{{Short description|English nursery rhyme}} {{redirect|Patty cake|the food|Cupcake|the gorilla|Pattycake (gorilla)|the Self song|Gizmodgery}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox song | name = Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man | cover = Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man 1 - WW Denslow - Project Gutenberg etext 18546.jpg | alt = | caption = William Wallace Denslow's illustrations for ''Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man'', from a 1901 edition of Mother Goose | type = Nursery rhyme | written = | published = 1698 | writer = Traditional | composer = | lyricist = }}
"'''Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man'''", "'''Pat-a-Cake'''", "'''Patty-cake'''" or "'''Pattycake'''" is an English nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 6486.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.vwml.org/record/RoudFS/S218300 | title=Roud Folksong Index S218300 Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man | publisher=English Folk Dance and Song Society | work=Vaughan Williams Memorial Library | access-date=May 20, 2016}}</ref>
== Verse == <!-- Do not modify the following as it is a direct quotation from the source cited--> :Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man. :Bake me a cake as fast as you can :Pat it, and roll it, and mark it with a B :And put it in the oven for Baby and me.<ref name="Opie1997">I. Opie and P. Opie, ''[https://archive.org/stream/oxforddictionary00opie#page/n399/mode/2up The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes]'' (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 341–2. {{ISBN|9780198600886}}.</ref>
==Origins== The earliest recorded version of the rhyme appears in Thomas D'Urfey's play ''The Campaigners'' from 1698, where a nurse says to her charges:
...and pat a cake Bakers man, so I will master as I can, and prick it, and prick it, and prick it, and prick it, and prick it, and throw't into the Oven.<ref name="Opie1997" />
The next appearance is in ''Mother Goose's Melody'' (c. 1765) in the form:
:Patty Cake, Patty Cake, :Baker's Man; :That I will Master, :As fast as I can; :Pat it and prick it, :And mark it with a T, :And there will be enough for Tommy and me.
Marking pastry or baked goods with an identifiable mark may stem from a time when households without an oven of their own could take their items to a local baker or bake house, paying to have their items finished for a small fee. Marking the pastry would have been a way to ensure the return of the proper item.<ref>Horrible Histories:Gorgeous Georgians</ref>
The earliest version set to music appears in James Hook's "A Christmas Box" (1796).<ref>''Christmas Box'' by Mr Hook [https://archive.org/details/christmasboxcont00hook/page/n13/mode/2up (p.13)]</ref>
==Game== thumb|A common style of playing pat-a-cake. The rhyme often accompanies a clapping game between two people. It alternates between a normal individual clap by one person with two-handed claps with the other person. The hands may be crossed as well. This allows for a possibly complex sequence of clapping that must be coordinated between the two. If told by a parent to a child, the "B" and "baby" in the last two lines are sometimes replaced by the child's first initial and first name.<ref name=Opie1997/>
The "pat-a-cake" song and clapping game was used by Bob Hope and Bing Crosby in their series of "Road to" films. The gag worked by means of adding a synchronised punch into the clapping game routine, allowing them to make their escape.<ref>[https://h2g2.com/edited_entry/A2622809 ''The "Road..." Films of Hope, Crosby and Lamour'']</ref>
Patty-cake appears as a plot point in the 1988 film ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'', where it is made out to be the toon equivalent of sex.<ref>Cotter, Padraig (January 12, 2020). [https://screenrant.com/who-framed-roger-rabbit-patty-cake-toon-sex/ "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?: Yes, 'Patty-Cake' Is The Toon Equivalent Of Sex"]. ''Screen Rant''. Retrieved February 10, 2024.</ref>
==See also== *List of nursery rhymes
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Hand games}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Clapping games Category:English children's songs Category:English folk songs Category:English nursery rhymes Category:Children's games Category:Fictional bakers Category:Songs about occupations Category:Songs with unknown songwriters Category:Year of song unknown