There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly Lyrics

Working With the Swallowed Fly Song for Kids

The old lady who swallowed a fly is a cumulative children's song. It's been around for decades, possibly longer. The structure is simple: a lady swallows increasingly larger animals, and each one gets eaten by the next creature in sequence until she finally dies. The lyrics loop back to the beginning of each verse, which is why it's called cumulative. You've probably heard it at some point in school or at home. Here are the standard lyrics most people use: There was an old lady who swallowed a fly. I don't know why she swallowed the fly. Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a spider. That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her. She swallowed the spider to catch the fly. I don't know why she swallowed the fly. Perhaps she'll die. There was an old lady who swallowed a bird. How absurd to swallow a bird. She swallowed the bird to catch the spider. That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her. She swallowed the spider to catch the fly. I don't know why she swallowed the fly. Perhaps she'll die. There was an old lady who swallowed a cat. Imagine that to swallow a cat. She swallowed the cat to catch the bird. She swallowed the bird to catch the spider. That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her. She swallowed the spider to catch the fly. I don't know why she swallowed the fly. Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a dog. What a hog to swallow a dog. She swallowed the dog to catch the cat. She swallowed the cat to catch the bird. She swallowed the bird to catch the spider. That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her. She swallowed the spider to catch the fly. I don't know why she swallowed the fly. Perhaps she'll die. There was an old lady who swallowed a cow. I don't know how she swallowed a cow. She swallowed the cow to catch the dog. She swallowed the dog to catch the cat. She swallowed the cat to catch the bird. She swallowed the bird to catch the spider. That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her. She swallowed the spider to catch the fly. I don't know why she swallowed the fly. Perhaps she'll die. There was an old lady who swallowed a horse. She's dead, of course.

The song has many regional variations. The versions above follow the most common pattern used in North America and the UK. You'll find differences in wording depending on where you grew up. I used this song in early childhood settings for years. The cumulative nature makes it useful for memory work and sequencing, but there are a few things that catch people off guard. One problem I ran into was with the spider line. Some versions say "wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her" while others drop the "tickled" part. If you're performing this for a group of kids, pick one version and stick with it. The inconsistency causes pauses and confusion during the chorus buildup, which kills the rhythm entirely. Kids will notice if the grown-up is uncertain. Another thing nobody warns you about: the song gets long. By the time you reach the horse verse, you've recited the entire sequence from memory five or six times. With a group of young children, especially under five, attention spans fracture around the cow verse. What I found worked was breaking it into two sessions or just stopping at the dog if you're short on time. Nobody expects you to get through all seven verses in one go, especially with an audience that can't sit still.

There are downloadable versions available in multiple formats depending on what you need. Some sites offer audio recordings you can play during activities. Others have printable lyric sheets you can use in classrooms or at home. Search for the title along with whatever format you're looking for and you'll find plenty of options. Just check that the source is reliable before downloading anything, since some pages clutter the content with ads or unrelated material. The song has been recorded by dozens of artists over the years. Fred Rogers did a well-known version on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Raffi has a rendition. They all share the same core lyrics with minor variations in tempo and arrangement. If you're using this for teaching purposes, the progressive animal sequence works well for teaching ordinal numbers and counting. Each verse adds one more animal to the chain. Start with the fly alone, then add the spider, then the bird, and so on. The cumulative repetition helps reinforce the pattern without requiring flashcards or worksheets.

One note about the ending: some educators skip the "she's dead, of course" line when working with very young children because it introduces mortality into the song. That's a personal call depending on your audience. The original version includes it, but it's not unusual to see it trimmed out in modern classroom adaptations. I've also seen versions where the order changes slightly. In some tellings, the goat comes before the cow. In others there's an extra animal I haven't tracked down the origin of. These variations are harmless if you know the song well enough to adapt on the fly, but if you're preparing printed materials or a performance, decide early which version you're using and don't switch mid-stream.