Mary Had a Little Lamb

Mary Had a Little Lamb is a nursery rhyme first published in 1830.

The poem was inspired by an actual pet lamb belonging to Mary Sawyer. At the encouragement of her brother, the young Mary brought her lamb to school one day, resulting in the poem still recited by children generations later.

The poem, and the character, have had numerous appearances and mentions in Muppet productions over the years.

References

• The Sesame Street recurring segment "Murray Has a Little Lamb", is a play on the famed nursery rhyme, and features a rap/salsa variation of the classic song.

• In a Sesame Street News Flash segment, Don Music is trying to compose "Mary Had a Little Lamb," but he can't find a rhyme for "snow." Kermit suggests he try a new angle and the result is "Mary Had a Bicycle".

• In the News Flash segment "Cookie Red Riding Hood", the doorbell to Red Riding Hood's Grandmother plays "Mary Had a Little Lamb."

• In yet another New Flash segment, Kermit encounters a distressed Little Bo Peep, whose sheep is missing. One of the sheep they interview claims to be Mary's little lamb.

• In episode 4010 of Sesame Street, Elmo, Zoe, Telly and Rosita perform a reenactment of "Mary Had a Little Lamb."

• Abby Cadabby tries to use her magic to find Mary's lost lambs in the book Abby Cadabby's Nursery Rhymes.

• Shadow tells the story of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" in Friends at Play of Bear in the Big Blue House.

• Special footage was shot for the "Mary Had a Little Lamb" segment of Kids' Favorite Songs 2 video.

• In the book Muppet Babies' Classic Nursery Rhymes, Baby Piggy takes on the role of Mary.

• The nursery rhyme is featured in the books The Sesame Street Library Volume 2, The Sesame Street Treasury Volume 15, Read Along with Elmo, Elmo Plays Piano, Big Book of Nursery Rhymes & Fairy Tales and Muppet Treasury, among others.

• Herry Monster plays "Mary" in the On My Way with Sesame Street volume "Just Pretend." In the rhyme he has a monster lamb with blue fur.

• Prairie Dawn has a little lamb, and a cow, dog, baby chick, a shaggy friend with purple fur (Telly Monster), and another who was blue (Grover) in Sesame Street's Mother Goose Rhymes.

• Elmo Has a Little Lamb

Appearances as a Character

Sesame Street

Mary has made several appearances as a Muppet character on Sesame Street. A Lavender Anything Muppet, she has often been performed by Fran Brill and sometimes adopts a Scottish accent.

• In a Sesame Street News Flash segment, Kermit interviews Mary and her lamb, named Felix, who follows Kermit home. (First: Episode 1943)

• Mary visits the park where she encounters Hoots the Owl and Chip and Dip. They help her write a second chorus to her song, about her new black lamb. (First: Episode 2839)

• Mary and her lamb appear as contestants on Elmo's Sing-Along Guessing Game, where it is revealed they live in Nursery Rhyme, South Dakota.

• In episode 4110 of Sesame Street (from Season 37), Mary (Amanda Maddock) shows off her lamb's animal impressions at Storybook Community School.

• In Episode 4117, from the same season, Big Bird and the Birdketeers welcome Mary and her little lamb to their nest. However, since Elmo has changed his name to Jelmo for the day, the group decide to change Mary's nursery rhyme to "Jenny Had a Little Jam" for the day.

The Muppets

• In a Disney Xtreme Digital video, The Newsman presents a Muppet News Flash, only for Mary and her lamb to fall down.

Mary at Storybook Community School

Hoots playing a version of Mary's song.

The Newsman encounters Mary and her Lamb.

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Adaptations

• The Mother Goose Stories episode "Mary's Little Lamb" is based on the nursery rhyme.

Song Performances

• On Sesame Street, four Honkers attempted to play "Mary Had a Little Lamb" with their noses in a three-part segment. (First: Episode 1561)

• David sings "Mary Had a Little Lamb" while Linda signs it. (First: Episode 2283)

• Another Sesame Street segment features a string quartet tuning up before it plays "Mary Had a Little Lamb."(First: Episode 3744)

• The interactive video game Let's Learn to Play Together features the song.

• Versions of the song are included on the album Big Bird Leads the Band, amongst others.

• A little girl taught Pepe the King Prawn how to sing the song (as opposed to "Mary Had a Little Ham") in an episode of Muppet Moments.