‘Little Tommy Tucker’ is an 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 19618.

Lyrics

Common modern versions include:

Little Tom Tucker

Sings for his supper.

What shall we give him?

White bread and butter.

How shall he cut it

Without a knife?

How will he be married

Without a wife?

Origins

The earliest recorded version of this rhyme is from Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book

Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book

Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book is the earliest extant printed collection of English language nursery rhymes, published in London in 1744. It was a sequel to the lost Tommy Thumb's Song Book and contains the oldest version of many well-known and popular rhymes, as well as several that have been...

(c. 1744), which has only four lines. The full version was produced in Mother Goose's Melody (c. 1765). There are references to various parts of the rhyme in earlier works. To 'sing for one's supper', was a proverbial phrase by the seventeenth century. An excellent new Medley (c. 1620) included the line 'Tom would eat meat but wants a knife'.

Various Thomas Tuckers have been identified, including a Bachelor of Arts who was appointed 'Prince or Lorde of the Revells' at St. John's College, Oxford in 1607, and a 'Tom Tuck' who appears in one of John Herrick

John Herrick

John Herrick is an Irish former football player and manager.He played three times for the Republic of Ireland national football team making his debut in a 6-0 defeat to Austria on 10 October 1971 in Linz ....

's epigrams in Witt's Recreations (1640).

In popular culture

• Was played by Russell Coles 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...
  
  
• Tommy Tucker is the name of a variety of rose.