One, Two, Three, Four, Five

"One, two, three, four, five"
Roud #13530
Song
Written	England
Published	c. 1765
Form	Nursery rhyme
Writer	Traditional
Language	English

"One, two, three, four, five" is a popular English language nursery rhyme and counting-out rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 13530.

Lyrics

Common modern versions include:

One, two, three, four, five,

Once I caught a fish alive,

Six, seven, eight, nine, ten,

Then I let it go again.

Why did you let it go?

Because it bit my finger so.

Which finger did it bite?

This little finger on the right.^[1]

Origins and meaning

The rhyme is one of many counting-out rhymes. It was first recorded in Mother Goose's Melody around 1765. Like most versions until the late nineteenth century, it had only the first stanza, and dealt with a hare not a fish, with the lyrics:

One, two, three, Four and five,

I caught a hare alive;

Six, seven, eight, Nine and ten,

I let him go again.^[1]

The modern version is derived from three variations collected by Henry Bolton in the 1880s from America.^[1]

The song was sung on the children's television program Barney & Friends.

Notes

1. I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 334-5.