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"There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly," alternatively "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly," "There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly," or "I Know an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly," is a cumulative children's song whose music was composed by Alan Mills, and whose lyrics were written by Rose Bonne.〔"Songs with Pictures" by M.B.K., ''Chicago Daily Tribune,'' November 12, 1961, page E34. (Reviewing a children's picture book, ''I Know an Old Lady'' illustrated by Abner Graboff of the music and ships of the song)〕 A version of the song was released on Brunswick Records in 1953, and sung by Burl Ives. The song tells the story of an old woman who swallowed increasingly large animals, each to catch the previously swallowed animal. There are many variations of phrasing in the lyrics, especially for the description of swallowing each animal. The spider and fly are described in each verse except the last, but the other animals are only described when they are introduced. The joke of the song comes from the fact that the woman clearly should have died after swallowing the bird, but manages to swallow even more animals of ridiculous sizes with no problem and survives, and yet she suddenly dies after swallowing a horse. In some versions, "perhaps she'll die" is replaced with "don't ask me why." Also, "she died of course" is replaced with "of course, of course, she swallowed a horse," leading to yet another cumulative verse that ends the tale. ==Animals swallowed (and their descriptions)== *Fly – "But I don't know why She swallowed a fly Perhaps she'll die." *Spider – "That wiggled and jiggled and tickled inside her." *Bird – "How absurd." *Cat – "Imagine that." *Dog – "What a hog." *Goat – "She just opened her throat." *Cow – "I don't know how." *Horse – "She died, of course." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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