over the Syllabub Sea.
He took off his hat
To the Sole and the Sprat,
And the Willeby-wat:
But he never came back to me;
He never came back,
He never came back,
He never came back to me.
Calico ban,
The little Mice ran
To be ready in time for tea;
Flippity flup,
They drank it all up,
And danced in the cup:
But they never came back to me;
They never came back,
They never came back,
They never came back to me.
Calico drum,
The Grasshoppers come,
The Butterfly, Beetle, and Bee,
Over the ground,
Around and round,
With a hop and a bound;
But they never came back,
They never came back,
They never came back.
They never came back to me.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/calico-pie/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- Edward Lear
- Tune
- Quick and lively in the first half of each verse, then slower and softer for the refrain
- Best for ages
- 4 to 9 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| The little birds fly | Flap your arms like wings and swoop low. |
| Flippity flup | Wiggle your fingers as if they were mice dancing on a table. |
| They never came back to me | Shrug your shoulders and open your hands, then wave goodbye. |
What Does Calico Pie Mean?
Every verse follows the same pattern. It opens with the word Calico and a second word, pie, jam, ban or drum. Then a group of creatures does something cheerful. The little birds with blue wings sing "Tilly-loo!" The little fish swims over the Syllabub Sea and takes off his hat to the Sole, the Sprat and the Willeby-wat. The little mice run to be ready for tea, drink it up with a "flippity flup" and dance in the cup. The grasshoppers, butterfly, beetle and bee come hopping and bounding over the ground. And then, in each verse, they go, and the speaker is left with the refrain: they never came back to me.
Calico is a plain cotton cloth, so a calico tree or calico jam makes no sense, which is the joke. Syllabub is an old sweet dessert made with cream. Sole and sprat are real fish, and Willeby-wat is a made-up name.
The poem is funny and a little sad at once. A child often wants to know where everyone went. The poem leaves that open, which makes it a good starting point for a story of the child's own.
History and Origin
Edward Lear (1812 to 1888) was an English artist and writer who drew his own pictures for his verses. Calico Pie was printed in his book Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany, and Alphabets, published in 1871, the same collection as The Owl and the Pussy-cat.
Lear's nonsense often works by giving ordinary words a strange job, as here with calico, and by adding a refrain that a reader can say along with the poem. The last four lines of every verse are the refrain and its echoes, so a child can learn the ending first.
Learning Activities
- Join the refrain: read the verses and let the group say the last line together each time.
- Where did they go?: ask each child to tell or draw where the birds, fish, mice or grasshoppers went.
- Add a verse: start with Calico and a rhyming word, choose a creature, and finish with the refrain.
- Touch calico: find a piece of plain cotton cloth and feel it, then ask why a calico tree would be silly.