Sing a song of sixpence
A pocket full of rye
Four and twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie
The King was in his counting house
Counting out his money
The Queen was in the parlor
Eating bread and honey
When the pie was opened
The birds began to sing
Was that not a tasty dish
To set before a king?
The Maid was in the garden
Hanging out the clothes
When down came a blackbird
And snapped off her nose!
This poem was actually a coded message used by pirates
in the early 18th century to recruit men for their
escapades at sea. The poem’s origin meaning could be
traced to a pirate Blackbeard who paid six pence per day
to men, and a pocketful (leather one of course!) full of
alcohol. The birds in the poem refer to the pirates who
made surprise attacks on other ships.
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