“A Is for Apple Pie”

Description

Alphabet song, beginning "A is/stands for apple pie, B baked/bit it" and perhaps ending "And don't you wish you had a piece of apple pie?"

Notes

The first six lines of this piece appear in John Eachard's 1671 pamphlet "Some Observations upon the Answer to an Enquiry into the Grounds & Occasions of the Contempt of the Clergy."

It first appears as an educational tool in Mary Cooper's 1743 spelling book, "The Child's New Play-thing," and was common in nineteenth century texts (often under the title, "The Tragical Death of an Apple Pie" or similar). - RBW

Cross references

References

  1. Randolph 874, "A Is for Apple Pie" (3 texts plus an excerpt, but the "D" text is "The Average Boy")
  2. Opie-Oxford2 1, "A was an apple-pie" (1 text)
  3. Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #611, pp. 240-241, "(A was an apple-pie)"
  4. Roud #7539
  5. BI, R874

About

Author: unknown
Earliest date: 1671 (Some Observations upon the Answer to an Enquiry into the Grounds & Occasions of the Contempt of the Clergy)
Keywords: food nonballad wordplay
Found in: US(So)