# Who wrote "Twinkle twinkle little star?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 17, 2003, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wrote-twinkle-twinkle-little-star/219506 "2003-12-17T09:18:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Harlow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Harlow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harlow)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wrote-twinkle-twinkle-little-star/219506/1 "2003-12-17T09:18:13Z")
My aunt was called very early in the morning after working a 12 hour night shift. She just got to bed whe na radio station called her and asked who wrote the song “Twinkle twinkle little star.” She didn’t know the answer and they asked for a different person so they had the wrong number. They gave her a chance anyway, but she didn’t know so they gave her a T-shirt. So does anyone know who wrote the song? ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wrote-twinkle-twinkle-little-star/219506/2 "2003-12-17T09:20:43Z")
Mozart wrote the melody. Don’t know about the words. ---
**Author:** ![bifar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@bifar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bifar)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wrote-twinkle-twinkle-little-star/219506/3 "2003-12-17T10:59:58Z")
Did he? I thought he did a variation on it and the actual melody was a lot older. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wrote-twinkle-twinkle-little-star/219506/4 "2003-12-17T11:00:29Z")
> [@](#): > > The words to “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” were written in London in 1806 by Jane Taylor as “The Star” in her book Rhymes for the Nursery. They were probably first set to this tune in The Singing Master: First Class Tune-Book in 1838. [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/malphabetsong.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/malphabetsong.html) ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wrote-twinkle-twinkle-little-star/219506/5 "2003-12-17T13:32:32Z")
Also in **yojimbo** ’s link, Jill says states that the melody was around before Mozart: > [@](#): > > Until I looked into this, I always thought Mozart wrote it when he was very young. Unfortunately, like many of the stories I enjoy and pass onto others, it isn’t true. The alphabet was first set to this tune in 1834 (I’ll get to that later), but the tune itself is older and nobody knows who came up with it. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wrote-twinkle-twinkle-little-star/219506/6 "2003-12-17T13:54:08Z")
General Questions. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wrote-twinkle-twinkle-little-star/219506/7 "2003-12-17T14:07:18Z")
This is weird. It’s one of the questions in a quiz that the paper I work on is setting this week! Jane Taylor is the answer. ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wrote-twinkle-twinkle-little-star/219506/8 "2003-12-17T19:38:04Z")
We got a book of the children’s songs and at least one out of three are set to this tune. Jane Taylor probably wrote the poem, but that is not the same as writing a song. Otherwise The Byrds’ would get no credit for “Turn, Turn, Turn” Also, [this link](http://www.4reference.net/encyclopedias/wikipedia/Twinkle_twinkle_little_star.html) states that the tune was first published in 1761 in France but goes on to say that no one is sure of its exact origins. I would say that the correct answer to who wrote it is, “We don’t know.” ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wrote-twinkle-twinkle-little-star/219506/9 "2003-12-17T20:24:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Degrance \* > \*\*Jane Taylor probably wrote the poem, but that is not the same as writing a song. Otherwise The Byrds’ would get no credit for “Turn, Turn, Turn” \*\* The Byrds _don’t_ get credit for “Turn! Turn! Turn!” It was Pete Seeger who set that to music. ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wrote-twinkle-twinkle-little-star/219506/10 "2003-12-17T20:31:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Biffy the Elephant Shrew \* > \*\*The Byrds _don’t_ get credit for “Turn! Turn! Turn!” It was Pete Seeger who set that to music. \*\* Didn’t he play tamberine on that song? Therefore he was one of the Byrds and I am still right. Just kidding. OK, so I didn’t look up authorship I just remembered who made a hit out of it. You get the point anyway. Lyracists doesn’t write songs. They write words. It takes a melody to make a song. BTW: What exactly is an Elephant Shrew? (I know what a biffy is.) ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wrote-twinkle-twinkle-little-star/219506/11 "2003-12-17T20:52:00Z")
