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Jelly Jake And Butter Bill — Nursery Rhyme Lyrics

Jelly Jake and Butter Bill
One dark night when all was still
Pattered down the long, dark stair,
And no one saw the guilty pair;
Pushed aside the pantry-door
And there found everything galore,?
Honey, raisins, orange-peel,
Cold chicken aplenty for a meal,
Gingerbread enough to fill
Two such boys as Jake and Bill.
Well, they ate and ate and ate,
Gobbled at an awful rate
Till I'm sure they soon weighed more
Than double what they did before.
And then, it's awful, still it's true,
The floor gave way and they went thru.
Filled so full they couldn't fight.
Slowly they sank out of sight.
Father, Mother, Cousin Ann,
Cook and nurse and furnace man
Fished in forty-dozen ways
After them, for twenty days;
But not a soul has chanced to get
A glimpse or glimmer of them yet.
And I'm afraid we never will?
Poor Jelly Jake and Butter Bill.

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Learning from "Jelly Jake And Butter Bill"

Nursery rhymes are some of the best teachers of rhythm and rhyme. "Jelly Jake And Butter Bill" uses 26 lines to create a memorable verse — proof that effective poetry doesn't need to be long. Pay attention to the meter: the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables is what makes the rhyme stick in your head.

Songwriters and poets can borrow these patterns. Try writing your own lyrics using the same rhyme scheme and line length as this nursery rhyme. You can also use words from the poem above as starting points — click any word to find rhymes or look up its definition, then build from there.

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Frequently asked questions

What are the words to Jelly Jake And Butter Bill?
The lyrics to Jelly Jake And Butter Bill are: Jelly Jake and Butter Bill / One dark night when all was still / Pattered down the long, dark stair, / And no one saw the guilty pair; / Pushed aside the pantry-door / And there found everything galore,? ... Read the full 26-line nursery rhyme at Rhyme Buster.
How many lines does Jelly Jake And Butter Bill have?
"Jelly Jake And Butter Bill" has 26 lines of verse.