There Was A Man

(a.k.a. "There Was A Man & He Was Mad" - original version)

Words & Music:

Traditional

 

Thanks to Pete Seeger who did this original version on his album " American Folk, Game & Activity Songs For Children"

 

      C             F      C

There was a man and he was mad,

       C

And he jumped into the pudding bag!

 

The pudding bag, it was so fine,

That he jumped into a bottle of wine.

 

The bottle of wine, it was so clear,

He jumped into a bottle of beer.

 

The bottle of beer, it was so thick,

He jumped into a walking stick.

 

The walking stick, it was so narrow,

That he jumped into a wheelbarrow.

 

The wheelbarrow began to crack,

He jumped onto a horse's back.

 

The horse's back began to break,

So, he jumped into a chocolate cake.

 

The chocolate cake became so rotten,

That he jumped into a bag of cotton.

 

The bag of cotton caught on fire

And blew him up to Jeremiah.  [Poof!]

 

Seeger goes on to have the audience fill in the blanks when he sings it again and leaves out the last word of each line.  It is, needless to say, a great song for making up your own verses, too!  (as someone did with the Bowdlerized version.)