An obviously derivative poem by Lewis Carroll: Twinkle, twinkle, little bat! How I wonder what you’re at! Up above the world you fly, Like a teatray in the sky. From Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1866) ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wrote-twinkle-twinkle-little-star/219506/12 "2003-12-17T23:22:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Degrance \* > \*\*BTW: What exactly is an Elephant Shrew? > \*\* One of a family of small African insectivorous mammals. [Here are some pictures.](http://www.calacademy.org/research/bmammals/eshrews/photographic.html) ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wrote-twinkle-twinkle-little-star/219506/13 "2003-12-17T23:27:01Z")
Okay, here is another answer. If you ever heard the **Elegants’** song titled “ **Little Star** ” from 1958, [http://www.elyrics4u.com/l/little\_star\_the\_elegants.htm](http://www.elyrics4u.com/l/little_star_the_elegants.htm) it is a variation on the words and music of the song we are discussing. In that case the answer is Vito Picone and Arthur Venosa. Incidenatally, that site gives Mozart credit for the original. Then again, it just might be perpetuating the Urban Legend. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wrote-twinkle-twinkle-little-star/219506/14 "2003-12-18T00:51:08Z")
Mozart did not write the tune. The tune is an old French folk song called “Ah vous dirais’je maman”. Joseph Haydn used it as well in his second movement to the Symphony # 93 (aka “Surprise Symphony”) also as a set of variations. ---
**Author:** ![Elenfair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cc9497/32.png) [@Elenfair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elenfair)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wrote-twinkle-twinkle-little-star/219506/15 "2003-12-18T03:14:49Z")
K364 is dead on. Mozart wrote a set of 12 variations on the theme, which is indeed “Ah! vous dirais-je maman”, a french folk song. Some old copies of this piece was actually labelled with the french title. (variations on…) Interestingly, another french folksong, “Quand trois poules vont au champ”, with the same tune, dates to the 18th century. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wrote-twinkle-twinkle-little-star/219506/16 "2003-12-18T18:24:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by K364 \* > \*\*Joseph Haydn used it as well in his second movement to the Symphony # 93 (aka “Surprise Symphony”) also as a set of variations. \*\* Papa Haydn wrote this tune And a chord is coming soon It will be a big surprise Open sleepy eyes…_BOMP!_ ( **K364** , is your handle a Köchel number?) ---
**Author:** ![rivulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rivulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rivulus)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wrote-twinkle-twinkle-little-star/219506/17 "2003-12-18T20:28:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Biffy the Elephant Shrew \* > ( **K364** , is your handle a Köchel number?) Sinfonia concertante in E flat major, K. 364 for violin, viola and orchestra. Hmm… Is it time for viola jokes? ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2003, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wrote-twinkle-twinkle-little-star/219506/18 "2003-12-19T05:20:48Z")
Very astute Biffy and Riv. No. A viola joke would be the last thing that comes to mind when listening to K364 (the work, not me!) ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2003, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wrote-twinkle-twinkle-little-star/219506/19 "2003-12-19T13:15:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Elenfair \* > **Mozart wrote a set of 12 variations on the theme, which is indeed “Ah! vous dirais-je maman”, a french folk song. Some old copies of this piece was actually labelled with the french title. (variations on…)** Not just some old copies - I’ve always known that piece as “variations on ‘Ah! vous dirais-je maman.’” As a matter of fact, that’s how it’s refered to on my score. I tried finding out about where and when the song originated, but I haven’t been lucky. The original lyrics go: _Ah! vous dirais-je maman Ce qui cause mon tourment Papa veut que je raisonne Comme une grande personne Moi, je dis que les bonbons Valent bien mieux que la raison_ (Oh, mommy let me tell you What causes my torment (grief) Daddy wants me to reason Like a grown up person Me, I say that candies Are much better than reason) ---
**Author:** ![Shrinking\_Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Shrinking\_Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shrinking_Violet)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2003, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wrote-twinkle-twinkle-little-star/219506/20 "2003-12-19T13:58:04Z")
Back to the OP … when I was a child my great-grandparents lived opposite [this house](http://mywebpages.comcast.net/anglo42/tjt1.htm) in Shilling Street, Lavenham, Suffolk where Jane Taylor lived, and wrote the first verse. I used to love gazing up at that little window … 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-wrote-twinkle-twinkle-little-star/219506.md?page=2)