Cock-a-Doodle Doo

"Cock-a-Doodle Doo!" is a traditional English nursery rhyme built around the classic onomatopoeia for a rooster's crow. The rhyme appears to date back to at least the mid-18th century, with one of its earliest known print appearances found in the significant collection "Mother Goose's Melody", published around 1765.

The most familiar version presents a simple, brief narrative following the rooster's call. It typically states: "Cock a doodle doo! / My dame has lost her shoe, / My master's lost his fiddling stick, / And doesn't know what to do." This short verse depicts a moment of minor confusion or loss.

One popular historical interpretation attempts to link "Cock-a-Doodle Doo!" to the Dissolution of the Monasteries in England under Henry VIII. In this reading, the 'dame' represents nuns or abbesses losing their property ('shoe') and the 'master' represents monks or abbots losing symbols of office or authority ('fiddling stick').