This was a well-known dance to do with a baby. It was first printed in 1828.
Dance, little baby, dance up high,
Never mind, baby, mother is nigh;
Crow and caper, caper and crow,
There, little baby, there you go.
Up to the ceiling, down to the ground,
Backwards and forwards, round and round;
So dance, little baby, and mother will sing,
With a high cockolorum* and tingle-ting-ting.**
Notes
*High cockolorum is an exclamation.
**The last line can also be:
"With a merry, gay coral, and tingle-ting-ting."
Or:
"With the merry coral, ding, ding, ding!"
(Note about coral: Coral was polished and bells were attached to it for children to use as a toy. We believe that's the sense in which coral is being used here.)
The Real Mother Goose (1916) has the last two lines as:
Dance, little Baby and Mother will sing,
With the merry coral, ding, ding, ding!
Here's another version from Cole's Funny Picture Book No. 1, written and compiled by Edward William Cole (1st Published in 1879 in Melbourne, Australia):
Dance, little baby, dance up high,
Never mind, baby, mother is nigh;
Crow and caper, caper and crow-
There, little baby, there you go!
Up to the ceiling, down to the ground,
Backwards and forwards, round and round.
Dance, little baby, and mother will sing!
Merrily, merrily, ding, dong, ding!
Comments
This was first printed in 1828 by Taylor. The illustration comes from Harry's Ladder to Learning (1850).
