Tinker, Come Bring Your Solder Lyrics
A bossy speaker gives orders to four workers. The tinker must mend a watch, the haymaker must feed the cat, the cobbler must see to a limping horse and the smith must make a daughter a shoe. Then comes a warning to do it all in a time that turns out to be no time at all.
Tinker, Come Bring Your Solder
Tinker, come bring your solder,
And mend this watch for me.
Haymaker, get some fodder,
And give my cat his tea.
Cobbler, my horse is limping,
He'll have to be shod anew;
While the smith brings forge and hammer
To make my daughter a shoe.
Bestir yourselves, my lazies!
I give you all fair warning:
You must do your work 'twixt twelve at night,
And an hour before one in the morning.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/tinker-come-bring-your-solder/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- Mary Mapes Dodge
- Tune
- A brisk, bossy march, with a big voice for the orders and a sly one for the last two lines
- Best for ages
- 4 to 8 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| And mend this watch for me. | Hold up one wrist and tap it as if fixing a watch. |
| To make my daughter a shoe. | Tap a fist on your palm like a hammer. |
What Does Tinker, Come Bring Your Solder Mean?
The joke is that every worker is given the wrong job. A tinker mends pots and pans, and solder is the melted metal used to join pieces, yet here the tinker is told to mend a watch. A haymaker cuts and dries hay, and fodder is food for animals, yet the haymaker is also told to give my cat his tea. The cobbler is asked about a horse that is limping and needs to be shod anew, and the smith, who works with a forge and hammer, is asked to make a shoe for a daughter.
The last two lines hide the best joke. The workers must finish twixt twelve at night and an hour before one in the morning. But an hour before one is twelve o'clock, so the time allowed has no length at all. The speaker's fair warning demands the impossible. Bestir means get moving, and my lazies is a made-up name for the workers.
History and Origin
Mary Mapes Dodge's Rhymes and Jingles has a copyright line of 1874 and a title page dated 1875. This poem is one stanza of twelve lines.
Learning Activities
- Who should do it?: read each order and ask the child which worker would really do that job.
- Swap the jobs: make up new orders with the wrong workers, such as a baker asked to shoe a horse.
- Clock puzzle: use a toy clock to show twelve, then one, then an hour before one, and see the joke.
- Boss voice: take turns being the bossy speaker, with a funny voice, and the workers who do nothing.