"Simple Simon" is a popular English language

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 nursery rhyme

Nursery rhyme

The term nursery rhyme is used for "traditional" poems for young children in Britain and many other countries, but usage only dates from the 19th century and in North America the older ‘Mother Goose Rhymes’ is still often used.-Lullabies:...

. It has a Roud Folk Song Index

Roud Folk Song Index

The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of 300,000 references to over 21,600 songs that have been collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world...

 number of 19777.

Lyrics

The rhyme is as follows;

Simple Simon met a pieman,

Going to the fair;

Says Simple Simon to the pieman,

Let me taste your ware.

Says the pieman to Simple Simon,

Show me first your penny;

Says Simple Simon to the pieman,

Indeed I have not any.

Simple Simon went a-fishing,

For to catch a whale;

All the water he had got,

Was in his mother's pail.

Simple Simon went to look

If plums grew on a thistle;

He pricked his fingers very much,

Which made poor Simon whistle.

Origins

The verses used today are the first of a longer chapbook

Chapbook

A chapbook is a pocket-sized booklet. The term chap-book was formalized by bibliophiles of the 19th century, as a variety of ephemera , popular or folk literature. It includes many kinds of printed material such as pamphlets, political and religious tracts, nursery rhymes, poetry, folk tales,...

 history first published in 1764. The character of Simple Simon may have been in circulation much longer, possibly appearing in an Elizabethan chapbook and in a ballad

Ballad

A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...

, Simple Simon's Misfortunes and his Wife Margery's Cruelty, from about 1685.

In popular culture

• Rafael Pombo
  Rafael Pombo
  "Rafael Pombo is one of the great poets of Colombia, and the best exponent of romanticism in the country". Great Encyclopedia of ColombiaJosé Rafael de Pombo y Rebolledo was a Colombian poet born in Bogotá...
  
  , a Colombian poet, made a translation and adaptation of this nursery rhyme in Spanish language entitled "Simon, el Bobito".

• Laurel and Hardy
  Laurel and Hardy
  Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema...
  
   "played", respectively, Simple Simon and the pieman in Walt Disney
  Walt Disney
  Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
  
  's animated short, Mother Goose Goes Hollywood.

• Simple Simon also appeared in the 1933 Disney cartoon Old King Cole
  Old King Cole (Disney cartoon)
  Old King Cole is a 1933 Disney cartoon in the Silly Symphonies series, based on several nursery rhymes and fairy tales, including Old King Cole...
  
  .

• Simple Simon was played by Charley Rogers
  Charley Rogers
  Charley Rogers was an English film actor, director and screenwriter, best known for his association with Laurel and Hardy. He appeared in 37 films between 1912 and 1954...
  
   in Babes in Toyland (1934 film)
  Babes in Toyland (1934 film)
  Babes in Toyland is a Laurel and Hardy musical film released in November 1934. The film is also known by its alternate titles Laurel and Hardy in Toyland, Revenge Is Sweet , March of the Wooden Soldiers and Wooden Soldiers .Based on Victor Herbert's popular 1903 operetta Babes in Toyland, the film...
  
  .

• The Three Stooges did a variant version, which began the usual way, and ended:

Said de pieman to Simple Simon,

"Foist let me see yah penny."

Said Simple Simon to de pieman,

"Nah! Ya don't get any!"

• In the film Die Hard with a Vengeance, the antagonist Simon Gruber's, played by Jeremy Irons
  Jeremy Irons
  Jeremy John Irons is an English actor. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969, and has since appeared in many London theatre productions including The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the...
  
  , first lines in the film are a taunt to the police:

"Said Simple Simon to the pie man going to the fair: Give me your pies... or I'll cave your head in."

• Another variant of the nursery rhyme was an animated film on Sesame Street
  Sesame Street
  Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
  
  , in which instead of the pieman, Simple Simon meets three weird looking animals; a wingless duck with boots, a sheep with two small legs, and a snake with wings and boots. He presumes that something is wrong, and while he's thinking, the animals correct themselves until they have their correct parts. Then, somewhat late, Simple Simon has figured out what's wrong: "Sheep don't wear boots!"

• In a season 15 episode of The Simpsons
  The Simpsons
  The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
  
   entitled Simple Simpson
  Simple Simpson
  "Simple Simpson" is the nineteenth episode of The Simpsons fifteenth season. The episode aired on May 2, 2004. The concept is mainly inspired by the 2002 Spider-Man movie, though it contains elements of other superheroes as well...
  
  , Homer becomes a pie throwing super hero and leaves the following note after pieing Comic Book Guy:

"Evildoers beware! Signed, Simple Simon your friendly neighborhood Pieman".

• In a Bullwinkle's Corner segment of the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show
  The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show
  The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959 to June 28, 1964 on the ABC and NBC television networks...
  
  , while performing Simple Simon, Bullwinkle and Boris Badenov transition into a version of Abbot and Costello's Who's on First sketch.

• In the 2007 film American Gangster
  American Gangster
  American Gangster is a 2007 American biographical crime film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Steve Zaillian. The film is based on the criminal career of Frank Lucas, a gangster from La Grange, North Carolina who smuggled heroin into the United States on American service planes returning...
  
   New York mob boss Frank Lucas
  Frank Lucas
  Frank D. Lucas is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1994. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district, the largest in the state and one of the largest in the country, stretches from the Panhandle to the fringes of the Tulsa suburbs—almost half of the state's land mass.-Early...
  
  , played by Denzel Washington
  Denzel Washington
  Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...
  
  frustratingly remarks twice with the insult:

"Simple Simon ass mother****ers...."

When making references to members of his house staff during a fit of rage.

External links

• A page containing the full text of the rhyme