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Mary Had a Little Lamb

An American children's song is called Mary Had a Little Lamb1.

It was written by American author Sarah Josepha Hale and first appeared in Poems for Our Children on May 30, 1830.

Mary had a little lamb,
His fleece was white as snow,
And everywhere that Mary went,
The lamb was sure to go.
He followed her to school one day,
Which was against the rule,
It made the children laugh and play
To see a lamb at school.
And so the teacher turned it out,
But still it lingered near,
And waited patiently about,
Till Mary did appear.
"Why does the lamb love Mary so?"
The eager children cry.
"Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know."
The teacher did reply.

Following its publication in 1830, composer2 Lowell Mason turned it into a song. After that, this song gained a lot of popularity3 and was translated into other languages.

When Thomas Edison invented4 the first record player5 in 1877, he tested it with the song Mary Had a Little Lamb, making it the first song ever recorded by a human-made device.

This tune6, with a few minor adjustments, might be the first that Chinese youngsters7 learn to play the piano.

As an illustration8, the song I Had a Little Lamb:

You can try using abc.js or EasyABC to create a music score9 from abc notation10:

old version without enhanced by AI tool

Mary Had a Little Lamb is a child song from the US.

It has been created by the writer Sarah Josepha Hale of Amercia and published in Poems for Our Children on 1830/05/24 at first.

After it published in 1830, the composer Lowell Mason made it as a song. Then this song became very popular and been translated several languages.

Thomas Edison invented record player in 1877, then he used the song Mary Had a Little Lamb while testing the machine, that made it became the first song which been recorded by a human being creatd's machine.

When the children begin learning piano in China, the first song may be this song but with small adjust.

For example, there is a song named I Had a Little Lamb ...

If you want to know how to generate a music score with abc notation, you can try to use abc.js or EasyABC ...

词汇


  1. lamb,/lam/, 羊羔 

  2. composer,/kəmˈpōzər/ 作曲家 

  3. popularity, 知名的、受欢迎的 

  4. invent, 发明 

  5. record player, 留声机 

  6. tune,/to͞on/, 曲调、曲子 

  7. youngsters, 青少年 

  8. illustration,/ˌiləˈstrāSHən/ 插图、例证 

  9. music score, 乐谱 

  10. notation, 符号、记号、注释 

  11. fleece,/flēs/ 羊毛 

  12. against, 反对 

  13. linger,/ˈliNGɡər/ 流连忘返、萦绕 

  14. patiently,/ˈpāSH(ə)n(t)lē/ 耐心、坚韧 

  15. eager,/ˈēɡər/ 渴望、急切