The English lyrics by Jane Taylor (1793-1824) were first published with the title “The Star” in Rhymes for the Nursery in London in 1806.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky!
When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.
Then the traveller in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.
In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky.
As your bright and tiny spark,
Lights the traveller in the dark,—
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
Early one day the sun wouldn’t shine
I was walking down the street not feeling too fine
I saw two old men with a bottle between ‘em
And this was the song that I heard them singing
Lord preserve us and protect us,
We’ve been drinking whiskey ‘fore breakfast
Well I stopped by the steps where they was sitting
And I couldn’t believe how drunk they were getting
I said “old men, have you been drinking long?”
They said “just long enough to be singing this song”
Lord preserve us and protect us,
We’ve been drinking whiskey ‘fore breakfast
Well they passed me the bottle and I took a little sip
And it felt so good I just couldn’t quit
I drank some more and next thing I knew
There were three of us sitting there singing this tune
Lord preserve us and protect us,
We’ve been drinking whiskey ‘fore breakfast
One by one everybody in the town
They heard our ruckus and they all came down
And pretty soon all the streets were ringing
With the sound of the whole town laughing and singing
We found this note and yellow submarine button attached to helium balloons which landed in front of our house. The note reads:
“Hello, who ever is reading this. Please keep this button. I don’t want it anymore. Also there’s no return address! Ha Ha Ha! From:???”
