The Children's Song "There's A Hole In The Bucket" (with information & lyrics, & YouTube examples))

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents information about the folk song "There's A Hole In The Bucket" and presents the contemporary lyrics for that song. This post also showcases two YouTube videos of that  song.

The content of this post is presented for cultural and entertainment purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the composers of this song and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to all those who are featured in these videos and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.  

****
INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "THERE'S A HOLE IN THE BUCKET"
Excerpt #1:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_a_Hole_in_My_Bucket

"There's a Hole in My Bucket" (or "...in the Bucket") is a children's song, based on a dialogue between two characters, called Henry[a] and Liza, about a leaky bucket. The song describes a "deadlock" situation: Henry has a leaky bucket, and Liza tells him to repair it. To fix the leaky bucket, he needs straw. To cut the straw, he needs an axe. To sharpen the axe, he needs to wet the sharpening stone. To wet the stone, he needs water. But to fetch water, he needs the bucket, which has a hole in it.

[...]

Origins and development

The earliest known archetype of this song seems to be in the German collection of songs Bergliederbüchlein (c 1700). It is set as a dialogue between a woman named Liese, and an unnamed man.

[…]

In later German sources the song is reproduced under the title of Heinrich und Liese and credited as a folk song from Hesse

[…]

In George Korson's "Pennsylvania Songs and Legends" (1949) there is a song with meter closer to the modern English version …

This was collected in 1940, and is earlier than any known English-language version. This suggests that it might be a traditional "Pennsylvania Dutch" (i.e. German) song. Ed McCurdy recorded it in 1958 on "Children's Songs". Harry Belafonte recorded it with Odetta in 1960. It reached No. 32 in the UK Singles Chart in September 1961.[5] In his book Where Have All the Flowers Gone: A Singer's Songs, Stories, Seeds, Robberies (1993), Pete Seeger refers to it as an originally German song, "Lieber Heinrich"….

****
Excerpt #2
From https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/There%27s_a_Hole_in_the_Bucket

"There's a Hole in the Bucket" is a traditional children's song. It was performed by the Anything Muppets on Sesame Street in the mid-1970s.

Henry (played by Jim Henson) is about to fetch a bucket of water from his well, but realizes that his bucket has a hole. Liza, his wife (voiced by Rita Moreno), explains how to fix it, but she grows frustrated with having to tell him everything he needs to do.”…

****
LYRICS: THERE'S A HOLE IN THE BUCKET

There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza,

There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, a hole.

        Then mend it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

        Then mend it, dear Henry, dear Henry, mend it.

With what shall I mend it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

With what shall I mend it, dear Liza, with what?

        With straw, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

        With straw, dear Henry, dear Henry, with straw.

The straw is too long, dear Liza, dear Liza,

The straw is too long, dear Liza, too long.

        Then cut it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

        Then cut it, dear Henry, dear Henry, cut it.

With what shall I cut it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

With what shall I cut it, dear Liza, with what?

        With a knife, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

        With a knife, dear Henry, dear Henry, a knife.

The knife is too dull, dear Liza, dear Liza,

The knife is too dull, dear Liza, too dull.

        Then sharpen it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

        Then sharpen it, dear Henry, dear Henry, sharpen it.

With what shall I sharpen it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

With what shall I sharpen it, dear Liza, with what?

        With a stone, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

        With a stone, dear Henry, dear Henry, a stone.

The stone is too dry, dear Liza, dear Liza,

The stone is too dry, dear Liza, too dry.

        Then wet it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

        Then wet it, dear Henry, dear Henry, wet it.

With what shall I wet it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

With what shall I wet it, dear Liza, with what?

        With water, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

        With water, dear Henry, dear Henry, with water.

In what shall I fetch it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

In what shall I fetch it, dear Liza, in what?

        In a bucket, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

        In a bucket, dear Henry, dear Henry, in a bucket.

But there's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza,

There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, a hole.

online source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%27s_a_Hole_in_My_Bucket

****
SHOWCASE YOUTUBE EXAMPLES

Example #1: A Hole in the Bucket by Harry Belafonte and Odetta [sound file]

brendandawna, Jan 20, 2010

From Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall

****
Example #2: Classic Sesame Street - Song: "There's a Hole in the Bucket" [video]

MonsterpieceTheatre, Aug 16, 2012

-snip-
At least one commenter in this video's discussion thread wrote that segment first aired on Sesame Street in 1976. 

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.