One, Two, Three, Four, Five

For the Lou Bega song whose lyrics begin "One, two, three, four, five", see Mambo No. 5.

"One, Two, Three, Four, Five" (also known as "1, 2, 3, 4, 5" or "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Once I Caught a Fish Alive" in other versions) is a nursery rhyme and counting-out rhyme.^[1] It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 13530.^[2]

"One, Two, Three, Four, Five"
Nursery rhyme
Published	c. 1765

Text and melody

A common modern version is:

One, two, three, four, five,
Once I caught a fish alive.
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
Then I let it go again.

Why did you let it go?
Because he bit my finger so.
Which finger did it bite?
This little finger on my right.^[3]

Origin

Illustration of the poem from the 1901 Book of Nursery Rhymes

This is one of many counting-out rhymes. It was first recorded in Mother Goose's Melody around 1765. Like most versions until the late 19th century, it had only the first stanza and dealt with a hare, not a fish, with the words:

One, two, three, four and five,

I caught a hare alive;

Six, seven, eight, nine and ten,

I let him go again.^[1]

The modern version is derived from three variations collected by Henry Bolton in the 1880s from America.^[1]

See also

• Children's literature portal

• List of nursery rhymes

Notes

1. Iona and Peter Opie (1997) [1951]. The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 334–335.
2. "Roud Number 13530". Vaughan Williams Memorial Library.
3. Lansky, Vicki (1 February 2009). Games Babies Play: From Birth to Twelve Months. Book Peddlers. p. 76. ISBN 9781931863650.