Notes

According to "Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics" edited by Alex Preminger, Frank J. Warnke, O. B. Hardison Jr. (2015), "hickory, dickory, dock" seems to derive from old Celtic numbers (most likely for 8, 9, 10) which went out of use and was eventually mainly used by shepherds to count their sheep.

Here's a slightly different version from The Real Mother Goose (1916):

Hickory, dickory, dock!
The mouse ran up the clock;
The clock struck one,
And down he run,
Hickory, dickory, dock!

Here's a longer version found in A History of Nursery Rhymes (1899) by Percy B. Green:

Dickery, dickery, dock,
The mouse ran up the clock,
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down,
Dickery, dickery, dock.
The clock struck three,
The mouse ran away,
Dickery, dickery, dock.
The clock struck ten,
The mouse came again,
Dickery, dickery, dock.

Here's a version from Denslow's Mother Goose (published in 1901, New York):

Hickety; dickety, dock,
The mouse ran up the clock;
The clock struck one,
Down the mouse ran,
Hickety, dickety, dock.

*****

Andrew Lang, author of The Nursery Rhyme Book (1897), wrote: "'Hickory Dickory Dock' is a rhyme for counting out a lot of children. The child on whom the last word falls has to run after the others in the game of 'Tig' [i.e. tag] or 'Chevy.'"

[Note: Chevy is a game that's also called Prisoner's Base where there are two teams that try to tag their opponents and take them to their own "base".]

*****

Here's one way the counting out works:

"Children stand round, and are counted one by one, by means of this rhyme. The child upon whom the last number falls is out, for "Hide and Seek," or any other game where a victim is required"...

HICKORY (1), Dickory (2), Dock (3),
The mouse ran up the clock (4);
The clock struck one (5);
The mouse was gone (6);
O(7), u(8), t(9), spells out!

*****

Here's the version of this rhyme in the mp3:

Dickory, Dickory, Dock,
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
Down he run,
Dickory, Dickory, Dock.
Dock, dock!

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Many thanks to Sarina and Lila for singing this for us!

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2nd mp3 sung by Ruth Golding.

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3rd mp3 performed by 17 talented university student musicians who were sisters in the Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity for Women at California State University-Stanislaus in 2007. The musical score the recording is based on comes from Our Old Nursery Rhymes (1911) arranged by Alfred Moffat.

Download MIDI Tune

Thanks and Acknowledgements

The 1st illustration comes from The Baby's Opera by Walter Crane (circa 1877), with a little graphical editing by Mama Lisa and the 2nd illustration is from The Real Mother Goose (1916), illustrated by Blanche Fisher Wright. 3rd illustration is by H. Willebeck Le Mair from Our Old Nursery Rhymes (1911), arranged by Alfred Moffat.

Thanks so much!