Twinkle twinkle little star

Twinkle twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the earth so high
Like a diamond in the sky
Twinkle twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are

One of the first songs most children learn I would guess, memorable, calming but with lovely twinkly fingers in action..

And to my amazement, my brief research into twinkle twinkle reveals that the tune has French origins (first published 1761), and the words are a poem written by Jane Taylor, published 1806, which also has a whole lot more verses. Wikipedia has the full details, which I won’t rewrite, but I wonder what Jane Taylor would think if she knew that her poem was perhaps the best known words in English. Wikipedia doesn’t include another version I know which always reduces the little one to giggles:

Twinkle twinkle chocolate bar,
My dad drives a rusty old car,
Turn the handle, pull the choke,
And off we go in a puff of smoke,
Twinkle, twinkle, chocolate bar,
My dad drives a rusty old car.

I hope my kids don’t ever ask what a choke is.. those days of pulling out the choke when starting the car are part of another era of driving!

Then of course the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland also had his own version:

Twinkle twinkle little bat!
How I wonder what you’re at!
Up above the world you fly,
Like a tea-tray in the sky.

Which the kids find equally funny!