To listen (fragment)

Berliner 5 inch record #29

Jack and Jill - Tom the piper's son

Jack and Jill is a classic nursery rhyme of the English speaking world. The origin of the rhyme is obscure and there are several theories that attempt to interpret the lyrics. The rhyme is known to date back to at least the eighteenth century. The song is sometitles titled Jack and Gill, particularly in early versions.

There are several variants of Jack and Jill (many of them parodies), all sharing the same first rhyme:

Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.

The second verse of the rhyme is less commonly performed:

Up Jack got and home did trot
As fast as he could caper;
And went to bed and covered his head
In vinegar and brown paper.

There is also an alternative to the third and fourth lines of this second verse:

Then up Jack got and home did trot
As fast as he could caper;
To Old Dame Dob who patched his nob
With vinegar and brown paper.

There is an even rarer third verse, as follows:

When Jill came in how she did grin
To see Jack's paper plaster;
Mother vexed, did whip her next,
For causing Jack's disaster.

And a fourth:

Now Jack did laugh and Jill did cry
But her tears did soon abate;
Then Jill did say that they should play
At see-saw across the gate.

The origin of the rhyme is obscure and therefore theories as to origin abound. The earliest publication of the lyrics was in the 1760s[2] in John Newbery's Mother Goose's Melody.[3] As a result of inclusion in this compilation of English nursery rhymes, Jack and Jill are considered part of the canon of "Mother Goose" characters. As is common with nursery rhyme exegesis, complicated metaphors are often said to exist within the lyrics of Jack and Jill.

The above text comes from and is more detailed on : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_and_Jill_(song)

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Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son is a nursery rhyme. As it mentions a song from the eighteenth century (Over the Hills and Far Away), it is probably from the same period.

Tom, Tom, the piper's son,
He learned to play when he was young.
But all the tune that he could play
Was "Over the hills and far away."

Alternative version:

Tom, Tom, the piper's son,
Stole a pig, and away did run.
The pig was eat,
And Tom was beat,
And Tom went crying (or roaring, or howling, in some versions)
Down the street.

Second Alternative (with suggested chords):

D_____________G________
Tom, he was the piper's son,
D____________________A__________
He learned to play when he was young.
________D___________G__________
(But) the only thing that he could play
____D_______________A_____
Was "Over the hills and far away."