Tom Cats

[lankeela]

Various versions but this one was passed down:

On sunday morning at half past four, two old tom cats came knocking on my door.
I opened the door to let them in - and they knocked me down with a rolling pin!

Any idea of the origin?

[NazNomad]

It sounds like a 'skipping' song.

[NazNomad]

Yep, there's several 'jump rope' songs that are really 'similar'. No idea of the origin though.

[Quizmonster]

I googled "tom cats came knocking" and got about 1400 hits, including several different versions. All appeared to be one form of playground game or another. Perhaps, Lankeela, if you have a look at more of them than I did, you'll get a more definitive answer.

[squarebear]

Yes, there's loads of versions of this schoolyard song. We used to recite this one:

Not last night, but the night before.
Three old tom cats knocked on my door.
One had a hammer, one had a drum
One had a pancake stuck to his bum