Most people are familiar with this rhyme, "One for the Money" - but they know it as a verse in the Rock song "Blue Suede Shoes". The song was written and sung by Carl Lee Perkins in 1955. It was sung by Elvis Presley in 1956 and moved to the top of the charts that year too.
This rhyme was traditionally used to start a race.
One for the money,
And two for the show;
Three to make ready,
And four to go.
Notes
Here's an earlier version of this rhyme which can be found in The Nursery Rhymes of England collected by James Orchard Halliwell, 5th Edition (1886). Halliwell wrote, "The following is used by schoolboys, when two are starting to run a race."
One to make ready
And two to prepare;
Good luck to the rider,
And away goes the mare.
Below is the version that can be found in The Mother Goose; Containing All The Melodies The Old Lady Ever Wrote, edited By Dame Goslin. It can be found with the illustration above from 1850:
One to make ready
And two to prepare;
Here goes the rider,
And away goes the mare.
Photos & Illustrations
Comments
Thanks and Acknowledgements
The first 2 illustrations come from "Little Wide-awake, Annual for Children" (1883) by Lucy D Sale Barker - they were graphically altered by Mama Lisa. The 3rd illustration is from The Mother Goose; Containing All The Melodies The Old Lady Ever Wrote, edited By Dame Goslin (1850), with some graphical editing by Lisa Yannucci.
